Newsletters > Volume 2, Issue 3

New Player in Internet Marketing

Ever watch kids play video games? You know those controllers they use … they have more buttons than the cockpit of a 757.     And with all those buttons, they can tackle every type of situation, challenge or opportunity. If your business sells services instead of products, you may have thought the Internet Marketing controller had buttons mostly for the other guys … companies that sell products directly from their web sites.  You know you can’t make a sale from a click to your website. You need that phone to ring to qualify the prospect and discuss your range of services that meet that prospect’s needs.

Well, now there’s a new button on your Internet Marketing controller that’s designed specifically for service-based companies, called Pay-Per-Call. Now, talking clicks to contractors, attorneys, consultants or accountants is like trying to sell an 8 mile/gallon tank to a long range commuter. Talk to them about paying for phone calls from prospects rather than paying for clicks to their site … and suddenly you have a captive audience.

      So, here’s what to like …

• Much higher conversion rates (from leads to sales) than pay-per-click leads

• Overcome potential buying objectives

• Ability to up-sell and cross-sell

• Detailed, real-time call tracking and reporting

• No need for a website, although you can still utilize pay-per-call even if you have an existing web site

      And, here’s what to consider …

• Leads will cost more than pay-per-click leads

• The prospect does not call your regular 800 number, which may be disadvantageous to branding

• The big players (i.e., Google, Yahoo and MSN) have not yet adopted this technology, so your ads will be displayed on less traveled sites.

• Websites are open 24 hours/day – your office may not. Have good systems in place to handle off-hours calls

• Placement is based on bidding by business category, not individual keywords as in pay-per-click, which may limit your flexibility and have you competing for position in categories that are not the best fit for your services

Pay-per-call will not replace the pay-per-click business model, much as pay-per-clicks adoption did not kill email marketing. Just like those video game controllers, each button on the Internet Marketing Controller has a specific application for different actions with different objectives.

Pay-per-call does, however, help fill a void for many types of businesses that have not been able to share in the success of pay-per-click marketing.