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Being seen means that your ad is seen by the right target at the right time. There are several digital advertising services that must occur behind the scenes to make it happen.
However, before we delve into the work behind the curtain, we should discuss the most important task in marketing strategy and advertising. Identifying the right target.
A target is a group of customers who share one or more common characteristics, are distinct from the rest of the market, and will react to the market in similar ways. A simple metaphor would be a tribe.
Like most groups or tribes, they share a set of common beliefs and attitudes that glue them together. They act, dress, etc in ways that exhibit these characteristics.
When thinking about a target audience, it is helpful to create a persona. A persona is an archetype—based on observed patterns and behaviors of the target audience. This archetype isn’t an actual person, but a relatable, believable character that realistically embodies the group.
Understanding how the target audience needs and the language they use when describing their needs is critical. To be successful in pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising campaigns, we need to:
It is not a simple task which is why online marketing and advertising services can be invaluable in making sure that you do.
The primary reason that we need to think, search, and browse like our target audience is because we base a large portion of digital advertising on keywords. If you do not know the vocabulary your audience uses, you can omit critical keywords from your target list.
At ProStrategix, we use several tools to help us think, search, and browse like our audience. We then take all that information and find the right keywords that have significant volume but reasonable cost.
Here is where talk, think, and consume media like your audience comes into play. Where do they like to spend their time online? Some may enjoy browsing news. Others may enjoy watching videos or keeping up with friends. No matter what it is, we need to understand it, so we use the same platforms as they do.
People use Google three to six billion times per day. Its display network reaches 90% of the internet. With all that traffic, search engine marketing is almost a must-have.
When looking for digital advertising services, make sure that your team knows what they are doing on Google. It’s not alone important for search but also for display advertisements.
Here is a list of dos and don’ts for paid advertising on Google
Facebook is the most popular of the social media platforms. It has an enormous reach with 1.5 Billion active users per day. Historically, its target capabilities were unparalleled. With the death of cookies, we expect this ability will decline significantly.
We are not saying social media advertising is no longer important, but we, at ProStrategix, use social media marketing where we believe it works best - driving awareness.
Advertising on Facebook and Instagram is disruptive, meaning it interrupts the user from their feed. Therefore, you have to make it worth the user’s time. If it is entertaining, it has social value via sharing. If it is provocative, it can get a reaction, like or dislike.
Knowing Facebook and Instagram is another valuable digital advertising tool and service that your partners should provide.
Twitter is the most ephemeral social media platform. Digital advertising on Twitter is best used for building awareness. Since each tweet lasts only briefly, it can also be a valuable tool for message testing.
We just covered a few of the PPC digital advertising platforms. This chart is helpful in outlining the others.
It is important to point out that there are other tactic, such as content marketing and email marketing, that can enhance or replace PPC advertising. It just depends on your marketing strategy.
With all that searching, tweeting, posting, etc., it can be extremely difficult to hear anything in all that noise. Our message, creative, and execution have to be on-point in order to cut through all this mess.
A motivating message contains a benefit that solves the psychological and physical needs of the target audience. The insight can help you craft the right benefit that has power.
However, we cannot forget that we have competition, and we need to communicate our message within this context. Positioning puts the brand in a competitive context in a way that highlights the brand’s unique point of difference.
A motivating message is not enough, we need to develop breakthrough creative ideas that can communicate innovatively. In the Psychology behind web design, we discuss many of the critical design aspects that come into play when developing creative advertising.
Last, the best creative and message can come to naught if it is executed poorly. This is where digital advertising services can play the most important role. They have the scale, tools, and expertise to ensure cost effective, flawless execution across multiple platforms.
Digital advertising hinges on relevance, especially in paid search. You can have an amazing message, stellar creative, and perfect advertising execution, but we can waste it without a relevant and clear landing page, funnel, and clear calls to action.
It is often helpful to think of marketing as a funnel. The simplest marketing funnel has three phases - Awareness, Consideration, and Purchase.
Most digital advertising agencies discuss these steps as top of the funnel (TOF), middle of the funnel (MOF), and bottom of the funnel (BOF).
At the TOF, unaware customers are first discovering you. At this stage of the funnel, information is broader and less specific. During this lead generation stage, you are trying to convert a prospect to a lead.
The MOF is where it becomes more competitive. Now, the potential customer is evaluating his or her options between products and services. This is where solid positioning is very important and where the services of digital advertising agencies can be most effective.
At the BOF, it comes down less to features and more to cost, convenience, and comfort. A well placed message here to reinforce that the customer is making the right decision generally results in a sale.
One service we provide, which I think is the most useful, is focusing on conversion optimization. At each step of the funnel, there is a loss of customers. Those kept divided by those who started equal the conversion rate.
The goal of any digital marketing and advertising company is to help their customers and clients to improve their conversion rates. There are several effective techniques we use from A/B split testing through heat mapping.
All of this will be for naught unless we can deliver results. It is very important to ensure that you and your digital advertising partner are clear on roles, responsibilities, and goals. If we mismatch them, results will be less than optimal.
Most, if not all, digital marketing services focus, at least in part, on delivering cost per thousand (CPM) and cost per click (CPC). CPM is a measure of exposure. CPC is a metric of action.
We argue that, at least, TOF conversion should be a part of any digital marketing service you use if they give the agency a say on the landing page. If all the funnel is managed internally, then the agency’s role ends when the customer reaches the site.
This is ultimately the responsibility of the client or customer. Pricing, terms, conditions are outside the scope and any digital marketing service.
We would like to leave you with the following four key digital advertising services that any business should consider :
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Brian Cairns, CEO of Prostrategix Consulting. Over 25 years of business experience as a corporate executive, entrepreneur, and small business owner. For more information, please visit my LinkenIn profile
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