Between 1-4 % is an OK CTR but if you really know your audience I believe you can make it much better
No definetelly not, it will probably increase the times the ad is displayed and with greater impressions (displays of the ad) you might get closer to the actual CTR but that is about it ... Tips ? write a different ad for every keyword/phrase that you are targeting (you might end up writing lots of ads this way but I think its worth it) Try to put the keywords in the ad title where they are bolded and hyperlinked. (< see the effect ?) For example you are targeting "cat food" and you want people to click on your ad ? If you put the title of your ad as "cat food" people will want to click on your ad since its "cat food" they are looking for ... makes sense ?
1% is the magic number you want to reach-that's straight from Google mouths, face to face. It doesn't magically change your Poor keywords to Great, mind...but it does affect your campaigns. And content network CTR has no effect on this number. It's search only.
CTR is going to vary for your product and especially your ad placement. So what's a good CTR for #1 average ad position will not be the same for average position of 7.
It will really depend on which networks you are using. It is easier to get a higher CTR if you just use the Google network, and it will get lower if you use the search, and if you use content, it will usually be below 1%. If you use just the Google network you can get up in the 20% CTR range.