When you look at the biggest names online, it’s hard not to have “online envy.” You read about them or hear them on podcasts, talking about their millions of followers and skyrocketing sales. Of course, they use paid online advertising. That’s how they appear “everywhere.”
Paid online advertising looks so easy when they do it. When you try it, however, not so much. Have you ever asked yourself: What am I doing wrong?
Effective Paid Online Advertising
There are two ways to reach your target audience online: paid and earned ads. Paid advertising involves creating promotional content that you pay to display, while earned advertising relies on organic reach. Both are critical for any solid online marketing strategy.
Paid online advertising is vital for several reasons:
- Increased visibility: With millions of pages vying for your target market’s attention, paid ads help your business stand out and find new resources that you’re not reaching organically.
- Immediate impact: While organic reach takes time to build, paid advertising lets you define and reach target audiences as soon as the campaign is launched.
- Choose your audience: Advanced targeting strategies allow you to focus on specific target audiences based on demographics, behaviors, interests, and other qualifiers. You can get very specific in your audience and deliver carefully crafted messages.
Choose from several different types of paid ads:
- Search ads: Paid search ads appear in search engines like Google or Bing. They appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) when a searcher keys in specific keywords.
- Social media ads: These visual ads are displayed on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. They allow you to use various ad formats to reach a highly selective audience.
- Remarketing ads: Go deeper with searchers who have already connected or engaged with your website, social media profile, or content. Remarketing ads encourage searchers to return and convert.
Ready to place an online ad with your favorite site? Before you jump in, it’s wise to keep a few tips in mind so you can avoid some of the most common mistakes marketers make.
Mistake #1: Neglect Research
Who is your audience? It sounds like an easy question, but the answer can change depending on who and where you’re targeting online. Paid ads on Google are different from those on Facebook. Audiences on Instagram and LinkedIn are there for separate reasons, which means you should be advertising to them in separate ways.
Before you craft another ad, it’s important to do your research.
- Identify relevant, high-volume keywords.
- Create your customer avatar.
- Perform competitor analysis.
- Choose which ad platforms to work with.
If you create ads people aren’t interested in and don’t click through to your landing pages, you’re throwing money away. The more research you do ahead of time and the more clearly you define your target audience, the better you can refine your ads for better engagement.
Mistake #2: Neglecting Ad Content
You have an audience and a platform. Now it’s time to create an ad that pulls people in. Weak copy or poor visuals will cause viewers to scroll on. One interesting study found that while 10 percent of people retain content three days after hearing it, that number jumps to 65 percent when it’s coupled with a visual graphic.
Ad content matters. This isn’t something you can throw together at the last minute or, worse, allow the platform you’re working with to create it for you. Compelling ads should have:
- Engaging copy that resonates with the target audience’s wants, interests, and needs
- Strong calls to action that encourage click-throughs
- Eye-catching designs that align with your brand’s message
Mistake #3: Ignoring Budget Optimization
Every company sets a budget and wants to maximize ad spend within that budget. If you’re not carefully analyzing every campaign you create, you’re leaving money on the table.
Luckily, all online ad platforms offer a wealth of information to better understand the ads you place. You can use that information to make changes to your campaigns to maximize ROI.
Try different ads—which convert better? Use other platforms—which build more trust and action from your audience?
There is always work to be done to maximize your ad spend. It’s best to research every part of your campaigns to better understand what your audience wants.
Mistake #4: Failing to Monitor Ad Performance
Ad fatigue is real. It happens when users become so familiar with an ad that they no longer pay attention to it. The smaller your target audience, the longer you run the ad, the more likely its performance will fall over time.
Of course, you never know unless you monitor analytics for each ad. This gives you an opportunity to experiment with different copy, images, and calls to action to determine relevance and effectiveness.
Mistake #5: Not Optimizing Landing Pages
Don’t get so busy with ad creation that you forget where your audience is going. Every campaign you create should be optimized from first contact to final sale.
This often happens during click-through. Instead of building a new landing page, sites direct viewers to a home page. Or the graphics don’t carry forward from one click to the next. This causes viewers to leave.
You can avoid this by:
- Ensuring every landing page is relevant to the ad connected to it
- Having clear calls to action above the fold
- Creating mobile-friendly landing pages
- Using thank you pages as visitors submit information
You should be using analytics to monitor every click to ensure your audience is moving forward.
Taking Your Paid Online Advertising to New Levels
When was the last time you maximized your paid online advertising process? Do you know how well every ad you create performs? If you’re not getting the best ROI from every campaign, it’s time to forge a new road.
Is online advertising difficult? It can be challenging to ensure all the pieces are working. That’s why many rely on online marketing professionals to ensure your current process is as efficient as possible.
Ready to chat about your next project? We’re excited to help you discover just how well-paid online advertising can work.
