Paid advertising is one of the most effective ways to market your brand online. It is low-cost, requires minimal input and brings you direct leads and sales from popular online platforms.
However, small businesses are often reluctant to invest in paid ads for fear they will eat into their marketing budget too much. These companies generally prefer to use the free tools social media has to offer, along with organic SEO. But that doesn’t often yield results.
If you’ve been relying on organic marketing methods and you’re not yet reaping the rewards, it may be time to incorporate paid ads into your strategy.
What are paid ads?
Paid advertising refers to any online advertising—mainly search and social media–that has a cost associated with it. It is different from organic advertising, which includes any marketing you do online for free. Organic marketing can be helpful in terms of brand awareness, but it does very little for your bottom line, and there is no real way of measuring the results.
Paid advertising often appears on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to encourage users to take an action related to your business. An action may include visiting your site, placing an order or subscribing to a newsletter or email promotion. Examples of paid ads include online partnerships, Google Ads and PPC campaigns –but just how effective are they?
Why do businesses use paid advertising?
Businesses use paid ads because they know they will see real, monetary results for very little investment. Here are some of the main benefits of paid social advertising.
Paid ads are affordable
The term “paid advertising” tends to put a lot of people off. Small business owners often think that in order to reap results, they will have to make a significant investment. However, most forms of paid advertising are highly affordable.
With a PPC campaign, for example, you will only pay when your ad is clicked on. Facebook proudly claims to be able to run an ad campaign to suit any budget, expressing that “Some people spend more on coffee each day than they do on their advertising.”
With most paid ad platforms, you are able to set your budget or bid directly through an online ad manager. You can also keep track of the money you spend on all paid ad platforms from Google, to Twitter, to Facebook and LinkedIn. It is also possible to set daily and total budgets for campaigns so that you never over-spend.
Social media ads are widely considered to be the cheapest form of paid advertising, but like all forms of marketing, you get back what you put in. Your spend and ROI will depend largely on the objective and the type of ad you are running. Cost is also calculated differently depending on the kinds of ads you use.
For example, if your objective is to increase website traffic, you will incur a cost-per-click (CPC). If your aim is to build brand awareness, you will be charged a cost-per-1000-impressions (CPM). With social media ads, you can set your spend limit directly on the platform before your ad goes live.
Results are fast
It is incredibly time-consuming to build up a following on social media. What’s more, it takes effort and skill to consistently post to your networks, and the rewards of your efforts aren’t immediately obvious.
According to a 2019 study from HubSpot, Facebook users only see 2% of the organic pages they follow. There is no telling whether people will actually view your posts unless they follow you, and even then there is no guarantee of a click to your site.
With paid advertising, however, you are guaranteed fast and actionable reach. You can broadcast your message across multiple platforms, with granular, specific targeting.
With most paid ads, you’ll see something happen within a week. However, depending on the size and scope of your business, it can be better to run an ad for two weeks or more to give people a chance to react and to get a general overview of how well it’s working.
Paid ads get better reach
Not only will your ad get seen, but paid ads will also be actioned by the right people. With most platforms, you can adjust the ad settings and tweak the demographics to match your target audience. This means you’ll gain qualified leads, not just random clicks to your page.
Paid search advertising, for example, will help you place ads for certain keywords so you can bring quality traffic to your site directly from Google.
Results are instantly measurable
Data is important for any business. Without collecting and analysing advertising metrics, you’re essentially running a marketing campaign with a blindfold on. Unless you can measure the results of your efforts, there is no way to know whether or not your campaigns are actually working.
Return on investment (ROI) is perhaps the most important metric for measuring all forms of marketing. Unless you’re tracking what you’re doing and how much money you’re spending, it’s impossible to tell whether your campaigns are actually working.
On Facebook, for example, you can measure the success of your ads in various ways, including:
- Audience reach
- Impressions
- Returns generated from ad clicks
- Leads
- Customer testimonials
- Referral traffic
You’ll need to be specific about your goals. Once you’ve decided what you want to get out of your ad campaign, you can directly measure the success of your ads and tweak them for better results.
Paid ads are great for local search
Far from just being effective for online businesses, paid ads are also great for companies looking to target customers close to their location. For example, if someone used a mobile device to search for a shop or restaurant nearby, they would see your PPC ads and be able to click on them. Your ad can then provide directions and contact details for ease of use.
Considering how many people use their phones when they’re out and about, these kinds of ads are highly effective.
If you need help with paid ads
Setting up and running paid ads can be time-consuming if you don’t have experience. If you want to get your campaign off to a strong start and ensure your investment pays off, why not partner with a team of conversion rate experts?
Online Scientists provide data-driven, enterprise-level results at small business prices. Contact us today to learn more or set up your paid ads campaign.