The spend status
Online advertising spending is projected to be $517.51 billion by 2023. (Source:emarketer)
The returns status
On the other side, the best performing ads are search ads with a CTR of < 6%. It is not even a conversion, it’s only a CTR. All other forms of ads like social and display ads are much lesser than 6%. A meagre 6% is performing on average but the noise it creates is real.
But still, most of the companies spend money madly on online advertising.
It’s your job to educate
The simplest way to build your audience base is to consistently publish educational videos and nurture your audience on an open platform like YouTube. Here’s a video on why your brand should invest in videos. A few brands knew how the internet will change the way people purchase, and started investing in videos much earlier and found success with it. To invest in the owned platform is more important than ever in the online world. If you don’t educate your prospects, who else will do it for you?
Expert’s voice
Rand Fishkin went out and said online advertising is rotten on SparkToro’s blog. He got some interesting answers for the article on Linkedin, and below is Alan LaFrance’s.
Of all the reasons Alan has mentioned, points 1 & 3 are bang on. 5 & 7 are thoughtful as well. Let’s see a bit more about them below:
Point 1 – Everyone would agree on it. Yes, online advertising is simple, and you are not excluded because you didn’t say otherwise.
Point 3 – Once you get started, you cannot drop it. You are caught up in a rocking chair. You feel moving, you are active, you feel riding it. You feel the control. Yet, you get almost nothing. You just burn cash.
Point 5 – It’s simple and straight forward. Only that, it is not. It is a clear sign of your unwillingness to create your content.
Point 7 – You see, only when you create content you need to think of SEO. Otherwise, you don’t even have to think of SEO.
The Conundrum of media
Why don’t you create your own assets to build a fan base, and further build your brand? This makes your marketing much more effective than the current one.
Only when you create content, you can own media, when you own media, you can earn media easily. You can’t do neither by paid media.
A checklist for paid ads
We made a guide to help you choose paid ads. If it is helpful, do let me know on Linkedin or in the comments section here.
Can your target audience complete a purchase on your website?
If your target audience can complete a purchase on your website, it is worth going for a paid campaign. The moment you have caught their attention with your ad and take them into your journey, you have to help them throughout with appropriate CTAs, UX with fewer clicks and good speed. The idea is to quickly make them complete the journey and give them what you have promised in the ad. If possible, make them leave where they were in the first place, nothing like that. E-commerce can leverage this to a great extent.
Can your target audience sign up for a free trial of your product?
If your target audience can sign up for a free trial through your ad, you can go ahead. In order to make this work precisely, you should have a deal that’s worthy for them.
Generally, SaaS industry can try this. If they can see some success, they can refine further and amplify in volumes.
Can your target audience share their contact details in return for an industry report?
You can run ads with this offer. The pre-requisite is that your target audience must be in need of the report. Hence targeting should be precise.
B2B industry can try this, if it brings good results, refine and amplify it as you move further.
Can your target audience initiate a chat on your website? (at the least)
This is one of the minimum requirements to run the paid ads. If you target audience can’t even come to your site and enquire about your product/service, there is not much of a reason to go for paid ads other than visibility.
To know more about content and Inbound marketing, here is a detailed blog post.
