What is paid advertising?
Paid advertising includes all types of commercial advertising on the internet – whether it’s found on websites, social media platforms or through search engines. It can include both text ads and display advertising like graphic advertising media in the form of videos, animations, or images.
What can paid advertising help me achieve?
With digital advertising, companies can significantly increase their reach within their target groups. They can generate significantly more traffic and conversions on their websites and landing pages, and depending on their goals, this doesn’t necessarily have to involve purchases. Paid advertising can also help boost the number of people who fill out a contact form or sign up for a newsletter.
What matters most in paid advertising
Success with paid advertising is not a given. To achieve their goals, companies and brands need to plan their digital advertising campaigns well and manage them carefully. The following steps are crucial for success:
Pursue a full-funnel strategy
Each user on the internet is at a different stage of the customer journey. For that reason, companies should apply a full-funnel strategy in order to target them each individually. Users who are not yet familiar with a company, brand, or product must first get to know it, and users who already follow a brand or have interacted with content or ads in the past can be addressed with far-reaching ads.
Use advertising media in a targeted manner
Determining the right advertising medium also depends on the stage of the customer journey – and there is no single answer to that question. Every user has their own preferences: One person might prefer watching Stories on Instagram, the next short and snappy explanation videos, and yet another carousel ads – or ads that contain multiple images or videos – on their Facebook feed. To find out where their preferences lie, companies should test the effects of each format during the individual funnel stages. The fact is: Every user wants to and should be addressed in a different way within the customer journey. It can be extremely beneficial to involve influencers or satisfied customers who present the advantages of the brand or product. At the final stage, when it comes to generating conversions, the key is to use a strong creative element – which can even be as simple as single image. Special incentives such as limited-time offers or coupons also provide solid motivation for conversion.
Choose channels wisely
The channels available for digital advertising are virtually endless. On social media alone they range from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Spotify. Which channels are the most appropriate depends, of course, on which of them are a company’s target groups and its products spend the most time. The biggest and most popular channels are not always the best fit. Competition is usually fierce here, and ads are therefore expensive. If a company’s goal, for example, is to raise a product’s awareness amongst a selected target group, smaller platforms such as Reddit or Twitch may offer better opportunities.
Utilize synergy effects
Companies can make the most of the potential paid advertising presents by combining different methods in a targeted manner. For example, in many cases, the keywords that a company considers relevant have too low a search volume to be successful through SEA (search engine advertising). With suitable social media advertising, brand awareness can be increased and, as a result, the search volume can also be increased. Based on this, successful SEA campaigns can then be implemented.
Test, test, test
Extensive testing is required to ensure the success of paid advertising campaigns. It’s essential that companies monitor which target groups their measures work best with, since each target groups behaves and evolves dynamically. These tests need to be regularly repeated and the target groups adjusted if necessary. It is also just as important to frequently check which advertising materials and which placements perform best.
Strategy, creation and implementation from a single source
Targeted paid advertising requires extensive experience and comprehensive expertise in different areas. Strategy development, creation and implementation must work hand-in-hand and be closely coordinated. An experienced and broad-based digital service provider like Macaw can help companies and brands achieve sustainable success.
