Bahrain PPC Advertising
PPC advertising has been steadily increasing in the last decade as a leading form of advertising for all kinds of business and entrepreneurial endeavors. With a consistent global decline in cable TV media consumption, advertisement has had to find a new place to dominate- through PPC advertising in search engines, used by billions around the world multiple times a day.
One of the main advantages of PPC advertising is its global nature- PPC advertising traverses borders to provide access to markets all over the world. However, PPC advertising is a gamble- and if you don’t know your audience well, you can end up losing more than you’ll get back.
The following article will break down PPC advertising in the MENA region, and in Bahrain specifically, and show you exactly how IstiZada can help make your PPC campaigns in the region a success.
What is PPC advertising?
PPC ads are mostly seen on Google or other search engines. When you google a query, you’ll see ads or sponsored links pop up at the top of your search results. These are PPC ads.
PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. Essentially, to have their ads placed on web search results pages, companies will make a “bid” which stipulates the amount they’ll pay per click on their ad. It’s important to understand that it is the company or business that pays per click to the ad, so clicks that won’t draw revenue can end up losing you money in the long run. PPC ads need to be carefully worded and placed to ensure that each click will drive revenue in the short or long term. A higher bid will get better ad placement, a lower bid worse placement. Bidding on ads requires careful analysis of your target market for success.
Why Advertise in Bahrain
Unlike KSA, the UAE, or Kuwait, Bahrain isn’t one of the headliners for business in the MENA region. However, this lesser-known Arab country has a thriving, young business economy that holds a ton of potential for PPC advertising.
Bahrain is a diverse region culturally, ethnically, and religiously. The country is small but densely populated. The population is over half expatriates, mostly Middle Eastern, but some South Asian. Arabic, Persian, and Urdu are commonly spoken.
76% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64, with the remaining majority under 15. The median age in Bahrain is 33 years old. The young and diverse working population of Bahrain makes it an excellent market for advertising. In addition, as of January 2024, internet penetration was at 99%. There is no shortage of users in this country!
Mistakes to Avoid with PPC Advertising in Bahrain
Wording and language comprise the main issues when it comes to designing PPC advertising campaigns in foreign countries. Bahrain is no different. Arabic is the main spoken language, and this can be a hard language to translate to and from. Google Translate won’t be able to help you. An expert in the language is necessary to make sure you’re wording your ads appropriately and persuasively enough to drive revenue.
It’s not as simple as just getting the words right- grammatic emphases on certain “call to action” words such as “buy” or “find” in Arabic can help you ensure you’re leaving a clear impression and next steps with your audience. Ads need to be both informative and guiding—semantics are key in advertising!
Beyond the language, cultural and technical awareness is important in placing PPC ads. Strategies to drive revenue differ region to region. Specific knowledge gives you an edge over competitors, and a lack of specific knowledge can cause problems with ad placement, content, and ultimately effectiveness.
If you are running a PPC campaign in Bahrain and have not yet considered extending it to social media channels, this could be a missed opportunity. While PPC ads traditionally show up in search query results, they can also be strategically placed on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and drive up visits and likes to your brand’s page when clicked. Considering that 98.7% of Bahrain’s population are active social media users, you could certainly expect strong results with a social media PPC campaign.
IstiZada’s Role
If the above difficulties concern you, it’s worth looking into finding someone with region-specific expertise to help you with PPC campaigns. IstiZada provides a number of services that can take the guesswork out of your campaigns, and make the transition to a foreign market smoother.
The team at IstiZada is the cream of the crop when it comes to knowing about the business world in the MENA region. They have both the linguistic and cultural expertise to ensure your PPC advertising campaigns in Bahrain are properly written and targeted. Our team has real experience living and doing business in the Middle East, and fluency in the Arab language beyond what you can learn in school. You can ensure ads conceived with the help of IstiZada will be properly worded and targeted. Additionally, given that 65% of the total web traffic in Bahrain comes from mobile phones (compared to 33% from desktops or laptops), our team of experts is well-prepared to ensure that your PPC ads look just as appealing to mobile users as they do anywhere else.
IstiZada’s team is results driven. Campaigns with IstiZada are designed with goals in mind, and consistently analyzed and assessed to see how better they can meet those goals. Region-specific knowledge by campaign leaders can help beyond language to inform you about proper ad placement, timing, and bidding potential.
All in all, Bahrain poses itself as an excellent country to extend your PPC advertising campaigns to. It’s thriving young population and high internet use make it an ideal target market for many businesses, and IstiZada can help you design a successful campaign every step of the way.
