How can you balance your E-Commerce PPC budget across platforms and channels?

1 Know your goals and KPIs

Before you start spending money on PPC ads, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure your success. Do you want to increase sales, leads, brand awareness, or something else? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect your goals, such as conversion rate, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, or impressions? Having specific and realistic goals and KPIs will help you plan your budget and optimize your campaigns.

2 Choose the right platforms and channels

Not all platforms and channels are created equal when it comes to PPC advertising. Depending on your target audience, product, niche, and goals, some platforms and channels may perform better than others. For example, if you sell high-end jewelry, you may want to focus on Google Shopping, Instagram, and Pinterest, rather than Facebook or Twitter. If you sell software, you may want to use Google Search, LinkedIn, and YouTube, rather than Snapchat or TikTok. To choose the right platforms and channels, you need to research your market, competitors, and customers, and test different options.

3 Allocate your budget based on performance and potential

Once you have chosen the platforms and channels that suit your E-Commerce business, you need to allocate your budget based on their performance and potential. Performance refers to how well each platform and channel delivers on your KPIs, such as conversions, revenue, or ROI. Potential refers to how much room there is for growth and improvement on each platform and channel, such as reach, traffic, or engagement. A simple way to allocate your budget based on performance and potential is to use the BCG matrix, which divides your platforms and channels into four categories: stars, question marks, cash cows, and dogs. Stars are high-performance and high-potential platforms and channels that deserve the most investment. Question marks are low-performance and high-potential platforms and channels that require experimentation and optimization. Cash cows are high-performance and low-potential platforms and channels that generate steady returns but have limited growth opportunities. Dogs are low-performance and low-potential platforms and channels that should be minimized or eliminated.

4 Monitor and adjust your budget regularly

Balancing your E-Commerce PPC budget across platforms and channels is not a one-time task. It is a continuous process that requires regular monitoring and adjustment. You need to track your results, analyze your data, and compare your performance against your goals and KPIs. You also need to keep an eye on the market trends, customer behavior, and competitor actions that may affect your PPC campaigns. Based on your findings, you may need to increase, decrease, or redistribute your budget across platforms and channels to optimize your results and ROI.

5 Experiment and learn from your failures

Finally, balancing your E-Commerce PPC budget across platforms and channels is not an exact science. It is a creative and iterative process that involves trial and error, experimentation and learning, and failure and success. You should not be afraid to try new things, test different hypotheses, and learn from your mistakes. You should also be open to feedback, suggestions, and insights from your team, customers, and peers. By experimenting and learning from your failures, you can discover new opportunities, improve your skills, and grow your business.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?