We live in a digital age where selling a product or service differs wildly from even a few decades ago. While some basic principles remain, the internet has changed the world.
Today, we’re here to explore how paid advertising has changed with the times and how a business can make sure the money they spend to advertise isn’t wasted on poor results.
Decide What Paid Advertising Needs to Do for You
There are quite a few ways to advertise, but not every technique works in every situation. The first thing any business needs to figure out is what they want their advertisement to accomplish.
For most businesses, the goal of online advertising is bringing customers to either your website or a physical location. Note that we said “customers” and not “visitors.” You want your advertisements to target the right demographic for what you’re offering.
While clicks are helpful for raising a site’s search rankings, not every visitor to a website is equal. For example, if you know your products appeal to young, tech-savvy adults, traffic that skews toward older retirees is unlikely to net you many conversions. Most of those older viewers will click off your site shortly after clicking on it.
That said, some established brands may decide it makes sense to target a secondary demographic if they’ve plateaued with their primary demo. What’s important is to make sure your advertising campaign is logical for the goals you’ve set. Too many businesses get blinded by high click-through rates (CTR) without paying attention to conversions.
Terms to Know
If you’re new to online advertising, there is quite a bit to learn. While we can’t cover it all here, there are a few terms to know. These include:
Click-through Rate (CTR): This is the ratio of users who click on an advertisement versus those who saw the advertisement.
Conversion Rate: One of the most important parts of advertising, this is the rate of people who visit your site and then become customers.
Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM): This is what it will cost your business per thousand people who are exposed to your ad.
Impressions: This is the amount of people who were exposed to an advertisement, often important for making other advertising calculations (such as CTR).
You should also be aware of the most popular social media platforms, which will be critical for most advertising campaigns. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all bear close examination when thinking about where to advertise.
Familiarizing yourself with the advertising options these platforms offer is also important. If you’re curious to learn more, our experts at Trigger Digital have written about this very topic.
Where and How to Advertise
Once you know what you want your advertisements to accomplish, and the basics, it’s time to figure out where you’re going to be placing your ads. You’re also going to need to decide what sort of ad you’ll be placing.
In part, this is going to be a matter of budget. Still image banner ads tend to be affordable while video advertising can be more expensive. Keep in mind, the actual production of the ad is a cost too; you’re not only paying to get the advertisement in front of eyes.
You also will want to know what sort of cost model to aim for. Pay-per-click advertising is popular because you only pay when someone clicks on your ads and goes to your site. That said, this model won’t be the most cost-effective in every circumstance.
You’ll want to research what sort of advertising is effective for your target audience. For example, while cheap, many argue banner advertising is not effective enough to be worth the investment anymore. Some argue video ads are one of few ways to get any kind of emotional reaction from paid digital advertising.
Whatever your approach, avoid laser focusing on one technique if you’d be better served by a multi-pillar approach. Many modern advertising campaigns at least try and advertise on multiple social media platforms at once. It will help you reach a wider audience and often the same advertisement only needs minor retooling to work on multiple platforms.
Your Competition Uses Expert Help and You Should Too
While it is certainly possible for a company to advertise their own products or services, it is difficult. Large corporations can afford their own marketing departments but smaller companies cannot. In many cases, a company won’t even have a marketing expert on staff.
The good news is that there are companies you can hire to help give your marketing campaign an expert edge. The bad news is that your competition will often be doing the same. It is a cost-effective way to market that allows a company to focus on their strengths while shoring up their weaknesses.
Admittedly, this may sound like a marketing gimmick coming from a company that offers such services. That doesn’t change the fact it’s the truth. Unless you put a great deal of time and effort into mastering marketing, a company dedicated to marketing a product or service can do a better job than yours can.
Read through our list of digital marketing services yourself. Most companies will find Trigger Digital can offer a host of options that most companies couldn’t access on their own. We can even offer integrated analytic solutions to see how well your campaign is doing on multiple platforms, all in one report.
Done Right, Paid Online Advertising Can Be a Major Help
Paid advertising is a game of numbers. You want to spend the least you need to make the most possible. What we’ve hoped to highlight here is the importance of efficiency.
Your company needs to figure out who its target audience is and what ads work best for that audience. Meanwhile, hiring on the services of a professional advertising company like Trigger Digital can help strengthen your campaign further and make sure it achieves your desired goals.
If you’re interested in our services, even if you still have questions, contact us. We’d love to hear from you and clarify anything you’re still wondering about. Meanwhile, if you do have an advertising campaign you’re aiming to get some expert help with, we may be just the edge you need!
