Published: February 3, 2016
Online advertising can substantially affect the success of a brand on the web. Throughout 2016, internet users will expect a custom, personalized, and engaging experience in everything from websites and social media to how and what they are served when it comes to paid media.
While many tout expertise in digital advertising, it is the strategy behind it that can make or break the success of a campaign. The winning philosophy behind driving tangible business results is the same for any brand, but the necessary approach is highly tailored to specific audiences as identified by personas.
- Begin by establishing the optimal tactics to achieve desired goals. Define success prior to embarking on a new campaign.
- Throughout the campaign, continuously adjust the tactics based on measured results. In many cases digital advertisers ‘set it and forget it.’ This puts you on the fast track to failure. Instead, focus on continuous improvement by following these steps: Act. Learn. Build. Repeat.
- Finally, report results on a regular basis to ensure satisfaction. Measure each component of a campaign not only for impressions and clicks but also for how engaged that audience is with the content and the business results that have occurred.
Maximizing Return On Investment
Anyone can log into Google AdWords, but it takes a solid strategy and a skilled ad manager to know exactly which one of thousands of customization options to tweak for the greatest success. In most corporations, capital expenses are measured against an expected return on investment. Traditional marketing has a hard time proving ROI but we have an advantage with digital. The ability to stay agile and make ad and campaign changes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week means you can always expect the best performing ads.
When we talk digital and paid media, it isn’t just the Google PPC ad or the display ad. A successful approach to digital advertising is always a part of a greater promotional campaign, with digital ads typically going hand-in-hand with:
- Landing pages designed to drive conversions.
- Keyword campaigns setup to get the right audience, reduce bounce rate, and acquire conversions at a cost less than goal value.
- Engaging creative based on the customer persona.
- A/B testing to constantly push conversion rates higher.
- Remarketing to facilitate long term conversions after traffic is first acquired, to extend the number of touchpoints for the brand with each customer.
- A constant search for new channels to reach target audience and measure results, i.e. Search Prospecting, Behavioral Targeting, Video Pre-roll, Internet Radio, etc.
- An aggressive effort to find ways to squeeze more conversions out of the budget.
Measuring & Communicating Success
At the end of the day, report primarily on business goals as established prior to the campaign. Don’t be fooled by vanity metrics, things like registered users, downloads and raw pageviews. They are easily manipulated, and do not necessarily correlate to the numbers that really matter: active users, engagement, the cost of getting new customers, and ultimately revenues and profits.
Ready to take your digital advertising to the next level? Check out hyper-targeting digital advertising, and let us prove how we can help drive more business for you.
By Amanda Sheppard, Strategy and Partnerships Director
