5 things to know about online advertising

The prospect of new customers being able to find your business in just a few clicks is an encouraging one – but it only happens if you make the right moves. Online marketing is technical and competitive, and for most people, it shouldn’t be attempted at home. That said, if you have a solid understanding of Google and Meta systems and you’re up for the challenge, here’s what you need to know.

1) Organic social media is not enough

It’s no secret that the days where brands could post free social media content and watch their audience numbers climb are well behind us. Today, corporations want you to pay for advertising, so any organic (i.e. unpaid) content you share on social channels like Meta (Facebook and Instagram) are only likely to be viewed by about 5% of your current followers. 

As the algorithm is designed to favour paid advertising, the chances of your content being seen by new audiences is even smaller again. Bottom line: don’t rely on organic socials to promote your business. While this content is crucial for community management and keeping your current audience engaged, you should certainly be supplementing it with paid marketing to generate traffic, leads and sales to convert audiences quickly.

2) Knowing where to advertise is key

Essentially, there are two advertising giants: Google and Meta. They both operate on a pay-per-click model – which means that you’ll pay a small fee every time a user clicks your ad or campaign. Rather than being in opposition, these two platforms have different features and advantages, and most brands will benefit from an omni-channel approach. Therefore, how exactly you’ll choose to split your ad dollars will depend on your unique business objectives and the audiences you’re targeting. Let’s look at the differences…

Google: 

If you want to connect with a vast audience then you can’t go past Google – undisputedly the number one search engine –  to use as your advertising platform. Google Ads are text-based ads that are shown to users based on the keywords they search. That means this audience will have an active intent to buy a product, so using Google ads helps businesses find new customers and promote more immediate sales rather than brand awareness.

Meta:

While Meta doesn’t have quite the demographic breath of Google, it’s active audience of 1.55 billion users is still enormous. The wealth of data this organisation has on the online behaviours and interests of its audience also helps advertisers focus on untapped audiences on a very granular level. E.g. targeting young mothers with an interest in art living in central Queensland. Ads on this platform are also more image and video based so brands can draw in the curiosity of new customers (who may not have otherwise had intent to buy) and promote brand awareness.

3) Go big or go home 

The truth is that small businesses will need to spend money to make money. If you want to see real results from an advertising campaign that you’ve put your time and energy into then don’t spend peanuts when it comes to circulating it. For most brands, a minimum budget shouldn’t dip under $500 a month, and as a ball park figure most small business owners will want to be spending upwards of 10% of sales on marketing overall. Once you’ve got a killer campaign, trust the process! 

4) ROAS is everything!

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) is the main metric for online advertising. In a successful campaign, it can be between 4 to 12 times the amount you funnel into your campaign. In other words, if you get it right, your marketing ventures will be well worth the effort.

You should look at your ROAS weekly to evaluate the performance of each campaign and to inform future budgets and strategies. Ensure you have enough dollars behind your campaigns to make this data meaningful, and that your reporting integrations are all watertight so you can rely on your analytics. 

5) Optimise your landing page

Your landing page is the page on your website that your ad clicks lead people to. To see great conversions, don’t underestimate the power of an eye catching and well-designed landing page. Your ad campaign has attracted the attention of a potential buyer, so don’t lose it by linking them to a big wall of text on a difficult to navigate platform. The user experience needs to be streamlined from beginning to end, so your landing page is almost as important as the images and copy you choose on your ad. Take the time to tailor it to your audience and show them that your brand is trustworthy, professional and reliable.

In summary: advertising online is an investment in your business, so take time to develop a structured yet flexible digital strategy which you can assess and refine as you go. Leveraging online advertising tactics efficiently isn’t as easy as it appears, but your efforts will certainly be rewarded in the long run.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash