Is digital advertising a viable option for your small business? What does it entail? How could it fit in your marketing mix?
Let’s get started with some basics. This guide will give you a quick introduction and set you on the right path to advertising glory.
What Is Digital Advertising?
Digital advertising encompasses all types of online promotions that you can use to attract new customers. That breadth of online advertising is both a blessing and a curse to anyone new to the field.
For example, you can focus on mobile-only advertising, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, PPC on Google or Bing, video advertising on Youtube, or advertising through sponsorship.
That is just for starters. The list is long, and that wide choice can leave many small businesses feeling overwhelmed. But before you pick where to promote your business, you first need to establish why you are advertising.
Define Your Advertising Goals
The key to any successful digital advertising campaign is to understand what you want to achieve. While this might seem like obvious advice, the truth is that having vague goals is a common reason for a failed advertising campaign.
Here are some prompts to help you:
- Are you interested in raising brand awareness?
- Do you have a special offer you want to promote?
- Do you want to grow your email list?
- Are you running a competition?
- Are you looking to boost site traffic?
Your answers to these questions will govern how you set your campaigns up and what metrics you measure. Always establish this upfront.
Know Your ROI
Even if you understand what your goals are, how do you know if you hit them? It comes down to metrics. And there is one metric that dominates when it comes to advertising.
That metric is ROI (Return On Investment). In other words, for every dollar you spend, how much money do you make back?
Reputable digital advertising companies will always measure this figure and report it back to their customers. As a small business, you need to first understand if your advertising campaign is profitable.
Research Your Customer
If you’re the creative type, it’s tempting to dive head-first into all the design and branding of your ad campaign.
Before you do that, spend time researching your target customer and look at digital advertising examples from your competitors.
The more you understand your customer and what they respond well to, the better your final campaign will be. Think about broad market information such as their tastes, interests, and demographics.
Don’t forget to research digital facts that will be important to your campaign too. What percentage of users are on mobile versus desktop. What are your customers’ preferred social media platforms?
Understand How Advertising Fits Within Your Funnel
If you take away just one bit of advice from this guide, let it be this. Advertising is only one small aspect of a successful online promotion.
For an effective campaign, you must understand the full end-to-end sales funnel that your customer goes through when they click on an advert. You should know how to optimize that funnel to maximize conversions and sales.
Funnels take time to set up, test, and optimize. Spend time and money getting this part working before you pay for advertising. Think of it as building the foundation for your ad campaign.
How To Take Your First Step Into Digital Advertising
You could say that advertising is sophisticated. While that means that you can potentially tap into the type of promotional opportunities that previous generations could only dream of, it also presents a bit of a dilemma.
Do you spend time and money figuring this out for your business yourself, or do you turn to experts who know digital advertising inside out?
We’ve made things a bit easier for you by offering a free no-obligation consultation to help you decide what is right for you. Just fill out this marketing consultation form, and we’ll do the rest.