It can be incredibly overwhelming going into the paid advertising sphere with very little understanding of how it all works. Too often, people shy away from its power because they’ve either been burned by someone who’s pocketed their advertising dollars, or they don’t know how to do it themselves and they’ve overspent. And if you’re entirely new to the concept of paid digital advertising, we want to share the benefits with you too.
So how does it work? Let’s think about the way traditional advertising works — you pay for a space in the newspaper or a slot on the radio for your ad. The same goes for online advertising, if you want to have the space for your ad on someone’s search engine, or that sponsored post on their social media newsfeed, you have to pay for that space. Essentially, paid advertising is one of the best ways to bring in new customers, get leads, increase brand awareness, and get a better return on your investment.
Because organic content on social media has been on the decline for a few years now, paid advertising is really the best way to get results. Not only that, but they’re also super affordable and easy to measure — you can easily monitor how your ads are performing and see what is and isn’t working. It’s also incredibly specific, so you can narrow your target audience down to reach relevant consumers who are interested in your brand, fit the demographic of your buyer persona, and show in the exact geographic location you’re wanting to target. Plus, paid digital advertising also allows you to retarget consumers that have clicked through your ad, engaged with your business, and visited your page or website, to encourage them to complete the sales process.
If you’re wondering what kind of paid ads you can use to make the most of your marketing dollars, we’ve come up with a list of the most popular ones.
Social Media Paid Ads
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Youtube allow users to pay for advertising space on their sites. Due to the advanced targeting options, and the option to retarget users on some social media sites, social media advertising can be extremely beneficial. In the third quarter of 2020, Facebook announced that 10 million advertisers were using the social networking platform to promote their products and services, the majority of which were small businesses. With apps like Facebook, which also owns Instagram, you can cross-post your ads to show up on both platforms.Google Paid Ads
Every time you search for something in Google, the ads that come up do so for a reason — the business has paid for its spot on the list. Your ads will display for a specific set of keywords, as well as other criteria you set when you create your ad campaign. Search ads are also a great way to get to the top of the organic and local search results on Google, even if you’re struggling to manage the back end of your business’s Google Ads account. And because Google allows ads in the local search results, you have a pretty good chance of your ad appearing at the the top of the local search results for your industry, even if you are still figuring out how to get your ad ranking higher up in searches. This is great for businesses just starting out on their paid advertising journey, especially since their ads could show up above their competitors who are only in the local search results. However, in order to do so, you will need to have a Google search ad campaign and link your Google My Business account to your AdWords account with location extensions enabled. Creating search ads can help you expand your customer base and will show up where they wouldn’t be able to if you were only using local search marketing.Digital Media Paid Advertising
Paid advertising on news sites is also a great way to reach a wider audience, get the best-performing ad placements, as well as advertise on an arguably more trusted platform than social media. Media companies like Stuff and the online publication of the New Zealand Herald are often the go-to for businesses trying to position themselves in the spotlight. There are a whole host of ways digital media companies can incorporate your ads into their platforms, from putting them in between video breaks to slotting them in between articles, they’re bound to get seen. Here are our tips for optimizing the success of your ads:- Make it easy for people to convert a click into a sale by keeping the linking process simple.
- Test two versions of the ad to see which performs best — ads can always be better so don’t be afraid of doing a whole lot of trial and error.
- Target the right audience by nailing details like the demographic, what your ideal customer’s pain points are and what problem your product can help them solve. Base this off your buyer persona.
- Use consistent messaging and make sure the action your customer makes takes them to the right location. There’s no point putting a “find out more’’ button in that leads to a home page.
- If the ad doesn’t perform the way you wanted it to, try something different.
