Advertising Online: Addressing the Why and How to get started.

“Thank you, Drew. We appreciate everything you do for us. “

This is what the CEO of a company that makes wellness furniture said to me.

(I helped them bring their CPC (cost-per-conversion) down by over 45.2%)

Humbling, considering I’m just a digital marketer, with a team who works alongside me.

Not to say that it's easy to get results. It’s not. It has its difficulties.

Lowering CPC, increasing CTR and ROAS, and finding the right keywords are just a few things you work towards when it comes to working with ads.

However, it’s not impossible. Like many good things, it just takes some time.

It’s also really powerful.?

When you start running a Google Ads campaign, for example, you get a lot of data in exchange for spending money.?

Things like impressions, conversions, a quality score, and so on.

You get to see HOW your ad is performing and where you could potentially make improvements.

If you get a good, converting, winning ad, you could potentially scale that up to drive a lot of traffic.

That traffic, in turn, could end up having a good conversion rate, leaving you in the green, even after spending so much on ads.

So, ads are what I will be discussing today. And no, it’s not that hard. As I said, like many good things, it just takes some time.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

The first thing is to understand how online advertising works.

So, the dictionary definition of what online advert-

Nah. I don’t want things to get boring.?

So, online ads range from organic-seeming social media posts to pop-ups on websites you visit.?

They could show up in search engine results or while you browse through content online

They could be the emails you get from companies, talking about their new product.?

Whatever they look like and wherever you see them, it's all about getting the right service or product in front of the right audience: you.

So, let's say you’ve developed a foam cushion that people can use to relax their head while traveling. Now, you’ve got to get it out in front of the right people, so that they can buy it.

It’s amazing, it’s soft and comfy, it’s relaxing, it’s portable, and it fits easily around their neck. In short, it’s the perfect solution to a problem.

First of all, you’ll need to figure out who to target. CEOs? Hmm, maybe not. Marketing managers? Uhh, how about no?

How about the general office workforce that uses public transport to commute to and fro their office spaces on a near-daily basis? Yes, now we’re getting somewhere.

After you figure out WHO you want to sell your product to, you’ve got to figure out HOW to sell it to them.

Instagram pictures of the foam cushion in different colors, surrounded by steaming cups of coffee?

Facebook Ads about how it helps you “catch up on lost sleep during your commute”?

How do you tell your audience how it solves a problem for them?

Well, it depends on where your target audience is most of the time.?

Are they even on major social media platforms??

Do they frequent niche blogs maybe?

Do they spend their time scrolling through websites that can be somehow loosely categorized?

That's where you (ideally) want to be.

From there, it’s about testing, positioning, strategizing, and figuring out multiple touchpoints where your product crosses their eyes.

You want to come away as enticing and interesting and, at the heart of it all, position your product as the solution to a pressing problem.

Not getting results?

Maybe your copy is more feature-focused instead of benefit-centric.

Maybe you're targeting an irrelevant group of people.

It’s all about finding the right combo.

One benefit you get over traditional advertising, when it comes to advertising online, is the ability to target specific audiences.

Instead of spending big bucks plastering your ad on a billboard and hoping for results, you can specifically target the people you want to get in front of.

This not just boosts chances of conversion but gives you access to data on how your efforts are playing out.

Then, you can use that data to change and tweak things here and there, to further optimize your campaign.

However, Specific targeting isn’t the only benefit you get out of online ads.

There’s so much more to this than just being able to get to the right people at the right time.

One of the most valuable things? Data.

More specifically, data like impressions, CTR, CPC, Ad reach, and so on.

From knowing how many people saw your ad to how much money it generated and how many people clicked on it, you get a variety of information and feedback on what you’re doing.

You get to know how many customers came to you through that ad vs through other channels.?

You’re able to make modifications, run different campaigns with slight changes, and see what modifications result in a variation in results.

Maybe changing the ad copy reduced your impressions by over 50%, but your overall CTR doubled from 10% to 20%. So, instead of 100 people seeing your ad, and 10 clicking on it, only 50 people saw your ad, but still, 10 people clicked.

This data is the overall key to giving you insight into your overall campaign performance as well as guiding you on what next steps you should take.

Another thing about running ads online is that you can reach customers where they are with a variety of ad types.

It doesn’t just have to be a bland, boring picture with some text thrown on it that you’re stuck with once it’s out there, like traditional ads.

You could have a gif-like video ad running on Facebook, a colorful and popping image on Instagram, and a teasing, promo-filled, and enticing email campaign. All three of these could be running alongside usual Google Ads to reach out to different people who hang out in different places online but are all part of your audience.

If you just plan to have a simple ad strategy over a longer period, it’s still beneficial for you. The internet isn’t going away anytime soon and more and more people are turning to it for everything from recipes and courses to informational articles and learning.

Setting up, experimenting, and testing different strategies, approaches, platforms, and methods is only going to be a plus point. It doesn’t take much money to get started, and all you need to do is be committed. The results show up eventually.

“Okay. So, benefits? Check. How does it work? Check. Now, how do I get started with online ads?”

There are just three things you need to do:

The first and most important thing is to set goals.

What do you want to get from your ads??

Do you want to be known more? Do you want more booked demos? Do you want more people to sign up for your SaaS? Do you want to sell more coaching calls? Do you want to sell your product? A supplement? What is it that you want to do?

That’s the very first thing you need to decide. Figuring out your expectations will help you design and position your ad strategy.

Secondly, try to figure out what type of ad suits your offer.

Text-based? Stop-motion? High-quality graphic images showing it in action? Results?

If you’re selling a course on SEO, maybe using the results of previous students could be a good place to start.

Selling durable power banks? Try using a headline like “Durable and Useful: The Only Power Bank You’ll Need!” with a picture of it being run over by a tank.

Do you want to have display ads where your offer shows up on relevant websites? Or would you rather target search engine keywords and have them appear in search engine result pages??

Whatever it is, decide on what the best thing is to do for your offer.

Thirdly, now that you know the where and the why, all you need to do is design a good ad. If you need inspiration, maybe look at what others are doing in the space, and how you can do things better.

Is a simple design working best? Or does adding in some color make things more attractive? All you need to do now is put things together.

After this is set and done, and your ads are live, you just need to check in on them and see how they’re doing

?Because you're spending money in exchange to get seen, it’s a good idea to track your analytics and see how your ads perform, so that you can make any necessary changes to make the most out of your efforts.

And that’s the final thing that’ll make your ad campaign shine: Regular check-ins.

Consistently analyzing your current campaign(s), reviewing the data and analytics, making tweaks and adjustments, testing various things from different creatives to various styles of copy, and reviewing your targeted audiences and types of ads and ad placements are all necessary things.

The reality is that, when it comes to ads, things change frequently.

From the type of content people like, to the attention span they have when going through different content and the platforms they spend their time on as well as platform advertising guidelines, things change.

Although this won’t mean that you need to make MASSIVE changes or overhaul every campaign whenever different policies are announced, it's good to stay ahead of things so that you’re not caught off guard.

Ultimately, all it takes to get started is a decent offer, some expectations, a decent ad, and some money for an ad budget.

Just get started, see what others are doing, and change tactics based on the results you get. Over time, as you try different things, you’ll see what works for you and what you might have to change.

When it comes to advertising, it’s all about trying and experimenting. Unless you do things, you won’t be able to figure out what works.

If you still need some support figuring out your objectives, the types of ads you should run, your budget allocation, etc, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be more than happy to help you set things up and figure out a strategy. After all, I am here to help.

Otherwise, this is more than enough to get you started.

Be sure to let me know how it goes.

Drew.