Whether seeking more site traffic, leads, sales, or brand dominance, targeted online ads present tremendous growth opportunities.
With consumers devoting almost 2/3rds of media time to digital engagement, the room for acceleration is vast.
But navigating the complex world of ad networks and exchanges can be daunting. That’s where an advertising DSP (Demand-Side Platform) comes in, offering marketers a centralized hub to automate bidding, optimize campaigns, and maximize their advertising spend across diverse online channels.
Let’s get you tuned up for the road ahead:
Define Destinations and Waypoints for Measuring Progress
Wildly flooring it without a set route or gauges for tracking success makes little sense, right?
Establishing clear objectives and quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) provides necessary visibility. It keeps you on pace to achieve broader growth goals amid changing conditions.
Before unleashing high-powered advertising efforts, consider:
What specific business growth outcomes do you want to impact?
- Increased sales and conversions 🔺
- More website traffic and brand dominance 💪
- Lower cost per lead or purchase 📉
- Stronger audience engagement 🤝
With goals defined, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for tracking progress against targets.
Choose Metrics Wisely Based on Growth Priorities
Monitoring the wrong gauges won’t tell if you’re on pace. Relevant KPIs might include:
Traffic KPIs
- Sessions
- Pageviews
- Bounce rate
Engagement KPIs
- Pages/session
- Average session duration
- Social shares
Conversion KPIs
- Cost per lead (CPL)
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Conversion rate
Cost KPIs
- CPC – Cost per click
- CPM – Cost per thousand impressions
- ROAS – Return on ad spend
Aligning your instrumentation panel to business goals provides tangible mileposts.
You’ll know if advertising efforts are driving in the right direction or need under-the-hood tweaks.
Now let’s look at vehicle options to pick your growth engine power source…
Pick Ad Formats to Put Pedal to Metal
The digital ad space contains an ever-expanding garage of vehicle formats to achieve results. Like choosing the right car for climbing steep roads vs downhill drifting, each channel offers distinct capabilities.
Assess your business goals and audiences to select the appropriate media mix and allocate budget across:
Paid Search — Fuel Sales with Laser-Targeted PPC
Popular search engines like Bing or Google offer paid search ads. These display alongside organic results when users search for relevant keywords. You only pay when searchers click your ad.
It presents a customizable avenue to:
- Target high-intent users actively seeking related information
- Appear precisely when product or service needs arise
- Drive visitors to tailored landing pages
Properly optimizing aspects like:
- Keyword research
- Bid pricing
- Quality score
Race more qualified traffic to your site as audiences demonstrate buying readiness through queries. Paying for that valuable consumer intent fuels lead and sales growth.
🚗 Drive Strategic Value with PPC
- Laser focus paid search strategy to accelerate performance
Social Media Marketing — Traction Through Paid Social Promotion
Organic social marketing has limits defined by the number of fans reached. However, paid social ads help content stand out further on networks like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Social advertising merits exploration if growth goals center on brand visibility or engagement more than direct sales.
Careful targeting parameters allow showcasing content & offers to niche audiences that align with buyer personas. Those consumers likely consider your messages given existing platform usage.
Handling this fully in-house is an option, but smart moves also include partnering with a leading digital marketing agency like 1UP Digital Marketing to optimize paid social efforts.
▶️ Keys for Maximizing Social Media Advertising:
- Research ideal demographics and interest targeting
- Test creative variations and messaging
- Monitor engagement KPIs beyond clicks
Properly tuned social promotions expand brand exposure and loyalty for longer-term gains.
🚙 Engine Power of Paid Social Ads
- Wider reach of customized branding and engagement messaging
- Build audiences for future conversion efforts
Retargeting — Remarketing Drives Repeated Exposure
Retargeting, also called remarketing, specifically displays ads to people who previously visited your website. Cookie tracking allows chasing consumers who left without converting.
This repetition in advertising sequences reinforces interest when considering products over longer timeframes. It works for returning those lingering on the purchase fence by reminding them what resonated before.
🚕 Remarketing Fuels Further Interest
- Customized ads for recent site visitors
- Repeated brand exposure while interest percolates
- Help conversions by reminding you what caught the customer’s attention earlier
Display and Video Advertising — Branding Powerhouses
Beyond conventional search and social channels lies a breadth of display and video ad networks. Sites can choose to join these networks to fill unsold ad space.
It allows your ads to appear on niche sites that your audiences visit frequently. There’s excess reach beyond owned channels.
While admittedly light on targeting, simplicity in setup across a wide breadth of sites can efficiently elevate brand visibility. Where awareness is key, it excels.
💪 Broad Brand Building with Display and Video
- Easy access to many sites through ad exchanges
- Blanket-wide swaths of web properties frequently
- Efficient for general brand visibility gains
Wrap-up
Like any marketer will tell you, the learning never stops. With ever-evolving platforms and consumer behaviors, room for growth persists no matter the current performance.
While ads present merely one aspect of balanced growth marketing, they remain indispensable for acceleration. Master the vehicles, mechanics, and mapping to send your business roaring ahead with measurable returns.
