You don’t advertise for the heck of it. You advertise because you’re looking for a return on your investment. Churning out new ad campaigns does not necessarily translate to generating successful campaigns. While yours may be the sweetest ad out there, if it isn’t optimized to generate revenue, it’s not doing your biz any favors. As we head into another year of economic uncertainty, it’s important to have your advertising in fine form, and fortunately, there are five helpful and relatively pain free tips for doing so. Let’s get started.
One: Take It Personally
While there are a wide range of very dry, scientific factors that drive successful advertising, there is no denying that all of that stuff is the infrastructure that supports your creative expression of what it is that you do best. In other words, when it comes to your advertising, it’s time to get personal. By allowing those creative juices to flow, you help to ensure both the following:
- Improved brand recognition, which is the name of the advertising game
- Higher levels of engagement, which is the guiding force behind conversions
Consumers expect you to meet them where they live in relation to advertising, which means your ads need to pop while remaining relevant and at scale. You don’t have the advertising budget of an Apple or a Nike, but you do have your own unique voice and vision, and when you’re able to creatively channel these in your advertising, you’ll be a big step closer to dominating your online space.
A final note on the creative end of things is that your efforts also support brand trust. The more familiar your target audience becomes with your uniquely identifiable adverts, the more solid the relationship, which is a critical link in the chain of trust.
Two: Budget Accordingly
It’s 2023, and it’s time to budget accordingly. The fact is that – according to WordStream – those Google advertising dollars don’t’ go as far as they once did. Consider the following:
- The Google Ads cost per lead has increased across 91 percent of industries.
- The average increase experienced is 19 percent.
In other words, you shouldn’t expect your advertising budget for last year to stretch as far this year. In response, it’s time to set clear, concise, and realistic goals in relation to your paid advertising.
One remarkably straightforward approach to this is setting an average daily ad campaign budget that you can live with and seeing where it takes you – simply multiply the daily amount by 30.4 to calculate your average monthly budget. If the budget you set for yourself is doing its thing by bolstering conversions for a decent price, you can put some thought into increasing it, but if the cost is too dear in relation to ROI, it’s time to get back to the ad-optimizing drawing board.
When it comes to making a change in your advertising budget, a good rule of thumb is to increase or decrease by no more than 10 percent at a time. This allows you to monitor the results incrementally and can help smooth the way for more significant changes – as necessary.
Three: Target Different
When it comes to targeting, the more you narrow things down, the more relevant your ads will be. And while this is all well and good, there’s also a downside to going for the sure thing, including an increase in cost per click. Taking a different approach to targeting allows you to paint on a broader canvas, and one of the best tools for doing so is expanding your reach through the optimization lens of creativity. Yep, we’re back to that.
When you let your voice and vision shine, you increase the odds that you’ll connect with more prospective customers than you will by sticking to safe bets that target those consumers who are already on board. As with all things related to marketing, finding balance between these two worlds is key.
Four: Ready the A/B Tests
If you feel like your ads are already firing on all cylinders, messing with the formula may not be very inviting, but there’s no way to know if you’re truly maximizing your advertising spend without doing some investigating. Fortunately, this doesn’t require an immense production on your part – because you have A/B testing on your side. By simply running two variations of the same ad or having two different versions on two different landing pages, you generate verifiable data regarding whether a tweak here or there might improve your advertising game. Making A/B testing part of your regular practice is an excellent way to keep your advertising and your perspective fresh. And when you’re doing that testing, be sure to test for only one variable, whatever it may be, including:
- An image
- Ad copy
- An illustration
- The coloring
- The call-to-action button
This is a much more productive approach than waiting until you spot a problem and attempting to fix it retroactively.
Five: Be on the Lookout for Improvement Opportunities
When you’re paying for advertising, it’s important to know the numbers and what they mean in order to stay on top of your budget and to keep your campaign on track. Part of this includes having distinct goals for your advertising campaigns and paying attention to ensure that things are lining up according to plan. By staying abreast of your campaign reports, you afford yourself the opportunity to spot potential issues before they become major problems and to bolster the campaign’s overall performance along the way. Because advertising is not a one and done proposition, analytics should play a primary role in your efforts.
Master your Advertising Goals with a Digital Marketing Pro
At The Web Guys, our digital marketing pros know a thing or two about maximizing the marketing power of your ad spend, and we’re here to help you do just that. Learn more by reaching out and contacting or calling us at (317) 805-4933 today.
