Ink in Action: Why Paid Search Works for Tattoo Artists & Shops

Standing out in a crowded marketplace means that you need to clearly communicate the style of art you offer. Whether you specialize in realism, American traditional, fine line, watercolor, Japanese, or any other style, there are clients out there looking for your art. 

A pay-per-click digital marketing strategy is an effective way to match your specialized tattoo services to the potential clients who are specifically looking for your kind of tattoo art. It increases the bookings to your business with less hands-on marketing time from you. 

We’ll cover the main ways this strategy helps tattoo artists attract clients and secure bookings. 

PPC Management Services for Tattoo Businesses

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a fast way for tattoo shops and artists to reach their ideal tattoo clients. Your business pays for an ad that appears at the top of organic search results when people search for tattoo artists in your area. 

PPC advertising works alongside your SEO marketing efforts. While search engine optimization efforts take time to gather steam, PPC provides an immediate boost to your online presence among potential customers who are actively searching for tattoo art in your area.

With PPC, you only pay for new clients who actually click on your ad from their search results page. Since you set your own budget, it’s also a great way to build immediate traffic to your business while staying within your marketing spend. Tracking these clicks and conversions helps you maximize ROI and build on previous successes. 

There’s a lot of detail that goes into creating a winning PPC strategy. It’s not enough to just commit marketing budget to PPC — you need to specifically target the audience most likely to be interested in your services, and write copy that’s likely to get their attention.

That’s where working with a full-service digital marketing agency like SEO Design Chicago can help you make the most of your marketing efforts without overspending. 

Google Ads — Paid Search for Tattoo Artists

Google Ads for tattoo shops are one of the most effective marketing strategies for tattoo studios. Google Ads leverages Google’s massive advertising network to display your ads to the most interested customers.

Google Ads can take several forms:

• Display advertising — Image-based ads that display on YouTube, blogs, social media, and websites participating in the Google Ad network
• Search ads — Text-based ads that appear at the top of organic search results 
• Retargeting campaigns — Ads that specifically target people who have interacted with your brand previously but haven’t booked an appointment
• Video campaigns — Short video ads that inspire people searching for their next tattoo

With SEO Design Chicago, we’ll research the segment of tattoo culture that’s most interested in your specialized art. We’ll customize your marketing to attract these highly interested customers through online ads, bringing you a steady stream of new inquiries and bookings directly from the internet. 

Even better, your tattoo shop’s digital marketing is continuously tracked on a customized dashboard that you have 24/7 access to. This means that you can track the success of your tailored marketing efforts in real time. 

Targeted Display Advertising for Tattoo Studios

Targeted display advertising is a type of online advertising that can be managed through Google Ads and integrated into your broader social media marketing strategy. These ads show specific tattoo-related content based on a searcher’s browsing history and search terms. 

This set of marketing tactics tends to have a high ROI because it focuses on a narrow segment of the market. This is a good approach for tattoo shop owners, as your goal is to reach clients who are interested in your particular specialty. If you are at the top of your game in watercolor tattoos, it makes more sense to spend your marketing budget reaching the customers who want that style. If your marketing reach is too wide, you will be targeting clients who might not be interested in what you offer. 

As you might imagine, targeted display advertising depends on careful data gathering to reach the right customer at the right time. When done correctly, this type of marketing campaign makes your business the obvious choice. 

Bing Advertising — Bing Ads for Tattoo Parlors

So far, we’ve covered Google’s massive online ecosystem for boosting your profile in the tattoo industry. Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of Bing advertising for local businesses, though. In fact, PPC advertising for tattoo shops should leverage all local networks available, since tattoo customers are inherently local.

Bing Ads function similarly to Google Ads. You bid on keywords to create search or display ads. The good news is that Bing Ads tend to be less expensive than Google Ads. This helps boost your tattoo brand across all Microsoft-owned properties, including Bing and Yahoo. 

We always recommend a multi-channel approach for local businesses looking to get more bookings. Expanding onto Bing takes relatively little additional investment and helps bring more walk-ins and bookings.

FAQ: Boost Visibility for Local Tattoo Shops

Tattoo marketing is a complex process. Not only do you have all the concerns of any local business, but you also need to make connections with the people most interested in your art. 

As a full-service digital marketing agency, we understand all the ins and outs of reaching a specific niche interest online. We can quickly and efficiently design a multi-channel strategy that reaches the most interested clients and sets up your business to get an automatic stream of bookings, walk-ins, and inquiries. This lets you get back to perfecting and practicing your art! 

Give us a call to discuss your business goals. In the meantime, take a look at some of the frequently asked questions about tattoo studio marketing. 

What is paid search, and how does it help tattoo shops?

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing allows businesses to allocate a certain amount of money to “bid” on particular keywords. When local customers search for these particular keywords, an ad for your business is displayed above the organic search results.

This helps your business get first exposure to potential clients who are specifically searching for a new tattoo in your area. It’s a highly effective way to get new bookings quickly. 

Are Google Ads effective for tattoo artists and studios?

Yes! Google Ads are a part of PPC services that target high-intent searches. This means that when someone turns to the internet for tattoo inspiration or to book an appointment, your business is shown first and most prominently. 

In other words, it means that searches for “tattoo artist near me” will be routed to your services, resulting in more bookings. 

How much should tattoo studios spend on paid advertising?

Paid advertising is one of the best tattoo studio marketing strategies because it allows you to customize your budget. A flexible ad spend ranging from $300–$1,000/month is usually a good place to start for most local businesses. Your campaigns can be more effective as you identify which keywords result in the most bookings and you refine your strategy month to month. 

Keep in mind that your internet marketing strategies deliver more inquiries, bookings, and walk-ins directly to your business. This means that you have a steady stream of new customers coming to your studio, and you can focus your time on creating beautiful ink for your clients, which directly leads to more revenue for your business. 

What’s the difference between SEO and PPC for tattoo shops?

Search engine optimization is a long-term strategy that focuses on improving visibility over time. It builds your online reputation through keyword-rich content marketing, technical optimization, and link building. It’s the best way to position your business as the authority for your niche within the tattoo industry, but it generally takes several months to start producing measurable gains. 

By contrast, PPC delivers immediate leads because your business pays for prominent spots in search engine results. This gives you an instant boost to bookings and walk-ins.

A winning approach for tattoo shops and artists features a combination of paid and organic search strategies. We recommend detailed tracking and analytics to refine your campaigns as you go and make sure each element of your strategy is working seamlessly together. 

Can PPC campaigns target my preferred tattoo styles (e.g., realism, fine line)?

PPC is the perfect solution for niche marketing! The tattoo market can be fiercely competitive, and market saturation is easy to reach in smaller cities. By directing your marketing budget to clients searching for preferred styles, you match your artwork to the most interested searchers.

For example, if you’re the best fine line artist in the city, your marketing efforts should focus on that niche. PPC campaigns can be refined to focus on small subgroups of searches based on geographic area and specific keywords. This makes PPC a highly effective way to get immediate bookings and showcase what makes you different from other tattoo shops in your area — even if they have a larger marketing budget or a more established local presence than you do. 

 

 

Schedule your free call to take your tattoo shop marketing to the next level with SEO Design Chicago!