PPC Marketing

Pay-Per-Click
Strategy Outlook Report
What search engine marketing
success will look like in the year ahead
and how marketers plan to achieve it.

Client Connection Research™ conducted by Ascend2 and Research Partners

Pay-Per-Click Strategy Outlook Report
Client Connection Research™ conducted by Ascend2 and Research Partners.

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You may adapt, copy, distribute and transmit this work. However, you must attribute the work as produced by Ascend2 and its Research Partners but not in
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PPC Strategy Outlook Report
Table of Contents
How are PPC marketers keeping up with major changes? 4
Survey data limited to current or prospective PPC marketers 6
Room for improvement achieving PPC objectives 7
The most important PPC objectives correspond with the PPC funnel 8
Thriving PPC industry creating intense competition for keywords 9
Enhanced Campaigns a major change for PPC marketers 10
Are PPC tactics ranking low in effectiveness missed opportunities? 11
Degree of difficulty often trumps the use of effective tactics 12
Testing and optimizing PPC campaigns is most effective and most difficult 13
Degree of difficulty limits the extent of testing for majority of marketers 14
The gains of outsourcing all or part of PPC campaigns 15
How much companies budget for paid search marketing 16
PPC Survey methodologies and demographics 17
About Ascend2 19
The Client Connection Research™ Process 20

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PPC Strategy Outlook Report
How are PPC marketers keeping up with major changes?
The PPC marketing industry is thriving but major changes, such as Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns, are
challenging marketers to keep up.
What will paid search marketing success look like in the year ahead, and how do marketers plan to achieve it?
To find out, Ascend2 and its Research Partners fielded the PPC Marketing Survey and completed interviews
with 421 business leaders, marketing executives and marketing practitioners from around the world. We thank
these busy professionals for sharing their valuable insights with you.
This research sheds light on the most important objectives of paid search and the most challenging obstacles to
achieving them. It also provides a surprising look at PPC tactics. For example, the study found that the most
effective tactic is also the most difficult tactic to execute, severely limiting its use.
This Client Connection Research™ has been produced by Ascend2 and its Research Partners for your use. Put it
to work in your own marketing strategy planning and presentation materials. Clip the charts and write about
them in your blog or post them on social media. Use this research however you like, credited as published.
Sergio Balegno
Chief Strategy Officer

PS: White label research reports branded for marketing services firms are available in research segments that
correspond with prospective client markets. Learn how a Research Partner Program generates agency demand.

4
PPC marketing strategy outlook summary
The charts in this report average the sum of all responses. The data has not been segmented so results
represent a high level view of the PPC marketing landscape you can use to examine how your strategy
compares with marketing industry averages.

5
Survey data in this report is limited to marketers
currently using PPC or planning to in the year ahead.
While a diverse range of experience with PPC
marketing was sought for this research, the
data used in the following charts was limited to
respondents who are currently using PPC or are
planning to use it in the year ahead.
For the 8% of the survey panel who indicated
they are not currently using PPC and are not
planning to in the year ahead, the survey came
to an end.

6
There is much room for improvement with two-thirds
of marketers somewhat successful and 18 percent not
successful at achieving their important PPC objectives.

7
The most important PPC objectives – increasing leads,
conversions and sales revenue – correspond with the
top, middle and bottom of the PPC marketing funnel.

8
The PPC industry is thriving, creating intense
competition for the most popular keywords and
driving the corresponding cost-per-clicks skyward.

9
Making the transition to Google AdWords Enhanced
Campaigns has created a major change for marketers.
A small percent believe drawbacks outweigh benefits.

10
Using PPC in social media channels and automating bid
management rank low in effectiveness. But are these
tactics missed opportunities?

11
This is an important question because the degree of
difficulty to execute a tactic often trumps the use of
even the most effective tactics.

12
Testing and optimizing PPC campaigns is the most
effective tactic used, and the most difficult to execute.

13
While testing and optimizing PPC campaigns is the most
effective way to improve results, degree of difficulty
limits the extent of testing for a majority of marketers.

14
More than half of companies outsource all or part of
their PPC campaigns, gaining access to higher levels of
specialized expertise and performance.

15
Nearly one-third of the companies surveyed budget
more than $5,000 per month for paid search
marketing across all search engines.

16
Survey methodologies and demographics
Ascend2’s Client Connection Research™ surveys are conducted online from a panel of 50,000 US and
international marketing decision-makers and practitioners representing a range of contact roles, company
types, sizes and geographic regions. The questionnaire used is standardized to incorporate Client Connection
Research™ methodologies across all studies while maintaining our proven 3-Minute Survey format. Survey
findings are examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts, segmented by selected criteria and
reported on objectively.

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Survey respondent and company demographics

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About Ascend2

Connecting Agencies to Prospective Clients with the Power of Research

Marketing agencies and marketing automation firms partner with Ascend2 to generate new business
opportunities. An integrated research, content creation and lead generation process delivers richly qualified
leads while positioning your marketing firm as a thought-leader for solving a client's specific challenges.
White label research reports branded for marketing services firms are available in research segments that
correspond with prospective client markets. Learn how a Research Partner Program generates demand for
marketing agencies and marketing automation firms at www.Ascend2.com

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The Client Connection Research™ Process by Ascend2.
Connecting agencies to prospective clients with the power of research.

The goal is to generate more prospective client

opportunities for marketing agencies and marketing
automation firms using an integrated research,
content creation and demand generation process.
The Client Connection Research™ process generates
richly qualified and profiled new business
opportunities at both the research survey and
content marketing stages.

White label research reports branded for marketing

services firms are available in research segments that
correspond with targeted audiences on:
 Social Media Marketing
 Lead Generation
 Content Marketing
 Email Marketing
 Organic Search (SEO)
 Landing Page Optimization
 Inbound Marketing
 Paid Search (PPC)
 Web Analytics and more

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