80% of businesses come at a point in their lifetime where they think…Hey, I need to run PPC campaigns or some kind of paid advertising. For some businesses, this is in the back of their head before they open their doors. For others, it might be a long time after they open their business.
At a point or another, this is a decision that every business makes in the era we are living. However, they must choose carefully which Advertising Platform to choose when advertising their business. Investing money has to be made wisely, if not, prepare to lose money.
There’s plenty of options to consider when choosing an advertising platform. First of all, you need to check which platform does your target audience use mainly. One most also consider his advertising budget as campaigns on all the platforms will vary in cost. Let’s take a closer look at the 5 most cost-effective yet powerful ad types in 2019 and their best practices.
1) Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads + Instagram Ads remain two of the most powerful and sales-effective advertising platforms today. They allow businesses to reach audiences with certain interests and showcase their brand visually whilst introducing it to cold audiences.
Facebook also allows the user to push a person through a sales funnel. This means that if user X has interacted with an advert from you by such as liking your post, visiting your website, leaving a comment or just simply by watching your video, Facebook gives the business owner an option to retarget you with other adverts and push you down the funnel.
PROS & CONS
The Pros of Facebook Ads:
1. You don’t need to wait for people to look for your product. You can showcase your brand and introduce yourself whenever you want
2. Retargeting! How many times are we going to mention this ? Retargeting is where the money is at!
3. Behaviour and interest-based targeting
4. Bid caps. A limit to how much you can spend. Always useful!
2) Google Search Ads
When it comes to popularity, Google Search Ads are up there with Facebook Ads, but the way they work is entirely different. On Google, your advert will only show when users search for a related search term and your ad will show up at the beginning of the results.
This gives your business major visibility when people are looking for a business or a service such as yours. The fact that they are already looking for your desired product or service makes them in a position where they are in the lower end of the funnel meaning they could turn into customers at a quicker rate.
COST
Google Search Ads costs is different for every keyword you target. Some keywords are more expensive than others, so ultimately it’s up to you to decide if the keyword is cost-effective enough for you to run adverts to.
PROS & CONS
The Pro’s of Google Search Ads
1. Reach users during decision-making periods when they are researching your product or service. Even if they are not ready to buy yet, you want to be on their radar.
2. You can organize specific keywords in different groups and show them a dedicated advert using also negative keywords which can help you weed out the unwanted traffic of people not interested to buy yet.
3. You can use plenty of bidding and budget options to ensure you do not maximize your budget.
4. Location & Radius targeting is key when servicing local services. You do not want to be targeting the whole of the United Kingdom when you are catering only for a town with a population of 50,000 people.
Our take on Google Search Ads is that it can be expensive than other platforms, but with the right set-up you can be targeting a pool of people ready to buy unlike Facebook.
3) Google Display Ads
Google Display Ads are another sales-effective pat of the Google Ad System. You can control what sites you want your advert to appear on, whether it’s a general category or from Google’s list of specific publishers.
Display Ads give you the option to visualize the ads and create a demand rather than finding users with a need, much like Facebook Ads.
PROS & CONS
The Pro’s of Google Display Ads
1. Reach users even when they are not looking for you or similar services
2. Google Display Ads also offer Retargeting. Although it might not be as powerful as Facebook, they can still generate revenue and awareness.
3. The reach is gigantic. Google Display Ads reach is more than 85% of people who use the internet.
The Con’s of Google Display Ads
Some Display Ads are blocked within ad blockers and because of that users will not be able to interact with your advert.
4) LinkedIN Ads
LinkedIN remains one of the most over-looked platforms when it comes to advertising. LinkedIN is integral for businesses who participate in B2B. They offer a variety of different ad types which a user can make use of. The way they work is very much similar to Facebook as they give you the option to narrow down by interests and industries.
PROS & CONS
The Pro’s of LinkedIN Ads
1. 21Super powerful when you are trying to get in touch with other businesses decision-making people, such as Directors, Founders etc who might not use other social media platforms.
2. Their Sponsored inbox ad format is super powerful which captures the attention of a user since you will be basically sending them a message in their inbox.
3. It’s an ever-growing platform with strong targeting features , including specific targeting such as Job Titles, Industry and many more.
The Con’s of LinkedIN Ads
1. It can get expensive to reach your desired audience and the return won’t be that fast since it requires time and patience.
2. It requires more time and dedication to set advertising up and one must be careful as he would be interacting with a lot of important people.
5) Bing Ads
Bing Ads work just like Google Search Ads. They have pretty much the same or similar features that Google Search Ads offer, however on a smaller scale. Reason being that more people use Google rather than Bing.
There’s still 1/3 of all internet searches being performed through Bing so there is still plenty of room for potential and a platform you can utilize.
PROS & CONS
The Pro’s of Bing Ads
1. Since there is less people and advertisers using this platform, keyword searches for most of the keywords are significantly cheaper than Google.
2. Same capability to capture users attention for people who are looking for a brand or product similar as yours. The Con’s of Bing Ads
1. Bing Ads cannot be your only advertising platform when running ads as their is a smaller pool of people which might not be enough for you to turn out a profit.
2. Bing’s algorithm isn’t as good as Google’s and might skew up a few results from the get-go.
CONCLUSION
Advertising Platforms are a superb way to drive sales and establish brand awareness to any business you are in, but one must be careful that the benefits outweigh the cost.
We have encountered countless of businesses who have the wrong impression on Digital Advertising where they tell us, “It doesn’t work” OR “We tried it and lost money instead”. Like every other thing, digital advertising is an art and it requires skill to be able to create, tweak and optimize for best results and that is why professional marketing agencies exist.
Knowing each platform’s strengths and weaknesses allows you to build a strategic approach for your business. This obviously increases the likelihood of success and more profit for you.
Do you think you need help on deciding which advertising platform your business should run ads on ? Drop us a message below and we’ll let you know!
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