Shotgun vs. Sniper Rifle

You don’t need to know much about firearms to understand the difference between shotgun marketing and sniper advertising.

Simply put, a shotgun blast fires many pellets at once, covering a wide area, thereby increasing your chances of hitting something.

Conversely, a sniper uses a rifle, which fires a single bullet with the intention of hitting a precise target right where it counts.

When does shotgun advertising work?

On a smaller scale, anyone who has ever taken home a free, branded yardstick, flyswatter, magnet, or frisbee from a tradeshow or state fair (or filled out a form to get one) has been “blasted” with a marketing shotgun. That approach is not necessarily a losing proposition for the advertiser, who has now gotten their name and contact info into your hands relatively cheaply.

So how does that work in PPC marketing? Well, if you’re Coca-Cola, Ford, Doritos, or anyone else with a colossal demographic and Super Bowl-sized advertising budget, it never hurts to keep blasting your brand out there without spending too much time worrying about where the message goes or who’s seeing it.

But if you’re a smaller company with a more specialized product or service, you have other considerations. It costs money to fire those “shots,” whether shotgun or rifle, so you need to make sure you’re hitting your mark every time.

If we’re talking about targeted PPC advertising, you need a trained sniper.

While it’s true that any time you put your brand and contact info online you’re hoping as many people as possible will see it and respond, you also need to factor in lead quality. Most businesses don’t have the time, resources, or, frankly, the patience to answer endless queries from people who don’t have the capability or intention to buy.

Now let’s pretend you’re selling high-end real estate, or sewing machines, or even goat food. In a shotgun scenario, your ads might be seen by scores of people who have no interest in or need for any of those products, which means you’ve wasted precious time and money taking those shots.

Enter the Griffin Ads group sniper.

Just as military snipers are trained to hit only specialized targets, PPC advertisers subscribe to the same philosophy. And just like snipers, we have to know a lot more than just how to aim and pull a trigger.

• Our client: We study our clients inside and out, utilizing an onboarding process that helps us identify their mission, ethic, short- and long-term goals, target demographic, avatar, etc.
• The target: Our demographic deep dives tell us what motivates, scares, inspires, amuses, angers, and interests — the avatar we’re going to sell your product to.
• The landscape: As a Premier Google Partner and Bing Ads Accredited Professional, we know the PPC landscape inside and out. But more than that, we recognize that the only thing certain about the PPC landscape is that it’s ever-changing.
• We do more than roll with the punches: Although we’re as adaptable as they come, we strive to be anticipatory through constant study, measurement, and testing.
• The keywords: We know more than how to just get you a high, page-one ranking (which is pretty good all by itself). We also know how to use the right keywords to bring in high-quality leads who intend to buy.
• A comprehensive knowledge of Google AdWords’ tools and features – Kind of like the PPC landscape, Google’s offerings and methods are subject to frequent change, which can be frustrating to business owners who already have more than enough on their plates. But, this seeming frustration is actually one of the things we love best about Google — whenever they find a way to do something better, we all win.

At Griffin Ads group, we are PPC advertising snipers who don’t waste your time or money focusing on the wrong target. Our fieldwork is extensive, our methods are precise, and our aim is true. Reach out any time to find out more about our specialized PPC marketing.