Best Online Advertising Tips For Businesses in 2020

In 2016, digital ad spending rose higher than TV for the first time. The gap widened by $10 billion in 2017. And that number is climbing.

More spending on digital ads means more competition. In today's competitive digital world, it's now more difficult to connect with audiences and inspire them to take action.

So, what can be done, you ask?

Read on for tips to make sure your best online advertising attracts the most potential customers possible.

Leveraging digital advertising should enhance the user experience. Your advertising should not be annoying to your target audience. The best online advertising strategies resonate with your target audience.

How can this be done?

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Know Your Target Audience

Understanding who your audience is is the first step. After that, you need to know which social media sites they use. This is crucial.

Once you have this knowledge, you will be able to place your content where your ideal customer is hanging out the most. Genius, right?

The more you know about your ideal customers, the better you can target them on any social media platform. This is the basis of the best online advertising you will ever do.

For example, Facebook allows you to target your audience based on up to 10 of their interests. That is pretty specific.

This allows you to tailor your reach to people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services.

Keep the Client in Mind

Take the ad to your client's mindset first, not immediately to your product.

Don't focus on the features of your products or services. Instead, highlight the benefits to the customer.

Instead of a headline “Cheap travel vacations!” consider instead “You could be on a sandy beach tomorrow.”

A crucial piece of the best online advertising thought-process is to think like the customer.

Understand The Buyer Process

Make sure to get a handle on the buyer journey. Figure out what you need to present them with at each stage of the process to reach more users effectively.

This means looking at buyer analytics.

You'll be able to see each click a visitor makes on your website. You can track how much time they spent on each page, and even what pages caused them to click out of your site.

Use this information to cater your digital marketing. Start targeting users who are close to making a purchase.

The insights gleaned from your web visitors (even those who do not make a purchase) is valuable info that can help you close the sale next time.

Make Sure Your Ads are High Quality

No matter where you advertise, make sure it is flawless. If your ad isn't eye-catching you won't get the results you want.

Keep ad design simple but make it catchy. Use attractive and original images.

Today's online advertisements are yesteryear's billboards. They have to pack a punch with few words.

Large headlines are OK but don't make your ad crowded. White space can be powerful, too!

Don't forget to modify your ad for mobile devices. Today's users expect this.

Spend Wisely on Your Best Online Advertising

Each online platform provides you with a different value.

Think carefully about which ones are best for your needs. A social media platform that works great for another company might not be best for yours.

It is all very specific to your brand and where your customers have the highest social media presence.

Determining what each platform can do for you is the best online advertising strategy. This fuels all the decisions you make with your campaigns.

Avoid Pop-Ups

These were hugely popular several years ago. Now they are just one more X click before users can get to the content they want. And viewers hate them.

According to a 2016 HubSpot Research report, four out of five consumers reported that they closed a browser or exited a website because of a pop-up.

Hubspot research has found that telemarketer calls generate a 76% extremely negative experience. Yikes!

Guess what comes in second place?

Yup. Pop-up ads resulted in a whopping 63% extremely negative and a 25% negative experience for viewers. That's 88% of viewers mad at you!

Interestingly, sponsored LinkedIn posts have the highest positive experience for social media ads. If your customers are on LinkedIn, appeal to them there! They are very receptive.

Best online advertising strategies look for ways to reach and connect with customers, not annoy them.

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Search Engine Advertising

Driving search traffic is imperative. But if you are fighting for space against brand giants, it can be difficult to be heard.

If free (also known as organic) tactics are not enough, look at paid search campaigns focused on keywords.

One of the most frequently used advertising methods is Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Here, Google AdWords is your best bet.

Using SEM allows you to display your advertisement in the user's search results.

This type of advertising usually works by pay per click (PPC). This way you only pay for each click made on your advertisement. In other words, all the impressions your ad makes don't cost you a dime!

SEM is very personalizable. You can choose the max amount of clicks you want to pay for any given word.

With SEM, you are able to have up to four lines of text: 25 characters in the title, 70 in the text and 35 for the URL. You may have to spend some time rewriting to get the most out of your character usage.

SEM is ideal if your main goal is to get web traffic and conversions. It's one of the simplest and most effective advertising methods.

Need help learning how to set up your Adwords campaigns?  Take a look at this handy guide:
How to Set up a Google AdWords Campaign

Use Influencer Content

Huffington Post defines influencer marketing as promoting products or services through people (influencers) who can help the brand.

Like when Michael Jordan promoted Air Jordan's for Nike.

If you have any content featuring an influencer–you've struck gold! Use it to the full potential by choosing the best online advertising platform for it.

Influencers tend to have huge followings on their social media. You need to tap into that.

Create a paid campaign that targets your influencers' followers. Tweak the campaign so it focuses on people who meet specific criteria like location, interests or age group.

For more tips on how to leverage your social media accounts, check out:
Social Media Management Tips for 2020

Remarketing

Remarketing is a technique that uses cookies on people who visit your site. When these visitors move on to other sites, your ads pop up on the next sites they visit.

Yes, it is similar to stalking, but it works! By remarketing you are reminding visitors about your goods or services over and over. If they were unsure about making a purchase on your site, the repetitive visual reminder will likely influence them to buy.

Remember, these visitors have because they already visited your website. This means they have an interest in your company. Remarketing is used to keep your past visitors engaged.

Reconsider Banners

Web banners were the first advertisements to appear online back in 1994.

They are the best known and used method of advertisement. Banners allow you to strategically placing advertisements within web pages. Users who click on the advertisement will be taken to your site.

The problem with this method of advertisement is that the internet is saturated with them. Users hardly pay attention to them at all.

So, unless you have a really good reason for paying for one, invest your budget elsewhere.

Branded Content

This is a type of indirect advertising which is usually done through storytelling, usually in a blog post. This allows you to create an advertisement around an experience or reflection.

This is a relatively new territory and few companies have tapped into this potential.

Basically, branded content is collaborative advertising. First, you need to search for the leaders in your sector. You will offer to pay them to write an article where they speak highly of your products or services.

Payment does not have to be monetary. You can settle on a deal that benefits you both such as the use of your services etc.

If you know which blogs your target audience follows, then this is an excellent way to get discovered.

Video advertising

As digital marketing evolves, we continue to see trends favoring video! Forbes tells us that over 500 million people are watching videos on Facebook every day. And, video marketing creates stronger customer engagement.

Some of the largest social networks, such as YouTube and Vine, cater exclusively to videos. YouTube sees more than 1 billion unique visitors a month.

Clearly, this is a platform you shouldn't ignore. Videos are crucial for the best online advertising method in today's society.

These platforms can be an excellent place for advertising your product and service. In fact, your content is 50 times more likely to make it to the first of Google results if it includes video.

When you use YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and Vine for your video ads, they'll be shown to users before the video plays. Your ad can also be placed on search results.

If you think shooting and editing videos is too expensive, think again. It is becoming increasingly possible to do your own videos. And if you hire out the job, it costs less than it did previously.

A whopping 64% of viewers make a purchase after watching branded video content. This kind of sales would make the cost of your video absolutely worth it.

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Do Your Research

You probably have some ideas about what will work best for your audience based on past experience. But taking time to do thorough research will give you data to support your actions.

You may expect your customers will respond a certain way, and then they go in a completely different direction.

Use the information you collect from research to planning your best online advertising strategy.

For a more in-depth understanding of keyword research, please check out our keyword research guide:
Beginner SEO Guide: How to Do Keyword Research

Measure and Analyze to Optimize

The best methods to attract new customers come from the insights you glean when you measure and analyze your campaigns.

If you don't measure your results, how can you improve them?

It is essential to measure each one of your campaigns. Analyze how they performed. Then optimize each campaign based on those results.

Let's say you notice that one keyword on Google AdWords generates more conversions than the rest. Invest more of your budget in that group of ads. And create several versions of it.

The best online advertising campaigns are ones that come out of informed data.

Want to dominate by leveraging your data?  Take a look at:
The 10 Elements of a Successful Data-Driven Marketing Strategy

A/B Testing

A/B testing involves having two versions (A and B) to compare results.

Consider having several versions of your ads. This prevents viewers from seeing the same ad over and over (and getting bored of it).

Plus, you can use analytics to track what's not performing well. Then you can make tweaks.

Make Changes as Needed

Don't feel that you can't make changes as soon as you notice unfavorable results.

Digital advertising is not like an outside billboard where you need to run the same ad for a month.

You can change your ads every day if you don't like the results. Don't wait until the end of a campaign to realize that a specific ad was a flop. Make changes as needed to lead to optimal results, even during a campaign.

The best online advertising is flexible. Even if your campaign required dozens of hours or work, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Integrate All Marketing Channels

To reach your audience effectively, you need to have consistent messaging everywhere. Make sure your ads are integrated across all your platforms. Give your viewers the same message, regardless of the platform.

Each social media outlet has a different vibe, that's true. So take some time to make your campaigns a good fit for each site. Yet, stick with a consistent voice for your brand.

An integrated marketing campaign will yield better results. Your digital channels should work together and build from each other.

For example, if you have a contest on Snapchat, think about how every single other touchpoint (digital, physical etc.) can drive the contest.

People don't think in terms of channels, they think about your business as a whole. Think like a customer and present your brand as a unified entity. Make sure that your strategies connect seamlessly across channels.

The Bottom Line on the Best Online Advertising

The bottom line is that the best online advertising takes a lot of thoughtful consideration. Even genius lightbulb moments of inspiration need to be considered in terms of delivery and measurement.

The best online advertising is effective for branding as well as for driving sales. You will need to test, measure and analyze your results to fine-tune your campaigns.

Yes, it takes a lot of time, but isn't it worth it? We know you'll agree it is once you see the results for yourself.