Digital advertising gives even the smallest business an opportunity to compete with larger competitors and reach potential customers.
Advertising online connects you with your target audience wherever they go thanks to smartphones, which is why digital marketing makes up 58% of marketing budgets, a 15.8% increase in 2021 and a projected 14.7% increase this year.
If you’re unsure of what digital advertising is, how it’s used, or what effect it can have, we’ve laid out the basics.
Common Terms In Digital Advertising
What are some terms you might see when advertising online?
- PPC: Pay-per-Click refers to the model of internet marketing in which advertisers put out bids for advertising space online and pay a fee per click on the ad; search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC advertising.
- CTA: A Call-to-Action is an element of your ad that catches the viewer’s attention and gives a directive that encourages engagement with the ad.
- Target Audience: The consumers you want to reach with your ad, determined by who you think has the highest potential to purchase your products or services. This can be made up of any number of demographics; there are many simple tools online that can help you narrow down your target audience.
- Landing Page: The web page your ad will lead your viewer to when clicked; the page should be relevant to the ad and encourage an action such as filling in a contact form or downloading an offer.
- KPI: A Key Performance Indicator is a quantitative value used to measure the success of an ad campaign, which helps you adjust your campaign to be more lucrative; the KPIs you track should relate to the ultimate goal of your campaign.
- Conversion Rate: This KPI tells you how many people took action after engaging with the ad; for example, how many people bought your product or requested information after seeing the ad.
- CPC: The Cost-Per-Click is the amount you pay each time your ad is clicked; this average is calculated throughout the campaign and indicates the value of your investment in advertising.
- CTR: A Click-Through-Rate tracks how many viewers engaged and clicked on your ad; it can simply be calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of times the ad has been seen (impressions).
- Impressions:
- A/B Testing: This strategy allows marketers to compare the success of two different versions of ads for the same campaign; comparing two or more ads allows you to test how well certain elements connect with your target audience.
- Native Advertising: Your ad is shown in a format that matches the rest of the site; for example, Facebook text ads on the side of your timeline.
How It Works
Digital advertising can put you in front of your target audience wherever and whenever. Google Ads is the most popular server among marketers, with 80% of global businesses trusting Google Ads for PPC campaigns.
Campaigns through Ads reach a network of more than 2 million websites and apps. Your target audience might be looking at digital advertising on Google right now, which is why 68% of marketers say paid advertising is “very important” or “extremely important” to their overall marketing strategy.
Google also helps you track KPIs through Google Analytics. Measuring your marketing strategy with clearly defined KPIs and accurate data collection gives you deep insight into your campaign. Whatever the goal of your campaign is, there’s a KPI that can be tracked to measure your performance.
Google Ads uses a bidding system and payment is based on CPC. You set the maximum you’re willing to pay for the campaign, then pay based on the success of your ads.
Where To Start
Before you do anything, you want to solidify your ad campaign goal. Determining what you’re advertising, who your target audience is, and where you want your visitor to go is very important before starting a campaign.
The visual and written content of your ad is your opportunity to express individuality as a brand. Choose text, images, colors, and other visual elements that will best engage with your target audience. You want to explore a few options, especially if you’re interested in A/B testing.
You also need to decide if you will independently advertise or go through an agency. Although Google Ads is intuitive, a professional can offer insight and strategy to optimize your campaign.
Review your budget and decide what’s best for your business right now.
Once you know the goals of your campaign and have a strategy for success, you’re ready to start advertising!
Thanks for reading,
Shannon
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in November 2018 and has been edited and updated in February 2022.
