Why using paid advertising boosts marketing ROI and grows brands
There’s no escaping digital marketing. And when it comes to proving marketing ROI using digital marketing, paid advertising is the tool of choice for hundreds of thousands of businesses because it works.
Table of Contents
Understanding Paid Advertising
Why paid advertising generates marketing ROI fast
Marketing techniques: two ways to use paid media
How to build your advertising plan
Take Jeromes.com, a furniture retailer with 12 outlets in Southern California. They’ve been using Google Ads since 2000 and have been able to increase their online conversions by 93%.
New Law Business Model is a small coaching company for small-business lawyers. Using Facebook Ads, they’ve been able to increase their number of leads by 39% while lowering the cost-per-lead by 25%.
So, with paid advertising being so lucrative, how do you get a piece of the pie?
We’ll get to that and more in just a moment.
In this article, we’ll share why paid advertising is so successful along with two marketing tactics and how they are applied. We’ll also break down the basic components you’ll need to create your very own paid advertising plan.
Before we get going, it’s a good idea to address a few important concerns that most business owners have when they think about paid advertising.
Understanding paid advertising
Generating marketing ROI with paid advertising is possible, but most people don’t have a complete picture of how paid advertising works. So, let’s address five of the most common misconceptions out there.
Misconception no. 1: It’s too expensive
Google introduced its paid ads service in the 90s and since then costs have gone up. Ad costs, however, are not so high as you make it impossible for your business to be competitive online and in your market.
SUCCESS STAT: LOWERED AD COSTS
Jeromes.com, a 12-store furniture outlet was able to decrease its cost-per-click by 6%.
Misconception no. 2: My budget will be blown fast
Google, Facebook and every other paid advertising platform all provide systems that allow you to set daily, weekly and monthly budgets within your accounts.
You’ll never blow your budget, it’s just not possible if you follow the ad campaign set-up process.
Misconception no.3: The more money I spend on ads, the higher they will appear on Google
There’s a little more to creating top-ranking ads than having a big budget. You need to create engaging ad messaging, make a strong offer, and have a smart and simple process for your buyers to follow to convert them. You also need to know how to optimize your ads on each platform to get the best results.
SUCCESS STAT: 10X ROI
McElhinneys is UK household retailer. Using Google Ads, they were able to launch a campaign that generated €10 return for every €1 invested.
Misconception no.4: It’s safer to use organic social media posts
Organic social media marketing is a great way to create long-term brand growth, however, social platforms (Facebook, Twitter etc) prioritize paid ads over organic content.
We’ve seen that the best approach is to use both paid advertising and organic social media to create the right balance of brand and product awareness alongside leads and sales generation.
Learn more about Facebook advertising in this post.
SUCCESS STAT: 16X ROI
Designs by JuJu is sells high-quality embroidery designs for download from their website. Using Facebook Ads, they created a collection of carousel ads that generated a 16X ROI.
See how we helped Ra Hair Studio grow their community on Facebook and increase their inquiries. Read the case study.
Why paid advertising generates marketing ROI fast
Paid ads work because they are able to generate results faster than most alternatives today.
You’ll be able to target specific geographies (down to a 5-mile radius) and pick what time of the day (and which days) you want your ads to run.
SUCCESS STAT: 10X ROI
Ascendance Studio is a dance studio based in Florida. Using Google Ads for just a month led to 45 new sign-ups.
Marketing techniques: two ways to use paid media
You’re also able to target prospects with messaging they need at each stage of their buyer’s journey.
For example, if you sell office furniture, you’ll be able to run ads for people who are ready to buy office furniture. These are people using specific search terms, such as:
-
- Buy office desk
- Buy office chairs
- Office furniture for sale
This technique is used for generating sales.
If you’d like to generate awareness and leads for your brand, you can target people who aren’t ready to buy just yet but will be in a few months.
These are people using search terms that don’t show purchase intent. These include:
-
- Office furniture colors
- Office desk designs
- Office chair designs
These prospects will need to see what’s out there and you can target them with special offers.
Your special offer could be a free guide on styling their office with furniture and what they need to consider before they make a purchase.
This approach gives them information to make an informed decision and positions your brand as a thought leader.
When a prospect clicks on your ad, they’ll be taken to a landing page, a website page designed specifically for on purpose: converting the visitor into a lead.
On the landing page, your visitor downloads your helpful guide in exchange for their contact information that you can use to start a conversation about how you can help them.
Seeing results
Another benefit of running paid ads is the level of insight. You’re able to see how many times your ads show, what each click costs and how well your ads are converting.
How to build your advertising plan
Building your paid advertising machine requires a few important components. Here’s a list of the basics you’ll need to set up a traffic system to help your business grow:
Determine your ad budget
There is no hard and fast rule about the size of a budget, but it’s always useful to have one that allows for experimentation. It’s also important to know that experimentation is how all paid advertising success happens.
For example, whenever we take on a paid advertising client, we explain that we’ll create strategic ads and test them to find the highest converting ad, then direct more ad budget and optimize the ad further to decrease the cost-per-click.
Establish your goals
Campaigns can be based on brand and/or lead and sales generation. You’ll need to determine which will work best for your business.
A good rule of thumb is to examine what your sales cycle looks like and how complex the product or service that you offer is. If it’s complex, generating leads works best.
Define your buyer personas
Buyer personas are at the heart of every successful marketing endeavor. They will help you refine your messaging, understand what emotional triggers your buyers respond to and what matters most to them when looking for a solution like yours. You can download our Ideal Buyer Persona Tool to help in this process.
Define your channels
Channels will be where you chose to promote your ads. At present, there are 53 platforms you could market your business and products on, but they won’t all be the best places for your brand.
You’ll need to do some research to pick the best places to run your ads for the best possible results.
Retargeting?
Retargeting is based on the idea that your prospects/buyers need to see or experience your brand a number of times before they make a purchase. Retargeting makes that possible online.
When you use retargeting, prospects will see more messages from your brand. This is made possible by cookies that your website visitors’ browsers receive when they visit your site.
As you build your paid media plan, you’ll need to determine whether you want to include retargeting.
Messaging & offers
Landing pages are web pages specifically designed to convert visitors. They include unique elements (and messaging) and are based on scientific designs created to convert the highest volume of visitors.
Forms are used to capture lead information (think names, email addresses, contact numbers and business names).
Databases are usually linked to forms. Today, most databases are linked to a CRM tool and you can push new leads directly to your sales team as soon as buyers complete a form.
Summary
Generating marketing ROI from paid advertising is the lifeblood of tons of companies across the globe. It helps them get in front of buyers looking for their products and services. It also helps businesses create the kind of brand awareness they need to grow, while providing detailed results on how many times ads show, the cost-per-click and conversions.
While it’s proven to generate amazing results for many businesses like yours, using paid advertising requires knowledge, strategy, planning, creativity, and ongoing optimization to generate the best possible results.
Generate awareness, leads and sales for your business
Don’t let the intricacies of paid advertising prevent you from building a competitive and successful business. Find out how we can help your brand grow using paid advertising.