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.
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When this apartment complex client partnered with PPC.co, their goal was clear: generate more qualified leads through Google Ads. In just 60 days—from January to March 2025—we transformed their paid acquisition performance. Total conversions more than tripled, jumping from 10 to 32, while the overall conversion rate soared by over 300%. At the same time, we drove down the cost per conversion by 44%, delivering significantly more leads at a much lower cost.
By strategically combining Performance Max and high-intent Search campaigns, we not only increased lead volume but improved overall efficiency and ROI. This rapid and measurable improvement underscores the value of data-driven optimization and expert campaign management.
This case study is a testament to what can happen when a well-structured campaign meets expert strategy and continuous optimization. Whether you're launching a new property or looking to boost occupancy in a competitive market, PPC.co delivers real results—fast.
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If you’re running an e-commerce or retail business, you already know that visibility is everything. The best product in the world won’t sell if no one sees it. That’s where paid ads for ecommerce comes in.
Done right, they drive traffic, conversions, and repeat customers.
Done wrong, they drain your budget and leave you wondering what went wrong.
Whether you’re spending $500 a month or $50,000, your goal is the same: profitability. Not just clicks, and certainly not just impressions. You want to turn ad dollars into real, predictable revenue.
So how do top-performing e-commerce and retail brands make their paid ads work?
What are they doing that you’re not?
This guide breaks it down step-by-step, so you can start running profitable ads with confidence.
Before you launch a single campaign, you need clarity on your audience and goals. Are you trying to boost first-time sales? Increase average order value? Each objective requires a different strategy and metrics for success.
Don’t fall into the trap of launching ads just to “see what happens.” Paid media works best when it’s part of a bigger strategy. So before you log in to Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager, get specific about what success looks like.
If you want to run profitable paid ads, knowing your numbers is the foundation of your entire strategy. Without a clear understanding of your margins, break-even points, and how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer, you’re essentially gambling with your ad budget.
And in e-commerce, that can get expensive fast.
Let’s start with the most critical numbers you need to know:
Your break-even ROAS tells you the minimum return you need on your ad spend to not lose money. It’s calculated by dividing 1 by your gross profit margin.
So if your margin is 50 percent, your break-even ROAS is 2.0. That means for every $1 you spend on ads, you need to make $2 in sales just to break even.
For example, let’s say you’re running Facebook Ads and spending $1,000 on a campaign. If your break-even ROAS is 2.0, you need to generate at least $2,000 in revenue to avoid losing money. Anything above that is profit. Anything below that eats into your cash.
Once you know your numbers, you can reverse-engineer your ad strategy instead of throwing money into the void and hoping for results. For instance, if your AOV is low (say $25), you might struggle to profit from ads unless you have a very low COGS or high conversion rates. In that case, you might want to:
On the other hand, if your AOV is $150 and your margins are strong, you have more room to compete in ad auctions, bid more aggressively, and test multiple audiences and creatives without instantly wiping out your profit.
A lot of beginner advertisers focus entirely on immediate return from ads. That’s understandable – but short-sighted. If you’re breaking even or slightly losing on the first sale, that might still be a smart move if you’re building long-term customer relationships.
That’s where Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) comes in. If you know that your average customer places three orders a year, each worth $60, then their LTV is $180. If you spend $40 to acquire that customer with your first ad, but earn $140 more over the next 12 months, that ad was extremely profitable in the long run.
Top e-commerce brands build their paid strategies around LTV-to-CAC ratio – how much they earn over time compared to what they paid to acquire the customer.
A healthy ratio is usually 3:1 or higher. So if you’re spending $50 to acquire a customer, you want to earn at least $150 from that customer over time.
Once you understand your numbers, you can plan your ad spend with precision. You’ll know exactly:
Let’s say you want to make $5,000 in profit this month, and your product has a 50 percent gross margin. That means you need $10,000 in sales. If your target ROAS is 2.5, you can spend up to $4,000 in ad spend to hit that goal. With those numbers in hand, you now have a roadmap for campaign budgeting, not just a shot in the dark.
Every ad platform has strengths. But if you try to use them all at once, you’ll burn through your budget without learning much. Instead, pick one or two that align best with your business model and customer behavior.
If you’re selling visually appealing products like apparel, skincare, or home goods, platforms like Instagram and TikTok can deliver strong returns – especially with the right creative. If you’re focused on high-intent buyers, Google Search and Shopping Ads are goldmines. And if you’re targeting professionals or B2B retail buyers, LinkedIn may offer surprising results.
Test channels strategically. Start with the one that matches where your customers spend their time and scale from there. The best platform for you is the one where your ideal customers are already shopping, scrolling, or searching.
One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is casting too wide a net. You don’t want everyone to see your ad – you want the right people to see it.
On Google, this means targeting high-intent keywords that signal buying behavior. Focus on terms like “buy,” “best,” “free shipping,” or product-specific searches. On Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you’ll want to dial in your custom audiences using demographic data, lookalikes, interests, and behavior.
Don’t forget retargeting. Most people won’t buy the first time they visit your site, but retargeting brings them back when they’re ready. Set up ads that follow people who viewed a product, added to cart, or engaged with your brand but didn’t check out.
The more relevant your targeting, the more efficient your spend and the higher your return.
Creative is the make-or-break factor in most e-commerce ad campaigns. You can have perfect targeting and the right product, but if your ad doesn’t grab attention in the first two seconds, it won’t convert.
Your creative needs to do three things quickly:
Use high-quality product photos or videos. Show your product in action. Highlight a clear benefit or solve a specific problem. Incorporate customer reviews or user-generated content to build trust.
For paid social, test multiple creatives at once – video vs. image, UGC vs. branded, short-form vs. long-form – and let performance data guide your iterations. On search platforms like Google, focus on copy that’s compelling and packed with relevant keywords. Test different headlines and descriptions to see what gets the best click-through rate.
Sending paid traffic to your homepage is a rookie mistake. You want every click to land on a page that’s designed to convert. That means fast load times, mobile optimization, and a clear call-to-action.
If you’re promoting a specific product, send users to that product page and not your full catalog. If you’re offering a bundle or a seasonal deal, create a dedicated landing page with copy, visuals, and layout tailored to that offer.
Remove distractions. Reduce friction. Make it stupid-easy for people to buy. The less effort it takes, the more sales you’ll see. And don’t forget to A/B test. Sometimes a simple tweak to your headline or CTA can double your conversion rate overnight.
Once your ads are live, your job isn’t done. In fact, this is where it really begins. You need to monitor performance regularly, looking at more than just the surface-level metrics.
Click-through rate (CTR) tells you how well your ad is capturing attention. Conversion rate shows how well your landing page is sealing the deal. ROAS tells you how profitable your campaign is. And CPA helps you compare efficiency across different products or audiences.
Watch for early indicators of success – or failure.
Treat your campaigns like living systems. Tweak, test, and improve them continuously.
Once you find a winning combination – an ad, offer, and audience that works – it’s time to scale. Increase your budget gradually while keeping an eye on performance. Scaling too fast can tank your results, so go step by step.
Duplicate high-performing campaigns to test new audiences or creatives. Experiment with upsells, bundles, or time-limited offers to increase AOV. Layer in email or SMS marketing to retarget paid traffic and drive repeat sales.
And just as importantly, don’t be afraid to kill underperforming ads. If something isn’t working after a reasonable test period, cut it. Your budget should be flowing to what works – not what you hope will work.
One of the biggest mistakes in paid advertising is chasing one-off sales without thinking about the bigger picture. Winning e-commerce brands think in terms of customer lifetime value.
If your first sale breaks even, that’s fine. (As long as you have a plan to turn that customer into a repeat buyer. ) You can use post-purchase emails, loyalty programs, and retargeting ads to bring people back.
At the end of the day, when you view paid ads as the beginning of a customer relationship – not the end – you unlock real long-term profitability. And at PPC.co, that’s where we want to help you! We offer industry-leading PPC management services for ecommerce and retail brands who want to stop wasting ad spend and start generating real ROI.
Contact us today to learn more!
