With eCommerce quickly becoming the preferred way to shop, many other local businesses are struggling to keep up.
Massive online retailers like Amazon often dominate sales in just about every industry, which makes it hard for brick-and-mortar Local businesses to compete.
And it’s not always about better prices.
Often, it’s simply more convenient for people to buy everything they need in one place.
If you’re a local business owners looking for ways to get more Local leads/local lead generation, potential customers, or clients, you need to start using pay-per-click (PPC) ads management.
PPC ads offer something other marketing channels can’t: immediate traffic to your website.
Fast traffic will give you an advantage in your local market.
You can generate Local leads/local lead generation online from the entire world, and that’s great if you have a product or service that is globally relevant. However, when you’re a local business/local businesses, your local leads/local lead generation also need to be local. This is where local PPC ads come into play.
By running PPC ads that target people in your area, you’ll reach the most relevant segment of your market. And, as you probably know, highly targeted ads are more effective than general ads at generating Leads clicks and conversions.
If you’re concerned that you can’t compete with online retailers, here’s how you can use PPC ads to generate more local lead-generation strategies for your local business/local businesses.
Your Home page are a critical component in your local PPC ad campaign and it’s important to craft them intentionally. For instance, if your goal is to generate leads, make sure you have a powerful, enticing lead magnet that people see first thing when landing on your page.
If you’ve never made a landing page with a lead magnet, here’s how it works. Lead magnets are free offers provided as an incentive in exchange for contact information, and they’re quite effective. However, the success of any lead magnet depends on the market and the type of offer. For instance, some industries report higher conversions with video lead magnets, while others say text-based lead magnets convert better.
Creating a local lead magnet is no different from creating any other lead magnet, except the offer will be oriented toward local customers/potential customers. For example, here are several titles that would make excellent local PDF downloads:
These are just some examples of what you might offer people at the local level. Your local lead magnets can be PDF resources, videos, audio files, exclusive content, coupon codes, or anything else users might find valuable enough to sign up to receive. The only thing you need to remember is to maintain a local relevance.
Facebook offers the most detailed ad targeting capabilities of all PPC platforms, which is why they’re so effective. Facebook also has nearly 2.9 million users, a number that rises by 7.18% every year. Chances are, your market is on Facebook – you just have to know their demographics.
Here’s how it works. Say you run a local mail center and you’ve just hired a Notary Public. You want to get notary clients, but they need to be local, so you’ll run ads that target people in your area who might need notarized documents. For instance, you can target people who are getting married (engaged status), buying or selling a property, looking to travel, or people who work in administrative services.
Whatever your products or services are, you’ll want to target a narrow set of demographics in addition to people in your area to greatly improve your chances of getting conversions. You can do this to some degree on other ad platforms, but Facebook offers the most options and has the largest audience.
Facebook lead ads generate leads through a form without making users navigate away from Facebook. These ads are nearly 20% more effective than ads that send users toHome page to fill out a contact form. This makes sense considering people are more likely to convert when the process is easy, and nothing makes filling out a form easier than bringing that form upright inside of Facebook.
To get started with lead ads, run an ad and set the objective to “conversion.” Set the target Home page to a page that asks visitors for their email address.
Next, run a Facebook lead ad. This type of ad will open a Local lead generation strategies/local lead generation strategy form inside a user’s news feed. They can enter their contact information and submit the form without ever leaving Facebook.
To make this process smooth and easy, skip the manual export option and connect your managed Facebook ad account directly to your CRM.
This way, on the back end, your form will be connected to your CRM and your leads/local lead generation will be automatically tagged and segmented according to your CRM settings.
People love contests and giveaways when they provide real value. For instance, you’ve probably seen those giveaways where you can buy tickets for the drawing and the proceeds go to a charity. The potential to win an amazing prize is already enticing, but it’s even more enticing knowing the proceeds go to a good cause.
Your Home page will be the key to getting your leads to enter to win your giveaway. Here are the most effective elements to include on a giveaway page:
Contests are a bit more involved than a simple drawing, but they’re very effective and you can run a contest for just about anything. For instance, many organizations run PPC ads on Facebook for poetry contests that are judged by a single person, and this type of contest could be easily localized.
Some ideas for running contests include:
If you’re going to run a contest to promote your business, you definitely want to run PPC ads to get more entries and more attention. You never know who your ads will reach; if your contest is interesting enough it could even get picked up by the news like this live pottery competition.
Promotions are easy to promote through PPC ads. For instance, restaurants often run PPC ads for special events like open mic night, live music performances, and even just good deals on food.
To get the most out of these ideas, think about what kind of giveaway or contest you can run for your business. Once you have the logistics down, create a Home page for your promotion, contest, or event, and use it in your PPC ads. Just be sure your ad headline and image match your pages. It’s best to create your ad first, and then adjust your pages to match. This will ensure a smooth, connected experience for everyone who clicks on your ad.
If your product or service appeals to a global market, start creating landing pages for local areas and run your PPC ads to target various local audiences. For example, pick an area with multiple cities, like the Bay Area in California. Then, create one landing page for every major city. For instance, create landing pages for San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Fremont, Sunnyvale, and Walnut Creek to start.
Craft your sales copy on each city’s landing page to speak directly to that market. What you write will vary based on your products or services, but find ways to tie your service or product to local culture, attitudes, and familiarities. Speak to your target audience with as much specificity as possible.
Once you have your local landing pages, you can use them for more than just PPC ads. They can actually become an integral part of your overall local SEO strategy when optimized for local search and local SEO (search engine optimization). You can continue running PPC ads to your local landing pages, but they’ll also come up in search results and generate targeted, organic traffic.
Now you know some great strategies to generate local leads/local lead generation with PPC ads, but if you’re not used to running your own ads, getting things off the ground can feel a bit daunting.
If you’d like to start generating local leads/local lead generation through paid ads, we can help. At PPC.co, our team of experts can help you establish a competitive advantage in your local market, whether you need help with an existing campaign or you’re just getting started.
To speak with one of our PPC experts, contact us today and we’ll get you a free proposal based on your individual needs.
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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.
Ready to grow your leads and lower your cost per conversion?
Contact us today to schedule a free audit and discover how we can help you achieve similar results.
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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!
