Pay per click (PPC) takes up a substantial part of forex brokers’ annual marketing budgets. With a reported return on investment (ROI) of 200%, global search advertising is projected to come in at a cool $306.7 billion in 2024. Following referrals, paid search is the second most effective channel for financial services firms. We’ve rounded up a selection of industry tips, tactics and hacks for you to smash your next PPC campaign.
But First, Some PPC Campaign Stats
- 90% of internet users will have seen an ad on Google
- 65% of high-intent searches will result in an ad click
- 45% of all page clicks in search are from PPC ads
- Search ads have increased brand awareness by 80%.
With numbers like these, it’s no surprise that it’s the channel of choice for 96% of advertisers. However, the search for leads, sign ups and deposits can get expensive. Read on for budget friendly PPC campaign tips.
Keyword Selection
The foundation that your ad campaigns rest on, are the keywords you’ve selected to target. If they don’t align with your target audience’s search intent, then your ads won’t be seen by the right people meaning a lot of wasted funds.
Contentworks Director, Niki Nikolaou says
Understanding user intent goes beyond basic phrases. Think about where your user is in the buy cycle. Are they researching, or ready to sign up?
Keywords fall into three categories:
- Informational, e.g. “what is forex?”
- Navigational, e.g. “best forex brokers in Australia”
- Transactional, e.g. “open forex account”
If your specific campaign targets high-intent keywords, it can capture more qualified leads. Niki goes on to say:
Forex is an over-saturated market and bidding on obvious keywords can be costly. Long-tail keyword phrases are less competitive and tend to have higher conversion. Search volumes may be lower, but intent is more closely aligned.
For example, Contentworks helped improve Blackwell Global’s SEO through writing hundreds of forex and crypto articles targeting long-tailed keywords. The content helped them score an all-time high for Google snippets. To quote their digital manager at the time
The content is really getting good ranking now. MT4 magic number is the top snippet on the first page keywords.
More pro tips when using keywords:
- Use negative keywords – excluding certain words cuts down the noise of non-performing clicks.
- Choose the right bidding strategy based on your goals – be that growing traffic, boosting brand, acquiring leads.
- Strike the right balance between manual and auto bidding – both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages.
- Adjust your bids on high-performing and low-performing keywords – you can do this based on location, device-type, demographics, even time of day.
- Regular A/B testing allows you to optimise ad copy – test different headlines, copy, call-to-actions (CTAs). You can also A/B test channels, formats, devices and timing of delivery.
- Quality score allows Google to understand the relevance and quality of your keywords, ads and landing pages. The higher your score, the less you pay for each click.
Need effective ad copy that your target audience and Google will love? Speak to Contentworks . Our team of expert financial writers understand your target market, making your content actionable and your compliance officer smile.
Making Content Work For PPC
Well written ad copy gets attention, increases click through rates and improves your quality score, meaning lower CPC. It needs to be compliant to your regulators, have clear call to actions and include your keywords. A lot counts on the quality of the content on both your ad copy and landing pages. The pace is fast, but don’t be tempted to take shortcuts that could damage your PPC campaign. Charlotte Day, Director of Contentworks says:
We’re seeing a lot of very boring AI generated content in the FX space and in the long run it won’t stand out and deliver results. Your ad content needs to be fresh, eye catching and actionable.
How Ad Extensions Help PPC
Giving your users tons more valuable contextual information can make your ad stand out in organic listings and against your competitors. These ads take up more space on the search results meaning that your ad stands out while pushing down competitor ads. And the best thing about them is there are no additional costs to your ad campaign.
Three top tips when developing your ad extensions:
- Include relevant information your user is looking for, or solutions to their challenges
- Be specific by highlighting what is unique about your offering
- Optimise by testing different extensions to see which performs best
Challenges for Forex and Financial Firms
Restrictions by Google and regulatory requirements adds another layer of complexity to financial firms PPC campaigns. Ensuring your ad meets Google’s terms is a must. Plus, it goes without saying that regulators are also watching your ads. Eagle eyed regulators like ASIC are hot on the heels of any financial institute displaying misleading ads in the Australian territories.
Frequency Matters
An average US internet user sees 4,000-10,000 ads per day. Ad fatigue is real! This means two things. You need to stand out with smart content and keep a watch on the frequency of your ads. Here are some quick tips from financial marketers:
- Cap your ads at around 10-15 times over 30 days
- For each conversion goal, aim for 2-3 ad variations
- Mix up your media with video and text to keep it fresh
- Start by testing with a frequency of 1-2 impressions per day and build from there
- For longer term campaigns of 60+ days, consider dropping frequency to one per day.
These figures above are averaged out, so you’ll need to find the sweet spot for your campaigns on close inspection of your analytics.
Metrics Matter
Tracking your campaigns throughout their lifetime is crucial to maximising ROI. How do you know if you’re getting good results? Here are some industry standards for 2024 to keep in mind.
- The average CTR (click through rate) for finance is 2,91%
- $3.44 is the average CPC (cost per click) for finance vs. $2.69 across all industries
- Average CPA (cost per action) for finance is $81.93
We mentioned the importance of keeping an eye on your quality score. You can also add to that the average position of your ad on search engine results page. And your most carefully watched metric – ROAS (return on ad spend).
But What Are You Tracking?
To get valid business intelligence from your metrics, you need to understand what you are tracking. Conversion tracking helps to monitor sign ups and other KPIs you’ve set. Whereas, attribution models help forex brokers understand their customer journey and identify which channels are driving conversions.
Seasoned forex digital marketer, Milton George of Growth-onomics says
We are moving beyond first and last touchpoint attribution and adopting a more holistic approach with Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM). MMM is a statistical analysis technique used to measure the effectiveness of different marketing channels and tactics. Unlike touchpoint attribution, which focuses on individual customer interactions, MMM takes a broader view by analysing the entire marketing mix, including variables like advertising spend, promotions, seasonality, and external factors such as market trends or economic conditions (especially for forex brokers). This approach helps businesses optimize their overall marketing strategy by understanding the collective impact of different channels and making more informed, data-driven decisions.
The Power of Social Media and Retargeting
Being retargeted on social media is something people have come to expect. And in fact, 75% of users claim that paid ads make it easier to find what they need.
- 96% of users watch educational videos to learn about product or services
- 62% of B2B marketers find LinkedIn ads effective in lead generation
- Facebook and Google ads have the highest ROI of all other paid ad channels
- Instagram stories account for 26.7% of the companies $59.6 billion (by 2024) in ad revenue
Here’s an example of BNPL company Klarna retargeting visitors with Discovery Ads and bringing them back to the retailers site. Discovery ads means they can reach people on Gmail, while they’re on YouTube and in the Google Discovery feed.
The Last Word
PPC campaign marketing is seeing a surge in popularity this year with brokers seeking to crush ever increasing competition. Some last stat snacks to munch on for your next PPC campaign. We’ll let the numbers do the talking:
- 52% of PPC clicks in 2023 came from mobile
- 70% of search ad impressions (US) are on mobile
- 60% of mobile users click on a paid ad at least once per week
- By 2028, 70% of digital ad spend is expected to be for mobile devices
- Key trends are personalisation and video
Ready to improve your next PPC campaign? Our writers, performance marketers and analysts have helped countless financial services brands to succeed. Book a free Zoom with our team now.