Digital advertising has undergone a drastic evolution throughout the years. Due to the changes in consumer behavior and increase in digital consumption in the past years, it has become one of the most significant components of modern-day marketing and business strategy.
Many companies are leveraging Google Ads and other online tools to connect and engage with their customers. Not only that, but they are also putting the focus on their digital campaigns to widen their scope of reach to a global scale. By doing these techniques, they increase visibility, drive traffic, and ultimately dominate the online world.
The only challenge is: that it’s not as simple as you may think. Succeeding in digital advertising requires a firm understanding of the ever-changing industry trends, whether it be in the aspect of design, content, or preferred platforms. Knowing how to navigate these areas expertly can help you boost your business and stand out from the competition. That’s why this article aims to teach you the best strategies you need to incorporate into your marketing plans.
#1 Understand Your Target Audience
Before you can create your campaign, the first thing you need to do is to research your target audience. In doing so, you need to understand who your buyers are and what their pain points are. Filling in this missing information can help you position your products and services in the right way.
There are several ways to conduct your research. These include:
Creating a Research Plan
A research plan is essentially a well-thought-out strategy that involves the steps you need to take to obtain the information you need. This can be in the form of surveys, interviews, user tests, questionnaires, or polls.
If you already have a consumer base, you can reach out to them and ask them some questions relating to demographics, behavior, product preferences, and price points.
Once you’ve obtained the data you need, you can flesh out a strategy that meets their needs. This will involve brainstorming with the team, test runs, and countless revisions.
Developing Character Personas
In case you’re new to the industry and don’t have a consumer base to get vital information, an excellent technique is to develop a character persona that embodies what your target market looks like.
Your user persona should cover the following fields: name, age, social status, family background, economic standing, hobbies, and online behavior. This information will help you visualize who the ideal consumers are.
Deep-diving into Social Media Behaviors
While you can read up on market studies and journal entries about consumer behavior, the best way to get inside information on how they live, act, and buy, is by going through their social media. What do they post about? Who do they follow? What’s their aesthetic? These are just some questions to help you identify and understand your target market better.
#2 Be Present on Relevant Platforms
More than merely observing how your target audience behaves online, you also have to take a proactive approach to connect with them. Being seen on various social media platforms is key to your success, especially in this day and age where the only place to be is on the web.
Based on your target market research, you should have a pretty good grasp of the type of content your audience wants to see. So, make sure that your posts on social media reflect this because it’s one of the most effective ways to grab their attention and begin your engagement.
#3 Integrate Campaigns Across Multiple Channels
Posting individual content on separate platforms is a good jumping-off point to gain traction. But if you want to transform views to conversion, you need to think about how you can integrate your campaigns across the different channels.
A major part of conversion is consistency and frequency. This means that unless you follow a consistent theme and post frequently, you may lose the interest of your potential consumers. To avoid this outcome, here are some tactics you can try.
Have a Master Plan
A master plan is the foundation of your campaign. It contains the essential information like:
- The overarching theme
- The frequency of posting
- The type of content to be posted
- The platform each content should be posted
- The time and date of posting
- Future plans
Make sure that everyone in the team understands what the master plan is and acts according to what’s written. Only then can you ensure the consistency and frequency of your posts.
Set Creative Meetings
But before you can develop a master plan, it’s important to have a meeting with everyone involved. A creative meeting will help you brainstorm and discuss important marketing aspects (such as the ones mentioned above).
By gathering different people, you can come up with effective ideas to boost your marketing plans.
#4 Use the Right Tools
Making digital ads requires knowledge and expertise in digital tools. Some of the more common tools include SEO, PPC, website creation, social media postings, etc. However, due to the ever-evolving nature of digital advertising, there are more innovative tools you can use to enhance your marketing efforts.
Some of the latest tools you can utilize can help you in the following aspects:
- Email marketing
- Conversion optimization
- Lead enrichment
- Landing page
- Graphic creation
Having a good grasp of Google’s Web Vitals and built-in tools can also help you improve your search engine rankings to increase visibility and drive more clicks.
#5 Level Up Your Designs
When you think about content, you’re probably thinking about blog posts and captions. But that’s not all there is to it. The design also plays an integral role in bringing your content to life. Design is what grabs your audience’s attention and keeps them firmly engaged with what you have to offer. You must prioritize improving your designs when creating digital ads.
Use tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, or Canva to level up your designs and meet the graphic trends of your target audience.
#6 Use Infographics
Apart from photos and videos, infographics are also a great way to share lengthy information in bite-sized forms. If your content’s goal is to educate, compare, or illustrate data, it’s a simple and eye-catching way to give your audience what they need to know in one post.
#7 Pay Close Attention to Your Analytics
While creativity and innovation take one part of digital advertising, analytics takes the other. It is a crucial component that tells you whether you’re achieving your objectives or not. It shows you data on engagement, clicks, conversions, and so much more.
You can use tools like Google Analytics for Google Ads and Facebook analytics for Facebook ads to get accurate numbers. With these, you can see which areas are performing well and which need improvement, and can therefore act accordingly to achieve your goals.
#8 Latch on Personalization
Gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all mentality. Now, audiences want to feel seen and heard. The only way you can do that as a business is to create unique customer experiences through personalization.
You can use the data you gathered to enhance their experiences, send customized emails, and target their specific consumer needs. These are some examples of what your customers want to see from your brand.
#9 Collaborate with Micro-Influencers
Collaborating with micro-influencers is a great strategy if you’re trying to build your visibility and consumer base. Since social media personalities have followers already, you can use their influence to tap into their audience and engage with them.
#10 Stay Flexible
While these strategies are effective, they’re not set in stone. So be sure to stay flexible and keep up-to-date with the latest trends. Doing so will help your company evolve and maintain long-lasting relevance.
Your Turn
These tried-and-tested tips can boost your business when implemented properly. Try them for yourself and see how your performance improves over time.