Photo by Witsanu Singkaew
Focus on targeting, compelling creative and nonstop performance testing.
You don’t have to be reminded about the dynamic new technologies that seemingly evolve all the time, and the clutter of competition in marketing and sales.
But forecasting can be tricky, especially with the global demographic changes as young people come in the workplace.
The first dynamic you can anticipate – constant change – both positive and negative. Actually, you should note there are five trends in the future of marketing.
Based on the trends, the first thing to remember is that you’ve got three seconds or less to grab the attention of an Internet user. That’s how long you have to create a favorable first impression in order to motivate the reader.
Plus, attention spans are declining. So it’s vital to make the most of your first impression.
Here are eight best practices in online advertising:
1. Messaging
Make one salient point with a call-to-action. Don’t make the mistake of trying to cram everything you can into your messaging.
Avoid trite or weak phrases. Write urgent, clear call-to-actions. Because consumer attention spans are usually under 10 seconds, use strong visual hooks in the first seconds of video ads.
Optimize the click path. Your landing page must match your core message and that it loads quickly on mobile devices.
2. Sizing
To make certain the right message is made available at the right time, create all the ad sizes and placements possible.
Despite the changes in your ad size, be sure to be consistent as possible in messaging. Your target customer may wait to click until seeing your ads multiple times.
3. Varying your creative
How many times have you looked at an ad and thought, “Geez. Don’t they ever change the creative?” You should avoid ad fatigue. If you don’t, of course, you’ll suffer from a decrease in click-through rates.
Vary your creative: Change your messaging including your headline call-to-action, image or ad size. Don’t deliver the same ads in your retargeting campaigns. Focus mainly on cross-selling, up-selling and offering referral discounts.
In your keyword targeting, target low-to-medium volume keywords. On search engines, avoid using hyper-expensive, high-volume terms. Create a list of negative keywords. .
4. Leveraging resources
Identify and study all the signs available in programmatic media buying – first and third-party demographics as well as the behavior of site users.
Be sure to leverage smart automation. Let algorithms optimize delivery. So use platform tools such as Google smart bidding.
5. Transparency
Don’t fall victim to fraud. Examine the locations of your ads. Make requests for inventory quality reports. Screen and trust only the vendors who buy space from legitimate sources.
6. Recent visitors are a priority
Bid higher amounts and retarget users contingent on how recently they viewed your messaging. Why? People who have recently visited your site obviously have a possible stronger awareness of your products or services.
7. Tracking
Scrutinize your campaigns’ performance reports. For a return on your marketing investment, don’t neglect them. Make sure your campaigns are monitored and analyzed.
8. Analyze competition
Check your competitors’ strategies — both their keywords and visuals. You can do it easily by researching the Facebook Ad Library and SEMrush.
Conclusion
Your best chance to dominate your competitors in online ads is to at least focus on three strategies: Streamlined testing, high-impact creatives and data-driven automation. Good luck!
From the Coach’s Corner, for a maximized return in digital marketing, here are related articles:
8 Ways to Get Transparency from Your Retargeting Campaign — If you’re a major advertiser, you probably use behavioral remarketing or retargeting strategies. That’s to reach prospective customers based on their Internet searches, if they leave your Web site and don’t buy from you.
Insights: Making Your Google Search Ads Cost-Effective — Here’s how to get more bang for your buck in Google search advertising: Less-known brands benefit from top positions a lot more than well-known companies. That’s just one conclusion on click-through rates from a Stanford research study released in 2015.
Choosing Best Web Sites to Advertise — the ‘Medium is the Message’ — A study shows why Web sites with an authoritative image are often the most profitable.
8 Red Flags Your Web Site is Out-of-Date (Here’s What to Do) — Just like your finances, human resources and other aspects of your business, your Web site should be continuously monitored for red flags and to be sure it’s not out-of date. Yes, it’s time-consuming and expensive, but any problems should be solved. The trick is to do right, cost-effectively.
10 Tips to Optimize Your Web Site for Higher Sales — If you haven’t optimized your Web site for sales, you might want to reconsider. There are more and more indications that online shopping will continue to grow.
11 Tips for the Best Business Mobile Web Site — If you operate a retail business, it’s increasingly important for your Web site to be easy-to-use for mobile users. The use of smartphones and tablets is skyrocketing, especially among Millennials — young adults aged 32 and under.
“Advertising is totally unnecessary. Unless you hope to make money.”
-Jef I. Richards
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