“Ohhhh, no he didn’t. Is he…talking about the 1,000-pound gorilla in the back of the room? Does he know the force is strong within Regus? What dark secret will he share all over the web? Bum-bummmmm-bummmmmmmm.”

Today we are going to stir things up a little bit and share some data.

Not just any data. Data from Regus. Now before we get there — there are a couple things to know. First, data is the only currency with true value. Money comes and goes, but data only grows. Second, we’re putting Regus under the spotlight because every other marketing meeting our digital ad agency (Treehouse 51) has they compare themselves to Regus. Sigh. Regus, we’re about to tear down your walls. Third, and possibly the most important, leverage this data and you can compete with Regus. Ignore this data and you will be left behind.

3 PPC Secrets Regus Doesn’t Want You To Know

1. What The Heck Is PPC Managment?

First things first let’s make sure we all understand what PPC is. PPC stands for Pay-per-click. These are ads that pop up first in search results. They look like the image below.

PPC Managment typically requires…

Keyword Research
Competitor Research
Market Research
Write the Ad Copy
Testing The Ad Copy
Optimizing Bids
Landing Page Optimization

PPC is NOT SEO.

SEO is a long term strategy where you’re creating content, building back-links, and targeting keywords in your strategy. PPC is about having a digital ad spend (depending on the size of your center and its location a healthy monthly PPC budget to spend JUST ON ADS is between $750-1,200). If done right, PPC will provide forecastable results. I.e. if you spend $1,000 you can expect to get X amount of clicks within your market.

Market and location are very important. A brand based in Kansas will generally spend less on PPC than one in New York. Location impacts PPC costs…and guess what…so do YOU.

REGUS SECRET NUMBER ONE: Google doesn’t set the prices on keywords. It’s an open market. Users place bids on keywords and Google goes with it. Meaning, if we are both going after the same keyword, “Guitar Lessons” and I say it’s worth $10.00 but you say it’s worth $5.00 and my ad wins the click I just pay 1 cent more than the lowest bid — $5.01.

Not a bad deal, right? Next time you’re thinking of bidding, don’t let Regus scare you off with their deep pockets.

2. How Should Your Brand Be Using PPC?

The same way Regus does — KINDA. One of Regus’ most popular keyword is “Business Mailing Address.” It brings in traffic about 5700 clicks per month at a relatively low cost $4.82.

Why do I say, “Kinda?” The screenshot above shows the exact copy Regus has been running since last year. With over 5,000 clicks I’m willing to bet some leads are repeat clicks — who have seen this exact copy since last year. Your mission is to SPICE IT UP A BIT. Make that copy engaging, fun, creative. For the love of pizza (and everyone loves pizza), rotate your ads.

REGUS SECRET NUMBER TWO: The reality is you probably can’t hang money-wise with Regus, but creative wise, why not? Our 1,000-pound gorilla has no control over the content you create and that is where YOU have the ultimate edge. Make your copy SING.

3. Does PPC Actually Work?

Yes. Si. Oui. Ja. Ken.

Maybe this question should have come up sooner? PPC works. In fact, Google’s entire revenue stream is based on Adwords. But how do you go about this? “What’s the exact formula I need to follow Kirk?”

Address The Following Consumer Actions When Creating Ads:

I want to know…
I want to buy…
I want to watch…
I want to find…

REGUS SECRET NUMBER THREE: High converting ads will have 3 parts in common: Right Person x Right Time x Right Message. Optimize for these factors.

Don’t compete with Regus. They may be a competitor but they are not a relevant competitor. They’ve reached Utopia where they spend millions of dollars hammering ads out on the web to stay on top. That’s one way to do it. But not the only way. Align yourself against local competitors those will have bigger impacts on what you should be doing better in your marketing.