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When it comes to marketing your business online, there are so many options available to you.
With so many things to choose from, it can be hard to know which advertising platform is the right forum for your business.
With so many things to choose from, it can be hard to know which advertising platform is the right forum for your business.
While all forms of advertising are potential success stories waiting to happen, digital advertising is my favourite method due to its ROI and the ability to track exactly what is going in with your marketing campaigns.
Let’s answer all those questions now.
This might seem like a straightforward question. And the simple answer is: Digital Advertising is the practice of advertising your business online.
But, when you peek beyond that very simplistic definition, you could easily fall into a black hole of research! There are so many different aspects to digital advertising.
There are different platforms to master, various tactics to understand, and metrics to monitor. The good news is that you don’t have to know everything to get a good return on your advertising investment.
You simply need to choose the right place to invest your energies. And that is what I am here to help you do.
Digital is our preferred mode of advertising. Now, that isn’t to say that physical or print advertising doesn’t work, because they definitely have their place.
But, digital advertising allows you to connect with current and prospective clients across a range of channels at really affordable prices, and measure your campaign’s effectiveness from the minute it goes live, with real-time data. You can specifically target your ideal client online (where they spend a lot of time) and it can work for any budget.
Another great thing about digital advertising is that you can measure the effectiveness of your efforts. This stops you from spending unnecessary dollars on a doomed campaign! Rather, you can use the documented results to tweak different aspects and turn that campaign into a successful one.
As a result, you will understand what kind of content works for your audience, what generates the best return, and the exact cost of acquiring customers.
Affordability is definitely another huge selling point. You can get started with digital advertising for as little as a few dollars per day, and adjust your budget according to how well the ad is doing. Compare that to traditional advertising such as radio or print media, which cost thousands of dollars and don’t provide any real measurable data such as how many people saw the ad and clicked to your website.
There are lots of platforms that you can choose for online marketing. Here are some of the most popular ones:
Probably the most well-known and popular platform for digital advertising, Facebook is a solid advertising option for the majority of demographics, because, with almost 2.5 billion people using the platform, you are bound to find your ideal customer here.
With the ability to target people by age, location, interests and more, you can make sure that you are reaching the right people. You can also create custom audiences, like people who may have engaged with your business before, or lookalike audiences who are new people that have similar interests to your best customers.
Facebook allows you to create a range of different ad styles such as image, video, text or even messenger ads. And, you can also choose different objectives like increasing website traffic, generating leads, retargeting, conversion ads, or simply gaining visibility for your business.
Facebook ads are considered interruption marketing.
Interruption marketing is: something designed to interrupt the user from what they’re doing, and get their attention with your campaign.
Put simple: while we can show users ads based on their interests, they’re not actively searching for our solution. This *can* mean that Facebook ads provide a lesser return on investment than Google Ads…
Our FB Ads Success program is your step-by-step guide to creating profitable and strategic Facebook Ads.
Unlike interruption ads, Google ads are considered search ads.
Search ads are: shown to users as a result of their active search for something.
When people are in Google mode, they are also in buying mode! That is why Google Ads can be one of the most effective forms of advertising. On average, Google Ads show a return of $8 for every $1 spent.
Positioning your business at the top of the results (above organic results and potentially above your competitors) Google ensures you are one of the first entries seen.
As well as targeting parameters like demographics, age, and location, Google also allows another layer of refinement where you can select keywords. These are words or terms that help define what you do and how you help your customers.
Google will match your ad with search queries, so you want to use keywords that are relevant to your business. Google wants to show the most helpful results to its users, so this platform can deliver great active leads to your business.
As Instagram is owned by Facebook, you can create ads for both platforms within Facebook’s Business Suite. With over 1 billion monthly users globally, Instagram is a strong platform for visual advertising, especially if your audience is in the 18-34 age bracket.
You can choose to promote posts or stories directly from your Instagram account or create ads via your Facebook Page/Facebook Business Suite. If you use Business Suite, you can access all the same targeting options that are available for Facebook.
Again, you can choose different ad formats like images, video, stories, shopping posts, or even choose to get your content in front of a new audience in the Explore tab.
More than half of Instagram users are under 34 and the active user demographic drops off steeply after age 44. So, Instagram is best for businesses with a demographic under this age bracket.
Recently, LinkedIn has had a real surge in popularity and is particularly effective for those with B2B businesses. It has shaken off its dinosaur-like reputation and now boasts an impressive 660 million active monthly users.
LinkedIn has unique targeting functions where you can focus on people in certain industries or people with certain job titles/functions. You also have the option to generate leads within the platform by including lead gen forms.
You can advertise in the feed or via the Linkedin Message function. I would consider that LinkedIn is best for businesses wanting to advertise to medium sized businesses and organisations, rather than small businesses. Facebook and Instagram are typically preferred platforms for small businesses and entrepreneurs, however this can vary per industry.
While Pinterest is not an immediate go-to platform for advertising, it is still worth considering, especially if your product is very visual. Acting as its own kind of search platform, Pinterest has 300 million (largely female) engaged users. Studies show that 50% of pinners actively shop on Pinterest.
As a very visual platform, you can advertise by promoting certain pins so that they appear in relevant places for your audience. With targeting and the ability to set a budget, you can invest as much as you want into getting in front of the right people.
60% of Pinterest users are female, however, the age demographic using Pinterest is wide. So, it’s well worth checking to see if your demographic is represented on Pinterest.
Display advertising is all about using images that appear in designated areas of certain websites. So, like the ads you see when you are reading the news online.
You can use these ads for a few different reasons – general brand awareness, retargeting people that have shown an interest in your business, or for lead generation.
Available via Google, Facebook or software like Adroll, these ads help you get in front of a lot of people for minimal investment.
While it can be tempting to jump in and start throwing a few dollars here and there on advertising, you need to make sure you have done these 5 things first:
1: Get Clear On The Basics – Successful advertising is more than simply nailing the technical aspects, you also need to know your business basics. By that I mean, getting clear on who your ideal client is, the benefits of your products/services, the problems your clients are facing, and the solutions you offer. This will help you create advertising content that people can easily connect with. Our Catch Your Dream Client Course is a great place to start.
2: Audit Your Website – Your website is how people will find you online, so it should clearly set out what you do and how you can help people in plain language. If you need some help, check out the Pimp My Website Course or the Write Your Site Course for eCommerce or Services. Also, make sure it is easy to navigate and all of the links work!
3: Have A Strategy – Like any marketing strategy, paid advertising is only going to work if you have a strategy in place. Work out what your objective is with each ad and how you can support it with the rest of your marketing material.
4: Know Your Numbers – Get educated on which numbers in your business you need to track, how to do it, if your numbers are any good and how to improve them.
The thing to remember when you are creating any kind of digital content is that people HATE being sold to.
You know when you walk into a store and the shop assistants start circling you like a shark?
It makes you feel pretty uncomfortable, right?
You know they are trying to make a sale. And sometimes, their eagerness to help can come off as pushiness. Or even worse, as the stereotypical smarmy used car salesman.
That is exactly what your audience will be thinking when they are browsing online. If the message is too pushy and salesly, they are simply going to click away.
Even though the whole objective of advertising is to gain leads or a sale, that shouldn’t be how it presents to your viewers. Instead, think about what your audience will want to see and what might grab their attention.
Your ads should be relevant, engaging, interesting, and helpful. They in themselves should be a piece of content. The best ads are where people don’t realise they are being sold to.
If you’d like individualised help with growing your business, contact us, we will be happy to assist.
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