Which ad platform should you choose?
When it comes to running digital ads, advertisers have a number of options today. Where should you focus?
Digital marketing. What brands have been focusing on. It has the potential to have a low turnaround time, churn out fresh content in front of your audience, and of course, have them transact then and there. So, how is it possible that only 25% of all digital spends is able to reach potential customers. Where are the other three parts going?
Well, for one, it is going in the pockets of the advertisers. Tinder made $900 million last year. That’s more than half of the overall revenue of the parent company. A part of that would have come from the ads they run. But you don’t think of Tinder when you are looking to advertise your product/app, do you? Before anything else, you think of Facebook and Google. I have actually come across more than just a couple of entrepreneurs who prefer Facebook over Google. And then, that is just the beginning of the list. Today, businesses and individuals alike have access to Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and a countless more options. You can even see an increasing number of ads on Quora these days. So, where should you advertise?
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?
Because any and all advertising needs to be profitable, for it to be viable for the business. If your campaigns don’t make money in the long run, then you need to rethink your whole strategy, since there is clearly something going incredibly wrong. On the other hand, when done well, ad traffic can prove to be affordable and a constant source of value add to the business; and once optimised, it increases the ROI of your paid-marketing exponentially.
IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR MARKETING OBJECTIVES
What is it that you are hoping to gain out of your marketing efforts? Are you looking to drive immediate sales? Are you looking to increase brand awareness? What is it that you really want to do? Answering that question is ground zero when it comes to any marketing activity.
Wait, but what about your target audience?
Well, of course that’s paramount, but you need to decide on a campaign objective won’t you?
Let’s get it straight. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking at increasing brand awareness, creating some buzz in the media, or educating the target audience — your ultimate objective is always SALES.
Businesses are in the business of making money. But just like with everything else, it boils down to instant gratification. Brand awareness, media buzz, or educating your audience — all of those things do drive sales, and they tend to be more profitable as well, but they will be able to do that eventually. If you are looking to drive sales today, its a whole different game. Everything from your ad copy and creative to your audience segmentation to your choice of ad platform will change.
I WANT REVENUE… NOW NOW NOW!!!
Search engines tend to have the highest conversion rates. I am not sure why Google outperforms Bing, but that’s a 8% difference, so that’s alright. In comparison, the next best performing platform, Facebook, lags almost 40% behind.
So, if you are looking at driving immediate sales, choose a search engine.
And I am sure after looking at this chart, you are not even going to think of Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat, if sales is your objective. :-)
Bang for your buck, my friend.
SALES CAN WAIT…. LET PEOPLE KNOW I EXIST
Now that, that is a traffic game. You want to create brand awareness. People need to know of your existence, check your offerings out etc. In this case, nothing beats Facebook.
I am sure that doesn’t come as a surprise to you. With the amount of time your average user spends on Facebook and Snapchat, one would have expected it to provide the best conversion as well.
The fact is platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are great for ‘just engaging’ with your audience. Twitter is great for having one-on-one communication with your audience.
In a nutshell, these are the two rules you need to begin your marketing strategy with. And from there, you start segmenting, optimising etc.
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow!
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