What PPC lessons can we learn from 2023? 

It's the year when Google rolled out Demand Gen Campaigns. The year when Apple introduced link tracking protection on iOS17 to enhance user privacy. And the year when reduced and flat marketing budgets put a strain on paid media teams across the globe.  

Persistent demands to "do more with less" throughout 2023 required creativity and fresh strategies to try and reach revenue goals. Pumping more and more money into ad platforms until targets are hit simply isn't an option. So in 2024, paid media efficiency matters more than ever.  

With that in mind what processes, practices, and technologies can you put in place to deliver maximum value with your ad budget this year? 

To help you refine your strategy for Q1 and beyond, we reached out to 24 PPC specialists and asked them a series of questions about their wins, challenges, and lessons learned from 2022: 

• What paid media strategy worked so well for you in 2023 that you're planning to double down on it in 2024?
• What was your biggest paid media challenge in 2023?
• What emerging paid media trends will you be paying attention to in 2024?
• The responses to each question are categorised under the 4 subheadings below.

Use the contents table on the left hand side to skip to the sections you’re most interested in and start making notes that will help you maximise your return on ad spend in 2024. 

What paid media strategy worked so well for you in 2023 that you're planning to double down on it in 2024?

Specific tactics may change with every new update from Google and the social platforms, but general overarching strategies tend to have a longer shelf-life. Here are the approaches that worked well for our experts last year.

What was your biggest paid media challenge in 2023?

Extracting important insights from poorer performing months and failed experiments can stop you falling prey to the same PPC pitfalls in the future. Here are the things our experts worked to overcome last year:

What emerging paid media trends will you be paying attention to in 2024?

Meta Advantage+ campaigns are rapidly increasing in popularity. Google Consent Mode V2 is about to become mandatory for any brand advertising to audiences in Europe. And Google are (finally) set to deprecate third-party cookies in H2 2024 which will cause conversion tracking chaos for some. With such significant changes on the horizon, what things were on the forefront of our experts minds as they look to the future?

2024 PPC: Making your budget go further

In a recent webinar, we spoke to Abraham Moreno-Riano, Paid Media Manager at DeVry University, about maximising performance marketing efficiency. You can watch the recording of the session below.

Over the course of 2023, Abraham and his team achieved a 13% increase in conversion rate, 11% decrease in CPA, and a 7% decrease in cost per lead. In the session, he outlines the tools and approaches that helped deliver these results. Expect to learn:

• Tips for landing page and conversion rate optimisation
• A/B testing best practices
• How to enhance your exclusion targeting criteria
• How to cut LinkedIn CPCs in half
• How to allocate your budget for maximum ROAS... and more
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If you’d prefer to read a written version of the webinar, check out the blog below, complete with a TL;DR section of key takeaways if you’re short on time.

PPC budgeting guide 2024: Stop wasted ad spend [webinar]