Holistic Paid Marketing: How to make PPC and Email Work Together

The digital marketing terrain is shifting beneath our feet. Gone are the days when you could run a killer pay-per-click (PPC) campaign or email outreach, both in isolation, and call it a day. Today, you would discover that channel integration is vital for a successful campaign. Holistic paid marketing is key! 

But what exactly is it? And how do they work together?

First, picture the traditional siloed approach where your PPC team works in one corner and your email team in another, the two never meeting at all. Holistic paid marketing breaks down those walls by creating a unified strategy where every channel amplifies the others. This integration creates a compound effect that can dramatically increase your return on investment (ROI)!

In this article, we’ll share what you need to know about holistic paid marketing.

Integrating PPC and Email Marketing

It’s no secret: Digital marketing is crucial for connecting with stakeholders and boosting conversions. It has five core pillars: search, content, social, PPC, and email. While each plays a critical role, the real impact occurs when they work together.

But when it comes to online marketing integration, PPC and email marketing stand out. These campaigns are best combined for holistic paid marketing. In fact, the American Marketing Association cited these tactics as among the top digital marketing strategies for 2025:

How do you draw the line between the two? 

PPC marketing involves placing targeted ads in front of the right audience at the right time to deliver online visibility. Meanwhile, email outreach entails nurturing those leads to open communication and build trust. When integrated, they both create a seamless marketing flow!

Now, this begs the nagging questions: Is paid search dying? Are emails already outdated? What if we combine PPC and email marketing? Read below.

Where PPC and email overlap in the funnel

It’s easy to see digital marketers leveraging PPC and SEO or content and social media marketing. But what about combining PPC and email marketing for holistic paid marketing?

To understand how PPC and email can work together, you need to map the customer journey. Then, identify the natural intersection points where these channels can amplify each other. 

Remember, the modern customer journey comprises a web of touchpoints spanning awareness, consideration, decision, and retention phases. 

That said, here’s where integration opportunities typically emerge:

• Awareness → Consideration: PPC builds reach, email nurtures.
• Consideration → Decision: Reinforce messaging across both channels.
• Decision → Purchase: Combine timely offers with automated reminders.
• Post-purchase → Advocacy: Use retargeting and loyalty emails to spark repeat sales.

The key insight here? These touchpoints serve as data collection moments for conversion opportunities. Every interaction provides intelligence that makes both channels more innovative and effective over time.

Why PPC + email = A winning combo

To begin, let’s examine what each channel does best: 

PPC excels at instant reach and surgical targeting. With this in place, you can get in front of your ideal customer within hours of launching a campaign. That’s why companies spent over $190 billion on the channel last year, while mid-sized businesses invest $9,000 to $10,000.

Email marketing is your relationship-building powerhouse. It connects with people, nurtures prospects over time, helps build trust, and turns prospects into customers. 4.37 billion people use email almost daily. From a business perspective, it generates $36 for every one dollar spent.

Here’s the problem with channel silos: 

When your PPC and email teams operate independently, you’re leaving money on the table. Your PPC campaigns might be driving high-quality traffic that bounces because there’s no follow-up mechanism. Meanwhile, your email campaigns might be performing well, but you’re missing opportunities to amplify their reach through paid promotion.

That’s where PPC and email marketing integration can work wonders. This integration translates to metrics you care about most:

• Lower acquisition costs – Stretch budgets further by combining efforts.
• Higher lifetime value – Keep customers engaged across touchpoints.
• Clearer attribution – Track the fundamental drivers of conversions.
• Less wasted spend – Double down on what’s working.

The bottom line? When PPC and email work together, they create a marketing ecosystem. Ultimately, this integration is deemed more efficient and effective than the sum of its parts.

How To Integrate PPC and Email Campaigns

Digital marketing shows no signs of slowing down in business. Its worldwide market is forecasted to grow from $410.66 billion in 2024 to $1.19 trillion by 2033 at 11.22% a compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Knowing the value of PPC and email is one thing; bringing them together effectively is another. Integration entails running both channels at the same time but it also involves making sure they complement each other. You need to establish an email outreach and PPC campaign structure.

Aligning audiences, coordinating messages, connecting the right tools, and measuring your performance can create a seamless customer journey. Here’s how you can make that integration both practical and impactful.

1. Align audiences

Start by syncing your audience definitions across channels. Your PPC personas should match your email segments. Use the same demographic, behavioral, and interest-based criteria to ensure consistent targeting. Export email subscriber data to create custom audiences for PPC platforms, and use PPC traffic to continuously expand your email lists.

Jesse Morgan, Affiliate Marketing Manager at Event Tickets Center, suggests conducting market research and analysis. He believes it’s crucial to match your integrated PPC-email campaign with your target audience.

Morgan says, “The key is knowing exactly who you want to reach and how they move through the funnel. When your PPC and email campaigns are built around the same audience insights, every touchpoint feels more relevant and effective. That alignment is what turns separate tactics into a cohesive strategy.”

2. Coordinate messaging

In your digital marketing campaign, the message is the most important. Whether you’re writing impactful PPC headlines or compelling email messages, the content should resonate with your target audiences.

Leigh McKenzie, Community Advocate at Traffic Think Tank, emphasizes the role of message alignment in holistic paid marketing. “Messaging is where campaigns win or lose. When PPC and email tell the same story, you create clarity, consistency, and trust with your audience. That harmony is what turns attention into action.”

To make this happen, build a unified content calendar that coordinates themes across channels. Let PPC ads reinforce recent email campaigns, while email content expands on what’s working in PPC. This kind of consistency strengthens recognition and builds credibility as prospects move through the journey.

3. Connect technology

This step is where the nuts and bolts come in. There are three integration methods you can apply right away:

• Lead sync – Route PPC leads directly into email nurture flows.
• Audience loops – Build lookalike audiences from your email lists.
• Behavioral triggers – Launch PPC follow-ups based on email engagement.

The goal is to create a closed-loop system where each channel feeds data into the other. This enables smarter targeting and deeper personalization over time.

Eric Do Couto, Head of Marketing at Visualping, underscores the importance of technological integration. This integration is also what they aim to achieve for their clients who are invested in holistic paid marketing. 

Couto shares, “Technology is what makes true integration possible. When your PPC and email platforms talk to each other, you move from guesswork to precision. That connectivity is what unlocks scale and efficiency.”

4. Measure success

Measuring success gets tricky when PPC and email work hand in hand. Traditional last-click attribution doesn’t tell the whole story. For example, when someone clicks a PPC ad, engages with a few nurture emails, sees a retargeting ad, and finally converts through an email link.

That’s why you need to look at both email metrics and PPC KPIs together. Track blended customer acquisition costs, lifetime value by channel, and cross-channel conversion rates to understand how the two work in tandem.

Anna Zhang, Head of Marketing at U7BUY, highlights the value of better measurement in digital marketing campaigns. “Attribution is no longer about a single touch but about the whole journey. When you combine PPC and email metrics, you see how each channel influences the other. That visibility is what helps you optimize for true ROI.”

Below are the key metrics and monitoring checklist to consider:

Primary KPIs:

• Blended CAC across both channels
• LTV by initial touchpoint
• Cross-channel conversion + engagement rates
• Revenue by channel (attribution-adjusted)

Secondary KPIs:

• Email list growth from PPC traffic
• PPC performance using email-derived audiences
• Message consistency across touchpoints
• Time-to-conversion by channel combo

Attribution tracking checklist:

• Use UTM conventions to tag both channels + campaigns.
• Set micro + macro conversion goals.
• Map customer journeys in your analytics tool.
• Build custom reports for cross-channel impact.
• Benchmark before integration for precise comparisons.

Best Practices for Digital Marketers

When it comes to digital marketing, PPC and email work best together. However, the success depends on how you manage the details. That’s why you need some PPC and email marketing tips to increase your conversions.

Remember, the best practices ensure your integration strategy runs as smoothly as possible. They serve as practical guardrails that keep your marketing on track and focused on ROI. That said, here’s what to keep in mind:

Do’s and Don’ts:

If you’re ready to launch your integrated campaigns, below are the dos and don’ts that separate successful integration from expensive experiments:

Do’s	Don’ts
Start small by testing one integration first. Keep branding + voice consistent across channels. Use progressive profiling to collect data over time. Automate workflows to reduce manual effort. Hold regular syncs between PPC + email teams.	Integrate everything at once as complexity slows results. Forget frequency capping so you don’t overwhelm audiences. Split conversion goals to keep them unified across campaigns. Overlook mobile optimization for both channels.

Team collaboration tips:

• Use shared Slack channels for real-time updates.
• Create joint campaign briefs with goals, messaging, and KPIs.
• Run weekly cross-team reviews to share insights + wins.

Recommended tech stack:

• CDPs (e.g., Segment, mParticle) for unified audiences.
• Marketing automation (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo) for integration.
• Analytics tools with custom attribution modeling.
• Project management platforms for launch coordination.

Integration starter checklist:

• Audit email segments + create matching PPC audiences.
• Standardize UTM tagging across campaigns.
• Repurpose high-performing email content for PPC ads.
• Set up automated lead routing PPC → email.
• Capture baseline performance before rollout.
• Schedule weekly joint performance reviews.

Combining PPC and Email for Holistic Paid Marketing

It’s abundantly clear: Holistic paid marketing can work wonders for your brand. Follow the key steps above for combining PPC advertising and email marketing for a successful campaign. Likewise, employ the best practices above by considering the following:

• Do’s and don’ts
• Team collaboration tips
• Technology stack, and
• Integration starter checklist. 

Heed our advice: Integrate PPC’s fast reach and exact targeting with email’s relationship-building power. Together, they pave the way for a seamless customer journey for driving exponential conversions and building long-term loyalty. 

There’s no room for marketing campaign silos here. Treat PPC advertising and email marketing as allies working together towards shared business goals. With appropriate integration, you’ll reduce your acquisition costs, draw clearer attribution, and achieve higher customer lifetime value, ultimately maximizing your ROI!

Ready to combine PPC advertising and email outreach for holistic paid marketing? Sign up now to subscribe to our weekly blog updates!