Though online shopping allows consumers to make purchases while they're still wearing bunny slippers, surprising data was unveiled in early 2015 that showed the vast majority of consumers prefer to shop in store at least some of the time. PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that many consumers still shop at physical stores once a week, with only 27 percent shopping online weekly. However, even though consumers are willing to show up at a store, marketers have to give them a reason to do so. Fortunately, paid search marketing can help your business accomplish this task.
Getting on Target With Local Shoppers
One of the trickiest parts of crafting a successful paid search campaign is knowing where to focus your money. Though starting a big budget campaign sounds like a good idea in theory, if you're investing your money in the wrong places, it can end up backfiring. Instead of throwing everything against the wall, start small and begin targeting local users within a small radius of your storefront. If this initial targeting works, you can continue to grow your local ad presence and potentially widen your reach as word of mouth about your business spreads. Search Engine Land also notes that keeping your own store's geography in mind is key when determining how wide of a radius to cast. A store in the middle of a busy big city probably needs a much smaller search radius to target their customers than a store in a more rural, remote location, where customers will have to drive from further out to reach the store.
Give the Consumers What They Want
When a consumer clicks on an ad, they are likely searching for information about simple things, like the condition of your store, hours or stock level. Though it's tempting to purposefully keep this information hidden in an effort to entice consumers into visiting your business, it's a bad idea. Making sure your site is easily navigable and has the most requested information readily available will help consumers feel confident about your brand. This practice could mark the difference between a frustrated consumer putting the phone away and giving up on your brand and an informed consumer who wants to see a specific product up close before making a purchase.
Incentives for Store Visits
Though marketers should steer clear of withholding information or using other nefarious means to encourage in-store visits, there are positive ways to use paid search to motivate consumers to stop by your storefront, including a strong call-to-action, special in-store-only deals or the smart use of images. For instance, a local art supply store can encourage consumers to stop in one day only for 15 percent off all brushes and use a landing page optimized for mobile that features graphics with several brush types. Ideally, consumers will be able to see a brush they've been wanting in the graphic and will be motivated by the call-to-action and special deal to stop by the art store and take advantage of the in-store deal.
It's tempting to think of paid search marketing as something primarily used for Web-based businesses, but this notion couldn't be less accurate. Though it's true paid search ads are a great way to encourage purchases online, they can also inform consumers and push them toward in-store visits.
