The tremendous growth of the Internet has created market place for a variety of niche products to thrive. Unlike brick-and-mortar business model with limited shelf space, the Internet provides the customers better access to information where they can instantly search and make purchases. The ordered items are no longer have to be “mainstream” or popular to be bought and sold. The battle for customer attention in a vertical industry are no longer dominated by giant corporations. The play field now also includes small companies.

To me, in order for small companies to succeed, there are no other secret methods besides a friendly-user website and a good marketing plan. It is very important for small companies to pick and choose the right strategies to optimize its limited resources and be efficient. Among all media channels (e.g. infomercials, print, mobile advertising, social media), paid search advertising seems to be the right choice for small businesses. Paid search advertising is the right push that small businesses need to convert potential customers to buyers.

Operating under a cost-per-click model, paid search advertising gives marketers better control over their daily spent. They can also adjust the bidding price manually at anytime they want based on the level of competition. In addition, there are advanced targeting features that marketers can utilize to enhance the paid search advertising campaigns. For example, they can alternate the bidding keywords from broad match to “phase match” and [exact match] to capture the most potential audience. In terms of optimization, they can include ads extension such as: site links, calls, locations, reviews, etc. to appear more compelling to searchers.

Overall, I just want to point out 5 key reasons why small companies should (absolutely) include paid search advertising in their marketing strategies:

1. It generates valuable leads and conversion 24/7
2. It captures the personas of your audience since it is a data-driven model embedded with analytical tools
3. It can help leverage marketing efforts from other media channels, especially when it comes to SEO.
4. With the power of immediate adjustments, small business can perform A/B testing with their ad design, ad text, etc. to improve performance of paid search advertising campaign.
5. Paid search is cost-effective but it can show results quickly and consistently.