Digital advertising is a common marketing and PR strategy. Many understand the importance of a digital presence but few know how to connect a tailored search and social ad strategy to a comprehensive public relations approach. A traditional digital advertising strategy often operates in a vacuum without input or influence from those working on a brand’s content or overall PR strategy. This is a mistake.
Many businesses across market sectors operating without a strategic digital advertising plan are not only failing to maximize their brand awareness, they’re missing out on quality connections, job candidates and leads that convert to business growth.
More than 4.2 billion people around the world actively use their smartphones to access social media, and they are engaging with and buying products and services they learn about from ads. More than half of people polled in a recent survey purchased a product directly from an ad seen on a social media platform.
At their core, successful search and social ads put your message in front of users who are searching keywords tied to a particular product or service. If you do a Google search for Nike sneakers and later see a sponsored Nike ad while scrolling Instagram, your previous search data was captured and successfully retargeted to you. Just like that, you’ve been exposed to that product at multiple touchpoints.
1. Digital ads amplify your earned and owned media objectives.
Earned and owned media strategies are key pieces of any marketing plan and will position your company and its executives as thought leaders. However, you cannot reap the full benefits of those efforts if your news interviews, social media posts and authored articles aren’t reaching your target demographic. That’s where custom digital ads shine.
You can use digital advertising to leverage and amplify a great earned media interview by positioning your key messages in front of your target audiences across platforms. Earned media opportunities help establish credibility and digital ads can boost brand awareness. They work together to ensure you get the most out of your time and money.
Digital ads can also be strategically used for company growth. For example, if your goal is to attract ideal job candidates for a particular position, a tailored digital ad campaign on LinkedIn can ensure your job posting and subsequent website blog highlighting your company’s origin story, executive team leadership style and workplace culture is seen by users who fit your desired criteria.
Great earned or owned content can really move the needle when it’s seen and catered to an audience of prospective customers, clients and employees.
2. The right paid plan ensures qualified leads.
By definition, anyone who shows interest in your product or service (making them a potential customer or client) can be considered a lead. Any agency can guarantee leads, but our team guarantees qualified leads, meaning the right audience is targeted to take the desired action.
Research shows it takes 6-8 touchpoints for a customer to make a significant emotional or financial investment. Car shopping is the perfect example. Let’s say someone is in the market for a midsize SUV. Serving ads for a top-of-the-line Mercedes convertible isn't going to be effective.
It's much more valuable for the ideal 100 people to see an ad across social media platforms rather than the wrong 1 million people. Conversion rates matter, and quality over quantity is the winning formula in digital advertising.
3. Digital ads place your story and brand in front of established audiences.
Google Ads are one of the best ways to reach people who are interested in your product or service and the ideal solution for businesses looking to advertise to prospective customers via multiple touchpoints.
Recent data shows that more than 5.6 billion Google searches are conducted every single day. That’s over 2 trillion searches per year! The true value of digital ads, and Google Ads in particular, is that someone can search for a particular product or service near them and then see an ad for that particular product or service at the top of the search results. Using our car buying example, if someone is searching for “midsize SUV for sale near me,” you want your car dealership to show up at the top of the search results. Google Ads can also track user behavior to retarget your product or service to relevant audiences.
Ads need to be monitored to improve performance and optimize ad spend. Our team excels at real-time ad spend monitoring, creative updates and ongoing ad testing. These adjustments help ensure your budget is being spent efficiently.
If you aren’t seeing the results you expect from your digital ads and aren’t achieving message consistency across all elements of your marketing strategy, it’s time to synergize your earned, owned and paid media efforts to ensure consistent messaging and storytelling.
Are you ready to unlock the power and profit of your story?
Media Minefield is here to help! If you’re considering adding digital ads to your marketing plan, click here to access the five questions you need to ask before hiring a firm to execute your advertising strategy.
