Digital advertising has drastically changed how businesses advertise their products, and while it has many advantages, there are also some downsides to it.
On one hand, digital marketing has made it easier than ever even for a small business to instantly send messages to its target audience. These advertisements cost less and are more efficient than those used in traditional marketing.
On the other hand, consumers have gotten so tired of seeing ads on websites that a majority of them have installed ad blockers that hide most online ads.
So if you want to have a successful digital advertising campaign, you need to know exactly how to approach it.
Know your target audience
A target audience is a specific group of people who are more likely to purchase products from a particular brand or business. Knowing your target audience and understanding them well is vital, as that information will be used to define every advertising strategy you execute.
For instance, if your target audience visits a specific website often, you should run advertisements on that website. That way, you will have a much higher ROI (return on investment) than you would advertising on a website that might be more popular with a lot of people who are not your target audience.
To find your target audience, you need to analyze data from previous customer engagements, review case studies, evaluate current purchase trends, and create buyer personas. To create these personas, you need to get a better insight into your target audience and find out the following identifiers:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Marital status
- Interests and hobbies
- Annual income
- Educational level
- Websites they visit
- Profession and occupation
An important thing to remember when you’re defining your target audience is that you should be as specific as possible and define who isn’t a part of it. There are going to be a lot of consumers who are very close to your target demographic, but just won’t fit in with the criteria you set up.
Use video advertising
People have different responses to different types of mediums, so when you’re trying to come up with the perfect ad, you need to think about two things:
– The message you’re trying to convey to your target audience
– How you’re going to get that message across
If you want to grab your consumers’ attention, there’s one medium that’s proven to be highly effective time and time again – video. Video advertising is certainly nothing new and a large number of businesses use video as a marketing tool to great effect.
One of the biggest reasons why so many advertisers choose to use videos in their campaigns is not only because videos are more attention-grabbing, but they also make a bigger impact. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, but only 10% when they read it in text.
Power language
Internet users see countless advertisements every day, and most of them will go unnoticed unless the advertiser has a really powerful message to convey. Power language is one of the things that makes an ad distinctive and memorable, so you need to choose your words wisely.
When you’re crafting any type of ad, the language you use in it needs to be carefully planned out because every word matters. This is where power words come in. These are the words that will instantly make consumers focus on your ad and pay closer attention to it.
Some power words that work well for digital advertising include:
– You. Avoid making ads that focus on your business and using words such as “we” or “I”. Instead, direct the focus to the consumer and explain how your product or service can benefit them.
– Free. If you can afford to offer free incentives, advertise them. Lure potential customers in with free samples or products and they’ll be more willing to spend money later on.
– Try. Using the word “buy” in advertisements can sometimes feel aggressive, so it’s good to use a more gentle approach with a softer word such as “try”.
– Easiest. Consumers don’t want anything too complicated, they want a product or service that will make their lives easier.
– Love. Using emotions is one of the three different modes of persuasion marketers use to great effect when selling their products. Emotions are a powerful thing so don’t tell your audiences that you’re selling a product they’ll like. You’re selling one they’ll love.
– Unique. Show how your product stands out from the crowd and create a sense of allure your consumers won’t be able to resist.
Don’t forget email ads
Email ads are another very popular tactic used in digital advertising. This is a very popular way of contacting potential clients and it’s performed via email when a brand has consent from a recipient to send out promotional messages by asking them if they want to sign up to its mailing list. Also, It is very important to build a strong relationship with your list before sending any promotional messages. This process of building a relationship with your audience using direct communication like email is also known as direct marketing.
There are many different reasons why you shouldn’t forget about email ads:
– The recipient is expecting the ad. While unsolicited email marketing exists, it’s not used by experienced marketers anymore because this can hurt the sender’s reputation. Email ads can be effective only if the recipient is expecting to hear from you and is even looking forward to it.
– It’s fast. Using email as a channel for your ads is the fastest form of digital advertising, as the message arrives in the recipient’s inbox just a few seconds after you send it out. Email is also one of the cores remote sales tools for your business.
– It shows a high ROI. Since sending emails is free, the ROI on email ads is usually great. The average expected ROI is $42 for every $1 you spend on email marketing, so there really is almost nothing to lose and a lot to gain with email ads.
Be smart about how you use visuals
We, humans, are very visual beings, but what attracts our attention the most is familiar objects. Use photos with faces, as people like to see people. What you can also include is user-generated photos to show how your product is being used, and generally pictures of your products.
Another important thing to remember is that the way colors are used can also influence a person’s perception of your business and products.
– Yellow. Used to grab the attention of window shoppers, shows optimism and youthful energy.
– Red. Usually used in sales and to create a sense of urgency.
– Blue. Most often used by businesses that want to create a sense of security and trust.
– Orange. An aggressive color used for CTAs.
– Pink. Seen as a feminine color, so it’s used mostly to advertise products meant for women.
– Black. A very powerful color, most often used to advertise luxury products.
Final thoughts
How you advertise your company is how consumers and potential future customers perceive your business and your products. Even if you produce amazing, high-quality products, you won’t be able to sell them unless you find the perfect way to advertise them to people.
Even though there are millions of digital ads online with more and more popping up each day, it’s not impossible to grab people’s attention online. As long as you follow the top principles of digital advertising and show people what they want to see, you can be sure that all of your campaigns will be successful.
