Traditional marketing efforts don’t carry the same weight as they have in the past. While it may seem practical to meet with potential clients face-to-face, it isn’t the most time-effective and cost-effective way to continuously generate leads.
Instead of going door-to-door or making cold calls, it’s important to have an online presence for people to find you. However, it’s not as easy as you think. Posting content, having it organically ranked, and showing up in search engine results can take time. Think about it: How many times have you clicked on the second or third page of Google? Like you, users are more likely to click on links that appear higher in their search engine results.
This is where paid media plays a key role. Paid media comes in many forms, such as sponsored social media posts, display ads, paid search ads, and more. These efforts can help you maximize your brand awareness, engage with audiences at their most convenient places and times, and ultimately, help turn your ad spend into higher revenue. If you’re a busy bee, one of the best ways to optimize paid media is to work with a paid media agency with many years of experience.
You may now wonder if a paid media agency is the right fit for your business, so let’s jump in and explore the benefits!
Getting Started with Paid Media
Trying to enhance your ad spend can cause you to feel lost. The algorithm is constantly changing, the platforms may be difficult to understand, and everything is time-consuming. So how do you know where to spend your money without it going down the drain? The first step is to understand why we need paid media, its types, and the benefits they provide.
Why is paid media so important?
Do you remember when the Popeye’s chicken sandwich first came out? They were exclusively on social media for one week. There were no mail advertisements and no coupons. This is a prime example of how utilizing paid media can have such a significant impact.
By targeting food lovers (aka everyone), they were able to bring in a vast crowd, causing them to sell out multiple times. They showed their adverstisements to nearly everyone during peak hours of hunger. If you saw it, you can be sure that your coworker and neighbor also did. Even if it was late at night, they could easily place an ad right in front of someone scrolling through social media.
It’s online. It’s convenient. It’s right in their face but in a tasteful manner. We wouldn’t want to be intrusive.
While billboards and paper ads are a form of paid media, we’ll be focusing on paid digital ads. The biggest differentiator is that digital ads can target specific audiences, and they’re not confined to just whoever drives by the ad. There’s more customizability, which allows you to choose which eyes your ads will be presented to. They may not have heard of you yet, but once you start your ads, it will be much easier to gain their attention.
Understanding the types of paid media
When you think of paid media, what do you think of? Most people would answer with social media ads. We see ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more daily. We may not recognize it, but paid media presents itself on a wider spectrum. Here are common types:
- Social media ads
- Google Search ads
- YouTube ads
- Google display ads
- Google Shopping ads
- Gmail Sponsored ads
- Bing Search ads
- Bing display ads
- Banner ads on other websites
- Geofencing ads
- eMagazine ads
Each platform has its pros and cons. While you may benefit from using one, it may not be as effective on another. A paid media agency can help you maximize ad spending for the highest return possible.
What makes paid media special?
Let’s talk about the benefits now. What makes paid media different from other marketing efforts?
1. Hitting your audience’s bull’s eye.
You can target and exclude specific zip codes, states, ages, careers, incomes, and more with paid media. You can even go further into the types of cars that people drive. It may seem like odd criteria, but you wouldn’t be complaining if you sold cars. In short, you can target your ideal customer at the flip of a switch.
2. Saving your money!
In the past, direct mail was widespread. Although you could gain customers, you also used a large sum of money on residences that didn’t need or want your services and products. Moreover, there was no way to choose specific households to which the mail would be sent; you could only select a zip code. With paid media, you can control who will have a higher chance of purchasing from your business.
3. Measurable growth.
Paid media tends to have a large ROI, and you can easily measure it over time. The platforms will have a system showing progress over time when using digital ads. If you were to purchase a video ad at the movie theatre, you wouldn’t be able to track how many people were interested in your product or service. In fact, they may forget about it easier since they were only shown the ad once. The rule of thumb is that people need to see or hear an advertisement seven times to retain the information.
4. Gaining the power of flexibility.
With digital ads, it’s easier to be agile and flexible with your time. You can start your ads as quickly as you can end them. When you have to print an ad and distribute it, it takes a longer time. With COVID-19, supply chains can hold up your labor as well.
When using digital ads, you can work with time-sensitive cases. An example is when we helped a sign company whose services and products were in high demand. When COVID-19 and lockdowns first came into effect, many businesses needed signs that told people to stand 6-feet apart. Within a few hours, we could send out digital ads for our client to stand out against their competitors. This speedy effort garnered quick leads and sales.
Another benefit is that you can fix mistakes quicker than if an ad was printed incorrectly. If you notice that your ad was published incorrectly, revising it costs more money. If it has already been distributed, then you may have upset your prospects.
If there’s an event, you can even shut down the ad right after it ends to prevent any problematic issues. Unfortunately, with a paper trail, some people may still try to register even though the deadline is cut off.
Let’s Work Some Magic
Marketing budgets can be drained within seconds by poorly executed paid media—even if it was only somewhat poorly executed. There isn’t much room for error. As a business owner, you want to minimize your risk and strengthen your marketing budget to its fullest potential, but you realize you have no time.
Count on us to work some magic. With years of experience, our team will guide your business up mountains to stand above your competitors.
