Because Google Adwords is the market leader, it is often the only tool that businesses use for online advertising.  Depending on your product and niche, however, there are times when Adwords simply is not a cost-effective solution to acquire customers.  For example, the co-founder of internet sensation Dropbox recently shared that Adwords never made sense for the company.  Even after all of their optimization efforts, the cost per acquisition remained at more than $200 for a $99 product.

If your optimization efforts have also fallen short, it may be time to explore some alternatives to Adwords.  There are three that may be worth considering:

Facebook

Description: If measured purely by number of users, Facebook is among the closest to Google with more than 500 million registered users.   To find the users you’re interested in, Facebook allows you to target specific customer segments by age, gender, location and interests. 

Good fit: Facebook is worth a try if your product is consumer-oriented and you know a lot about your customers.  With this information, you should be able to easily target your niche and deliver high-quality traffic to your website.

Example: Wedding photographer targeting recently-engaged couples in Southern California.  

LinkedIn

Description: Because LinkedIn is an expensive option with a minimum CPC of $2.00, it is critical to optimize well.  Fortunately, the service allows you to target by industry, profession, age and geography.

Good fit: LinkedIn may be an appropriate option if your product or service is designed for professionals and has a high price point in order to recoup your costs.

Example: An enterprise software company targeting the key decision makers – CIOs and CEOs – of medium- to large-sized companies. 

Amazon Product Ads

Description: On each product page, Amazon offers “sponsored links” approximately halfway down the page.  While targeting is less specific, advertisers can select which product categories to focus on.  A minimum CPC is based on the category and the price of the original product.   

Good fit: To advertise on Amazon, your company must be selling a physical product – not a service.  In addition, it helps if your product fits nicely within Amazon’s categorization so you are targeting the right type of customers.  Because visitors are in the purchasing mindset, this is an ideal opportunity to advertise.

Example: A customer jewelry manufacturer selling pieces between the prices of $60 and $180.

While Adwords remains an important part of most companies’ advertising, I expect to see more diversification as these services, and others, become more mature.    

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