Today, everyone has the opportunity to become a content creator thanks to the accessibility of free and/or cheap publishing platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and many others. Most of these online spaces are free and that appeals to people who want to publish their own content.
These platforms are also easy to use, and you don’t need to already be an expert before you can share your content. For instance, you don’t need to be a professional podcaster to generate a following and build a career in this creator economy. In fact, many podcasters have no experience in radio, television, or any other broadcasting arena. They simply buy a microphone and if people like what they have to say, they generate followers quickly.
What does this mean for your business? Well, there’s an opportunity here to tap into this creator economy to generate more leads, sales, and build your brand by reaching an influencer’s audience. Imagine being able to put your product or service in front of tens of thousands of targeted people without having to source them yourself. When you partner with influencers, that’s exactly the kind of opportunity you get.
Some creators don’t have enough fans to make it worth your while, but many have large, loyal followings and sometimes one partnership is all you need to get a good flow of leads and sales. When you partner with a creator who has a strong influence in their niche, you can benefit without having to do any groundwork. All you need to do is come to the table with a generous, irresistible offer.
How much time do you spend crafting ads that hardly get a response? How much money have you wasted buying advertising spots that generate such a low return you wonder if it’s even worth doing again?
Advertising is a numbers game, but it doesn’t have to be a major challenge. By pursuing opportunities with influencers, you’ll be able to reach a more targeted market without much effort. It’s not a replacement for your other advertising opportunities, but it can be an excellent supplement.
Working with influencers has the potential to help you:
If you’ve been looking for more ways to grow your business and expand your reach, keep reading because in this article, you’ll learn best practices you can apply to generate conversions by partnering with creators.
As with any marketing or advertising strategy, the first thing you need to do is identify potential creators for a partnership. When it comes to influencers, there’s a big pool to choose from. Some are experienced and well-seasoned, while others are still rookies in the content creator arena. You’ll probably find your target, relevant audience within both of these groups, but experienced creators will bring you bigger results simply because they have more followers and a stronger influence over them.
The toughest part is choosing your partnerships. You need to make sure you engage the right people, especially since you’re trying to find influencers to carry your brand identity and vision forward to the masses.
If you’re looking for influencers on Instagram, find people who have a decent following with numbers that tend to rise rather than decrease, even if their total number of followers isn’t huge. Pay close attention to small-scale Instagram influencers because they tend to have a stronger bond with their audience, which generates more engagement.
You want partnerships with people who are consistent, great with people, and treat their audience well. You will be associated with the influencers you work with, and if you choose people who have a reputation for being disrespectful or rude, your plan might backfire.
Be cautious about partnering with controversial influencers who have a habit of dismissing, angering, or alienating a group of people in a negative manner in order to build up their platform. They might be profitable, but it could cost you your reputation.
It’s one thing to have strong opinions (there’s nothing wrong with that), but you don’t want your brand associated with creators who thrive on putting others down. Look through comments and older videos to get an idea of how each content creator relates to their audience before making the decision to reach out.
Partnering with a content creator, they will expect adequate compensation for providing you with access to the audience they’ve spent sometimes years building. Depending on what you have to offer and what each creator wants, you might compensate them with money, free goods or services, or discounts.
The more enticing your offer for compensation, the more likely you are to land partnerships with influencers. If you’re looking for people who will promote you for free, those are called brand ambassadors and there’s a completely different approach to that aspect of marketing.
Once you know who you want to work with, it’s time to send them a proposal of sorts to see if they’re interested. If they’re on YouTube, go to their profile and see if they’ve provided an email address. If they haven’t, find their website and contact them through their form or whatever email address they’ve published. If they don’t have a website or you can’t find it, ask if there’s a way to contact them in the comments section of their videos, podcasts, or blog posts. If they’ve been a guest on someone else’s show, contact the host to see if they can share their contact information.
When you do get the chance to approach an influencer about partnering with you, it’s critical to keep their best interests in mind because they’ll want to know what’s in it for them. Take the time to understand what they need, what their goals are, and who their audience is in terms of demographics. It helps to schedule a live meeting, at least over Zoom. This way, you can both get a feel for each other’s personalities and ask questions on the spot. Having a live dialogue in real time will go a long way in helping you form your partnership.
When forming your partnership, don’t forget about the requirements put forth by the FTC regarding social media influencers. For instance, your influencer will be required by law to label sponsored/paid content, so your commercial relationship is clearly visible. They’ll need to do more than just add sponsored hashtags to posts, and video endorsements must disclose your relationship in writing and verbally in the video.
If a content creator refuses to follow these guidelines, don’t work with them because you can get in trouble if they don’t. Remember that a partnership is supposed to be 50/50, and if they aren’t willing to follow FTC guidelines to stay on the right side of the law, then you might end up with bigger problems down the road.
There are a variety of ways you can leverage influencer partnerships to advertise, and here are the most effective.
One of the best methods to reach your ideal market is by using programmatic influencer marketing. This is a modified version of programmatic advertising, which has been around for many years. In short, programmatic ads are distributed automatically through various platforms at once. The ads displayed to each user are personalized and the content depends on factors like a user’s interests, demographics, and websites they’ve visited.
Programmatic influencer marketing puts a unique twist on this tried-and-true method. Rather than having your ads displayed across an ad network, you get influencers to endorse you on the platforms where they already have a presence.
You can then place their endorsement anywhere else where users are a match to your influencer’s audience. This ensures your content will be seen by people who are more likely to align with the endorsement.
As you advertise your business using your influencer’s endorsement, it will also help them gain more exposure and increase their follower count. It’s truly a win-win partnership for everyone involved.
It’s worth establishing a plan in your contract that allows you to use remarketing on your influencer’s channels. This way, you can set up a retargeting campaign that will show additional ads to your influencer’s followers who already interacted with their endorsement of your business. This is too valuable to skip. Some influencers won’t go for it, but some will, and it’s worth asking. You can always try to sweeten the deal with extra compensation if you feel like it’s an exceptionally good market.
This is something fans go crazy for. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the excitement comes from, but people love it when their favorite content creators take over another brand’s social media accounts.
Schedule a day for your influencer to take over one of your accounts, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can have a pre-set purpose, like having them handle a Q&A session for a product launch, or just let people know ahead of time that there will be a takeover and “anything goes.” However, on the back end, have everything planned out so nothing is left to chance. What’s appropriate will depend on your specific business.
A social media takeover will bring more of their fans to your channels, and you’ll gain additional followers, subscribers, and leads in the process. In turn, your existing followers will be made aware of your influencer, and they’ll benefit just as well.
The challenge here is to set your rules and process ahead of time so that everyone involved knows the boundaries and nothing inappropriate gets posted to your account. For example, agree on what swear words are okay (if any), and have a plan to moderate any live chats, like on YouTube. You should always ask your influencer to send you their plans in advance so you can make the final approval and have your team post it rather than giving them access to your account. However, this won’t work for a live takeover.
Before engaging in a live takeover, be sure you can trust your influencer and change your passwords immediately after the session is complete.
If you’ve partnered with a creator who produces content that reaches a lot of people, consider paying to promote the pieces of content that feature your business. You can either boost their posts directly from their social media accounts or get permission to repurpose their content and incorporate it into your own marketing efforts, like PPC ads or other paid promotions.
Now that you know how valuable influencers are to work with, it’s easy to see why so many businesses sponsor content creators or collaborate with them on projects. The right influencer can help you reach thousands of people in your market – people who trust them and will see your business through that same lens.
If you’re looking for a powerful and affordable marketing technique, you won’t be disappointed by influencer marketing.
%201.svg){kind=logo}
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the lifeblood of modern digital marketing, a finely tuned machine designed to separate serious advertisers from those who enjoy setting their money on fire. At its core, PPC is about buying attention—whether it’s from Google Ads, Facebook (or should we say Meta?) Ads, LinkedIn’s overpriced clicks, or whatever ad network is currently promising “unprecedented results.” The trick, of course, is making sure that the attention you’re paying for actually turns into conversions, and not just a collection of clicks that lead nowhere.
This guide is for marketers who already know the basics and are ready to squeeze every last drop of ROI from their PPC campaigns. If you’re looking for a “Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads,” this isn’t it. But if you’re tired of watching your ad spend disappear into the void and want to start running PPC like a ruthless efficiency machine, read on.
There’s nothing quite as tragic as a PPC campaign with no clear objective. Running ads without goals is like throwing darts blindfolded—sure, you might hit the board occasionally, but mostly you’re just making a mess. Before you even think about setting up a campaign, define what success looks like. Are you driving leads? Pushing e-commerce sales? Increasing brand awareness (ugh, we’ll get to why that’s usually a waste of money later)? If your goal is just “more clicks,” congratulations—you’ve just fallen for the ultimate PPC scam: paying for traffic that doesn’t convert.
Every campaign should have a quantifiable, measurable outcome tied to business KPIs. That means actual revenue, leads that don’t ghost you, or at the very least, cost per acquisition (CPA) that doesn’t make your CFO break out in hives.
Google Ads is the undisputed king of PPC, but let’s not pretend it’s the only game in town. Depending on your audience and objectives, Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) can still be a goldmine—if you’re willing to put up with Meta’s ever-changing rules and the occasional algorithmic meltdown. LinkedIn Ads? Great if you enjoy paying $12 per click for someone who will never fill out your lead form.
And then there’s the rising trend of alternative ad platforms. TikTok Ads are fantastic if you’re targeting Gen Z and have the budget to experiment. Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) may be the underdog, but they offer cheaper CPCs and a surprising number of high-intent users. If you’re in e-commerce, don’t ignore Amazon Ads—they print money for sellers who get their targeting right.
Google would love for you to just use broad match keywords and let their algorithm “figure things out.” Spoiler alert: this is a terrible idea. Broad match means your ad could show up for searches so unrelated to your business that it’s practically performance art.
Instead, focus on high-intent keywords—the ones that indicate users are actually ready to buy. Long-tail keywords often convert better because they signal more specific intent. The goal is not just to drive traffic, but to attract users who already have their wallets half-open.
Want to know what works? Look at your competitors. Tools like SEMrush, SpyFu, and Google’s Auction Insights let you see what keywords they’re bidding on, which ones they’re ranking for, and—most importantly—where they’re burning money so you don’t have to.
If a competitor is bidding on specific high-intent keywords, that’s your signal to investigate. Either they’re seeing a positive ROI, or they’re making an expensive mistake that you can learn from. Either way, it’s free intelligence.
Great PPC ads aren’t just about catchy headlines—they’re about aligning with search intent, making a compelling offer, and convincing users that clicking your ad is the smartest decision they’ll make today. A well-optimized ad uses clear, persuasive language with a direct CTA, because vague CTAs like “Learn More” are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
A/B testing is non-negotiable. Your gut instinct is probably wrong, so test different headlines, CTAs, and descriptions to see what actually drives conversions. If you’re not actively testing, you’re just guessing.
You have about three seconds to convince visitors that they made the right choice clicking your ad. If your landing page loads slowly, looks like it was designed in 2008, or makes users hunt for the CTA, they’re gone.
Your landing page should have a singular focus: conversion. That means no distractions, no unnecessary links, and definitely no autoplay videos that scare people away. A strong landing page aligns perfectly with the ad copy, ensuring a seamless experience from click to conversion.
Nothing kills conversion rates faster than misleading ad-to-landing page alignment. If your ad promises “50% off running shoes” and your landing page is a generic homepage with no mention of that discount, expect a bounce rate that makes your campaign ROI cry. Every landing page should reinforce the ad message, use clear headlines, and make it painfully easy for users to complete the desired action. If a user has to think, they’re already gone.
If you’re still using manual CPC bidding across all campaigns, congratulations—you’re officially working harder, not smarter. Google’s automated bidding strategies have their place, but blindly trusting the algorithm is like handing your credit card to a stranger and hoping for the best.
Smart bidding, when done correctly, can optimize conversions and lower CPA, but it requires constant monitoring. Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and Maximize Conversions can be effective, but only if you have historical data to feed the algorithm. If you’re running a new campaign, manual bidding still gives you more control.
Running PPC without proper tracking is like driving blindfolded and hoping you’ll reach your destination. You need to track not just clicks, but actual conversions, customer lifetime value (CLV), and return on ad spend (ROAS). Google Ads’ built-in tracking is decent, but combining it with Google Analytics, heatmaps, and call tracking will give you a full picture of what’s working.
Scaling PPC isn’t as simple as increasing your budget and watching conversions skyrocket. If you scale too fast, you’ll tank your ROI. The right approach is incremental scaling—gradually increasing spend while monitoring CPA and conversion rates. If your CPA starts climbing faster than your revenue, it’s time to reassess. And if your PPC manager insists that “everything is going great” while your ROAS tells a different story? It might be time for a new PPC manager.
.jpg)
Most marketers love Google Ads.
We're no exception.
But we totally understand that businesses in certain industries sometimes have a deep resentment of Google Ads and their restrictive policies.
Google's policies for advertising are generally intuitive and straightforward, but for certain regulated and sensitive categories, the standards are much higher and less clear. Pharmaceutical companies, gambling websites, political campaigns, and other industries often struggle to get their ads approved consistently.
In fact, if you don't know what you're getting into, trying to advertise as a business in one of these categories can be a recipe for disaster.
How are you supposed to use Google Ads effectively if you belong to one of these regulated or sensitive categories?
Sensitive and regulated categories in PPC advertising face a number of challenges, including:
· Stricter guidelines. Most PPC advertisers are familiar and comfortable with basic Google Ads guidelines. But if you belong to a regulated or sensitive category, you'll have far more guidelines and more nuanced guidelines to deal with.
· Higher scrutiny. Google pays much closer attention to ads in regulated and sensitive categories, meaning you face closer scrutiny when your ads start circulating. Reports will be investigated quicker and much more strictly, and even minor violations can work against you.
· More ad disapprovals. Similarly, ads are much more likely to get disapproved in these categories. You'll face an uphill battle as you try to get your ads circulating.
· The risk of suspensions. Businesses in these categories also face the risk of frequent, ongoing suspensions. This trend is also worsening; in fact, in 2023, Google Ads suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts – doubling their actions over the previous year.
This makes it much more difficult to advertise effectively and secure a positive return on investment (ROI). Additionally, failing to adhere to Google’s advertising policies can hurt your company's reputation and compromise your long-term potential for success.
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in a regulated or sensitive category is to plan for a sustainable, long-term strategy. Every year, thousands of business owners in these categories attempt to fool Google, find clever ways around its policies, and devise techniques that allow them to cheat the system.
These approaches can usually work temporarily. You can cheat your way into the listings and generate some traffic to your landing page.
But inevitably, these techniques fail, and they can ultimately get you blacklisted.
You're much better off taking the slow, steady approach, following the rules even if it means compromising your advertising effectiveness in the short term. Think about the long-term consequences and possibilities of each decision you make.
There is some good news here.
Google isn’t shy about publishing its advertising policies.
If you're willing to do the reading and research, you can thoroughly understand what Google expects from regulated and sensitive categories like yours – and you can easily adhere to the guidelines.
Well, maybe not “easily,” but reliably.
Generally, Google splits content into two types:
· Restricted content. Restricted content is sensitive content that is subject to more regulations. You must precisely comply with requirements for copy, images, website content, and more if you want to remain in circulation.
· Prohibited content. Prohibited content is totally disallowed. You cannot include it without facing significant consequences.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a big list of all the rules you need to follow, as the rules are different for various industries. Some of the most popular industries and categories that face steeper restrictions include:
· Pharmaceuticals and healthcare products
· Weapons and explosives
· Financial services (including cryptocurrencies)
· Gambling/games of chance
· Alcohol, tobacco, and similar products
· Political ads
· Adult content and services
While there are certainly commonalities between regulations across these categories, each category has its own unique blend of restrictions and rules to learn. For example, pharmaceutical businesses require formal certification from Google and are only allowed in some countries. In the financial services industry, you'll likely need a specific license, and you'll need to provide adequate disclosures for your products and services.
The more intimately you know these rules and regulations and how they apply to your industry, the more likely you'll be able to advertise successfully. Don't advertise until you're sure you understand all applicable Google Ads policies.
One other important note here: you need to stay updated.
Google isn't stagnant, and its advertising policies are constantly in flux. Accordingly, you need to stay abreast of recent changes and update your ad approaches in line with them.
The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to Google Ads policy updates, but you should also regularly engage in Google Ads forums. If you're lucky enough to have a representative, maintain open and transparent communication with them and stay in touch regularly; they can be a massive benefit for businesses in regulated and sensitive categories.
The more research you do, the better. You need to thoroughly understand your advertising landscape before you try to thread this needle.
· Google Ads policies. Obviously, read and understand Google Ads policies as they relate to your industry. We mostly covered this in the previous section, but it's part of the research you need to do.
· Licensing and certification requirements. Even if it's not specifically required by Google, it's a good idea to get any appropriate licenses or certifications. It's a mark of authority and trustworthiness that might save you if any of your ads are reviewed for potential policy violations.
· Laws and regulations. Similarly, violating any laws and regulations in the country where you're advertising could be grounds for ad removal or account suspension, even if those violations aren't specifically listed in Google Ads policies. Always ensure legal compliance before advertising with Google.
· Competitor advertising. It's also a good idea to research your competitors. It's very likely that businesses similar to yours, in the same category, are already advertising successfully. Look at what they're doing. How are they phrasing things? Which disclosures are they including? Do you notice anything missing? You can learn a lot simply by studying previously successful ads.
· Market research. The success of your Google Ads largely depends on your ability to successfully target and appeal to your demographics. If you're properly informative and persuasive, with relevant messaging to the people you're reaching, you're much less likely to face reports, removals, and suspensions. Accordingly, you need to do a deep dive into market research so you better understand your target demographics and can appeal to them with relevant content. If you don't have buyer personas, develop them. If you don't know what your target audience is struggling with or what they want to, pause your ads until you figure it out. There are no shortcuts here, so do a deep dive into your market research if you want a reasonable chance to succeed.
When creating and preparing new ads, make sure everything is compliant, including your copy, your images, and any of your website content.
Remember that the rules and restrictions vary by industry, but these are some general rules that can help you get started:
· Stick to the facts. Don't exaggerate. Don't embellish. Certainly don't lie. It's important to stick to the facts as closely as possible, even if it makes your ad a bit stoic or “boring.” Purely factual advertising rarely gets removed.
· Avoid prohibited or sensitive terms. Review prohibited and sensitive terms that apply to your industry, and avoid those terms like the plague. Consider creating a list of alternatives that you can rely on instead.
· Be transparent. Be absolutely transparent with your target audience, even if you're forced to reveal things that weaken the appeal of your products and services. Offer disclosures when required, and potentially when not required if they can boost your credibility.
· Adopt a serious, professional tone. Don't play with fire. Your best course of action is to adopt a serious, professional tone across your ads. It's much less likely to be reported, and it will seem more authoritative and trustworthy.
· Eliminate sensationalism. In line with this, eliminate all forms of sensationalism. Graphic or revealing content, exaggerated claims, and other techniques designed to evoke strong emotions are probably going to work against you.
· Focus on using images for context. If you're going to include images, make sure they provide meaningful context. Advertisers sometimes select images based on how easily they grab attention or how exciting they are, but this is a surefire way to fail if you belong to a sensitive or restricted category.
· Include warnings if necessary. If there are any warnings that are relevant to your products and services, include them. More information is typically better in matters like these.
· Leverage the power of AB testing. The more relevant and effective your ads are, the more likely they are to succeed. Leverage the power of AB testing to learn more about what your audience wants to see and how to give it to them.
Don't forget about your landing pages.
These are important to Google as well.
If your landing pages deviate from Google Ads guidelines, or if they contradict what's in your ads, it could work against you.
These are some tips to get you started:
· Keep it relevant. Always make sure your landing page is completely relevant and in line with whatever is included in your ad. If users click your ad and find something unexpected, unpleasant, or otherwise jarring, Google might take action.
· Issue disclaimers and warnings. This is an opportunity to double down on disclaimers, warnings, and important disclosures. Err on the side of caution and make these prominent to show that you're in full compliance with both Google Ads policies and laws in your area.
· Make your business information accessible. Make your business information transparent and accessible. Offer your brand name and business location information, and give visitors some way to contact you, preferably via phone and email. It's a sign of trustworthiness and it can proactively resolve potential disputes.
· Be straightforward and transparent. Everything on your landing page needs to be straightforward and transparent. Follow the same rules you did for your ads, and avoid exaggerations and sensationalism.
· Double check Google Ads requirements. Always double-check Google Ads requirements when constructing your landing page. You should fulfill or comply with each item on your landing page to be safe.
You've already done significant market research, so make sure you apply it correctly. Target your audience very specifically so that your messages are only shown to people for whom they are relevant. If someone outside the scope of your target demographics sees your ads, they'll be much more likely to issue reports – and your ads will be much more likely to be removed. It's especially important to target people in the right geographic area.
There are some Black Hat techniques designed to circumvent Google Ads rules and regulations, or otherwise give you an unfair advantage in a sensitive or restricted category. These techniques typically violate Google policies and are largely considered unethical by the advertising community.
One of the most prominent examples is cloaking. Using one of several techniques, cloaking can allow you to advertise to audiences with content different from what you showed Google for approval. It's obvious why this is potentially beneficial, but it's also obvious why this is unethical.
As you might imagine, these techniques can work temporarily. They can give you a significant short-term advantage, allowing you a better strategic position and potentially more ad opportunities. However, if you use them, you could get your account suspended, or even permanently blacklisted. Even if you evade that, you could ruin your company's reputation and jeopardize your long-term results.
Do not follow these strategies. If a PPC agency recommends any such strategies to you, fire them.
They simply aren't worth it.
Navigating the world of Google Ads isn't easy.
In fact, it's stressful and incredibly difficult if your business happens to belong to one of these sensitive or restricted categories.
The good news is it's much easier to be successful when you work with a PPC advertising agency that has experience creating and managing ads for a business like yours. We're deeply acquainted with all the rules and restrictions you need to worry about, and we know how to make target demographics like yours convert.
If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
