You hear about it everywhere. Everyone is doing it and if you are not advertising through digital, many will make you feel like you are stuck in the 90s.
But what if we told you that many people who say they are advertising on digital are actually just running Facebook ads, running ads the wrong way or worst yet, buying ads in obscure countries, or ads that can’t actually be seen or are just being clicked on by online spam robots (bots)?
You might be thinking to yourself: “Wow that seems like a scary waste of money, now I really don’t know where to start”. We actually thought the same a few years back, which is why our team spent years researching and perfecting our proprietary method of buying digital ads so that both our products and our clients get the most bang for their buck.
So, let’s start with the fundamentals.
Step 1: Define your audience – Get ready to break a leg
You might not be going on broadway anytime soon, but defining the audience you want to reach on digital is key. This is essentially the chemistry of what your ideal customer looks like.
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- What’s their income level?
- What are their interests?
- Have they visited your competitor in the past?
- Better yet, have they visited your competitor in the past year more than 5, 10, 15, 20 times?
- Is there an event they go to every year?
- Are they likely to purchase your product or service? Better yet, are they looking for it?
Through digital marketing you are able to hand pick from hundreds of different targeting points to help find the right person at the right time to serve them your ad, so the smarter the targeting the better.. or better yet, the creepier the better.
Our favorite is targeting a Lookalike audience. Through our software we are able to import a list of your most loyal customers and identify everything they have in common to find additional potential customers just like them to serve them your ad. This is like cloning your customers and it is very effective!
Step 2: Pick where you want your ad to run – The options will surprise you.
There are many different placement options available for purchase through digital advertising. Just like with traditional advertising finding the right mix for your budget is key. Some of our favorite options include:
- Display advertising
- These are the banner ads you find on websites both on desktop and mobile
- Video Advertising
- These are video impressions that can be served at the beginning or throughout a video, content or feed.
- These can be purchased to appear on sites like Youtube and Facebook or on Connected TV networks such as Hulu, Youtube TV, Roku etc. Giving potential customers the appearance that you actually bought a big national commercial on TV Stations like MTV or the Food Network.
- Audio Advertising
- These can be ran on audio streaming sites and apps like Soundcloud, Pandora and iHeartRadio.
Step 3: Develop Creative that will sell your business and test it
- The right creative can take any digital advertising campaign from good to great. Through our extensive testing we have identified that even the smallest changes in creative that can exponentially increase your results. For better results, we recommend running ads that are different and cut through the clutter that have a clear call to action and link to a landing page where you can further sell your business.
Step 4: Review Results and Optimize
- Optimizing is key when running digital ads. Besides the creative, adjusting your targeting, ad placement and delivery time can help to maximize your results.
I know this list can seem intimating, so if you need any help, let’s talk.
Ps. If you are San Diego, we have some mean lattes in our office.
Contact us today to learn more.[wpforms id=”253″ title=”false” description=”false”]
