Introduction
Advertising is one of the oldest industries still alive today, although it has changed a lot since the World Wide Web became a widely available service in almost every corner of the world. The changes are visible enough if we take a quick look at the advertising market media size of today and the expectations for the next 2 or three years.
We see that digital/internet advertising has already surpassed the traditional channels and it will continue to grow or, this is what we and our peers expect, nevertheless.
However, is digital advertising worth the money invested in it? Well, the answer depends mostly on your ability to adapt to the market trends, your audience and what they want to see, read or hear from you. At the same time, Google reports that for every dollar spent on Adwords, for example, you get a revenue of at least $2 in return. This means your ROI doubles when you use Google Ads which make an important part of the digital market that they now share with Facebook as two of the most important advertising platforms. Also, 4 in 10 users say they follow their favorite brands on social media while 37% of shoppers use social media to purchase inspiration while the total digital ad spending worldwide by 2020 is expected to at least half of the entire advertising market.
In conclusion, we have all the required premises for an online presence and at the same time, for a digital advertising campaign. One question remains, however, unanswered: What types of advertisement are best for increased leads? Let’s try to answer it right away:
#1. Display Ads
While there are many options for free advertising, today I am going to talk about paid options only. And, I am going to start with display ads, one of the most popular advertising options that exist in today’s market.
In many cases, these are the most visible type of ads since they are based mostly on visuals. You can publish visual ads on third party websites through advertising networks such as Google, on social media or directly on your targeted websites if you contact the owners and settle for a price that suits both parties.
Elements of the Display Ad:
- One or more visuals
- Text
- Engaging elements (audio, video, buttons, CTAs)
What Types of Display Ads are Best for Increasing Leads?
As long as your ads are adapted to the targeted audience and able to send a message that is easy to understand and read by that audience, they will perform well. Of course, you need to advertise something that is contemporary with the audience and at the same time, useful. Apart from this, here are some of the elements that make a great display ad:
- An image, a colorful visual or a graphic design that leaves room for the copy text or, tells a story on itself. Also, the visual part of the banner should be in line with the offer and the audience with complementary colors that invite in and do not disturb the audience in any way.
- A copy text that is able to convince the audience and that is readable in easily visible from any angle and on every ad format and size that is posted online.
- A CTA. This part contains a button or a link that invites the reader to see more, learn more, make a purchase, subscribe to a newsletter and so on.
Fortunately, designing professional looking ads in today’s market has become quite an easy task, since there are various apps available online such as Bannersnack for instance, that allow you to do a great job without the need to learn professional design.
Let’s take a quick look at a couple of a good examples in order to better understand how a great visual ad looks like and why:
First, analyze a little bit the following ads set by DropBox:
Now, let’s take a quick look at another effective type of a display ad that comes from Kinder.
Unlike the previous example, this set shows us the power of colors combined with images that target not only the right audience but also the right message and of course, the products that are being advertised here. Observe that the brand name, the copy texts and the CTAs remain visible and readable enough yet, the powerful imagery takes up the most of the banner area.
#2. Paid Search
86% of americans use search engines when they want to find products or businesses. In fact, consumers makeover 160 billion searches per month on Google alone.
This is why, with paid search, the results can be quite good if you create a strategy based on your ultimate goals. You need to become easy to find and paid search allows you to work on this part.
There are two types of goals you can set up here:
- More traffic
- More conversions
What is it that you want? Do you want to attract more traffic? Or, you expect conversions and a boost in sales? Before paying for your targeted keywords, you should clarify your intent and settle for one of the two options.
Or, target both options and aim at increasing both sales and traffic via search engines.
If you need ideas for suitable keywords, look at the competition. Analyze their most popular topics, their social media posts that trigger the most engagement.
#3. Sponsored Posts on Social Media
Sponsored posts, especially on Facebook, will make your content more visible and more accessible to your target audience, whether they are your friends and followers or not.
Considering that the average organic reach on a Facebook page is a little bit higher than 6% which in fact is indeed a very low number, you need to invest in order to reach out to your targeted demographics. There are over 2 billion users out there and these are only Facebook stats. Instagram has been growing constantly over the past few years as well and managed to go beyond the 1 billion milestone. Half of them (~500 million) open their apps daily. In order to reach out to these people and send your message, you need something to stand out from the crowd. Sponsored posts allows you to be there even if you are not friends with the audience and get their attention immediately, build a strong brand and increase your sales..
In order to make sure your sponsored posts convert; however, you need to make sure they stand out from the crowd. That being said, you should aim at promoting your best posts only and pay attention to every little detail.
Here’s how a sponsored post should look in order to attract the attention of the target audience:
As you can see, the display image stands out easily, with its red tones and white copy text. However, there’s more to it than the image. The post also comes with “an offer you can’t refuse”. And, this is something to think about when you invest money on advertising: You need to come up with something that attracts attention. You need to have something to offer to your audience in order to capture their attention and convince them to visit your page, make a purchase or become a fan.
#4. Social Media Paid Ads
Another good option when it comes to digital advertising is to pay for social media display ads. They are available on most all social media channels and, if designed according to the market you aim to conquer, they can convert quite easily.
More than 50% of B2B marketers consider social media’s advertising cost per lead to be in fact a low one and as of consequence, worth it. Only a small percent considers traditional advertising as being accessible and this is a major thing you need to consider: low cost ads that may reach hundreds of millions of potential customers are not something to neglect. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are the leading marketing channels but they are not your only options. According to Social Report, 75% of the saved pins come from brands and businesses. At the same time, Snapchat’s geo-targeted ads are delivered to 40 to 60% of the platform’s daily users.
As a consequence, we are talking here about three major and important things:
- Low costs
- Huge reach
- Affordable conversions
Things you need for a social media display ads campaign:
- Ideas for an attractive visual design or,
- A great stock/product image (or images – that are relevant to your audience)
- A great copy text and a convertible CTA
- Research in order to target the right audience on the right social media channel
- A professional and convertible landing page
And, here’s a good example from an Instagram advertising campaign designed for KFC Italy and published on Instagram:
The goal was to popularize one of their new products and the respective dip sauces and raise awareness on the offer on an audience that goes beyond their traditional group of teenagers and millennial customers.
As a result of the campaign, in just 10 days, the ad was viewed over 4 million times and led to a 31-point rise in ad recall and a 29-point rise in brand awareness.
#5. Video Advertising
Video content attracts more viewers than any other type of content. In fact, for some listings, they can increase the percent of inquiries for published ads up to an impressive 403% which is in many cases, more than the most optimist advertiser expects for such a campaign.
YouTube, the most popular video network should be on top of your list of advertising channels suitable for video content. However, you cannot neglect Instagram, Facebook and other similar channels that are continuously growing in fans and popularity.
How does a great video ad look like?
Well, it tells a story. It manages to touch the audience in some way and keep them engaged and attentive for the entire running time Or, you can skip the storytelling and create an engaging short video and target a specific audience, feelings, and emotions like in the following example from Burn.
Conclusion
Advertising and especially digital advertising converts but in order to achieve the ultimate goals you need to design the right banners for the right audiences or come up with the right keywords for the right types of searches and demographics.
In this article, I have listed some of your best options regarding digital advertising and at the same time, I presented some of the best examples for each one of the respective options.
What types of ads are you paying for or plan to invest in during the next couple of months and how much time do you plan to spend in designing them?
Gaurav Roy
9 May 2019
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