Calgary is one of the fastest-growing tech centers in Canada and considered to be the most adventurous tech city. If you think Calgary is only about skies, mountains, and energy - you are partially right. The city’s main focus in the 21st century is the IT and Tech scene. Now, what we thought Calgary was, evolved into an energetic, digitalized city where businesses are taking risks, develop, innovate and fund new startups. 

Calgary has a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, consolidated by companies and investments that permanently create and innovate digitally.  This fact is also confirmed by numbers - Calgary has one of the highest concentrations of small businesses in North America. The city is the home of 60%+ companies in the Alberta region and all of them were only small startups several years ago.

In addition to all, the local startups that are actually constantly growing, have managed to attract a high number of funds, support, and attention from international big actors who see a high development potential in the city. 

From software to hardware to services, digital transformation is a driver of tech investments by Calgary industries. A study by Calgary Economic Development and IDC Canada forecasts that Calgary companies will lead the $18.4 billion spent on digital transformation in Alberta through 2022.

In 2020 there were 270 startups all around the city across different industries that will grow into strong businesses due to a healthy infrastructure, highly-qualified professionals and constantly increasing wages that attract talents from all over the region, including from the US. 

The average salary in Calgary for the IT sector is somehow comparable to the one from Montreal - $49K vs $45K. However, according to another resource the average salary is estimated at around $66K/year. 

All in all, Calgary is a promising place for searching and/or investing in digital projects, and it is only a matter of time since it will become one of the leading cities in the region, according to our estimations. 

Pay-Per-Click or PPC, is a type of digital advertising where the advertiser pays each time a user clicks on their ads. The most popular channels for PPC advertising are search engines.

The advertisers usually bid (set up a maximum price per click) on a specific list of keywords and their ads appear on top of organic search results, labeled as “Sponsored” or “Ad”. Users search for these keywords, click on advertisers’ ads and land on their websites.

PPC is a fast way to generate traffic and eventually leads/sales to your business if done right. It implies advanced knowledge of PPC ad platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Amazon Ads, LinkedIn Ads and many more.

According to the comprehensive survey on online marketing channels conducted by TechBehemoths, about 33% of IT companies don’t use PPC to advertise their businesses. This might be a lost opportunity to generate leads at a reasonable price (depending on the industry, market, competition, etc.).

PPC can help grow your business in multiple ways. Here are some advantages:

• Relatively easy to setup and launch
• Instant traffic
• Brand awareness
• Fast results (leads, sales)
• Cost effective (depends on multiple factors)
• Advanced targeting
• Can be tracked very accurately
• Precise control over your budget

Finding the best PPC agency for your business needs can be a challenging task. That’s why, we recommend you to define your goals in advance and keep in mind the following criteria when choosing a company to work with:

• Experience - do they have experience in your market, language, etc.?)
• Portfolio - browse their portfolio and ask for more info
• Price - what’s their pricing model - % of ad spend, flat free, management fee, other?
• Turnover time - PPC analytics and data is usually available within a few hours/days
• Communication and reporting - what’s the preferred communication channel and what reports are provided

There are more than 9,880 companies providing PPC services listed on TechBehemoths. Use the advanced filter to choose the ones that fit your project requirements. Get in touch with the agencies and collaborate with them at no extra cost.