On today’s internet, organic traffic is the creme de la creme of digital marketing. But let’s be honest, that’s the long game. If you’re in launch or scale mode, you’ll need to dip into the world of paid ads in order to generate traffic to your offer.
Keep in mind that what works for some brands doesn’t work for ALL brands. And if you want to crush the competition, you need to be original.
Here are a few ways to best utilize paid ads to get leads in the door as quickly as possible!
Solidify Your Plan
What is your campaign goal? Are you list building or are you directly asking for your client to purchase? Get crystal clear on what you want to accomplish in order to ensure every step of the way is crafted to cultivate the desired result.
A few goal examples to get you started:
- Increase traffic to your website
- Get someone to purchase your offer
- Increase the conversion rate on your website
- Promote your social media page or profile
- Reach local businesses or customers in your area
- Generate qualified leads
- Recruit someone to your team
Advertise Where Your Clients Hang Out
Learn who your audience is and where you can find them. What are their interests? Are you targeting a specific geographic area? These will all play into your platform of choice.
If you’re an author and your target audience is males over 50, you probably won’t find them on TikTok. But if you’re a fitness coach looking to increase your youth yoga membership, it’s a platform you should certainly be looking into.
B2B – Business to Business
When you’re trying to attract another business, you may find they spend more time on more professional oriented platforms than other social media outlets:
- Pinterest
B2C – Business to Customer
If your ideal client or customer is the end user, you have a few more options for advertising platforms:
- TikTok
- Pinterest
Read more on The Ins and Outs of Social Media Marketing HERE!
Google Ads is the most wide-reaching platform in existence with nearly infinite possibilities. While this tool does provide an incredible platform, be prepared to invest a little more in your advertising budget.
You’ll be able to implement pay-per-click and pay-per-impression ads for Google searches, video ads for YouTube, display or graphic ads on any website, and even Gmail ads – getting your ad in front of innumerable sets of eyes.
With a robust offering of settings and options, Google Ads may not be at the top of the list for beginners when setting up a campaign on your own.
Compare Your Competitor’s Ads
You know who your competition is! Are they getting new fitness coach memberships with their online marketing? Are their authors selling more books? What is their digital marketing strategy?
Put on your customer’s hat, so to speak. Walk through your competitor’s client marketing journey. Identify industry trends or blind spots.
What would you do differently? How can you stand out? What makes your service or product better or different?
Here are a few tools that can help you run your own market research:
Craft A Dynamic Call-To-Action
The right people are seeing your ad, huzzah! But you’re paying for that attention. How are you going to make it effective? Simply seeing your ad isn’t BELIEVING. You want them to believe in you, believe in your offer.
Crafting a dynamic call to action can get them to take that next step. Unlike in an email, the whole ad will compose different elements of the call to action. The reader is absorbing the entirety of the message and combining it with the action button.
If your offer is a free fitness coach consultation when you sign up for a monthly membership, your ad could read something like this:
- No more excuses! Kickbox away the baby weight today! [Schedule Free Coaching Session]
- Get a leg up on the competition. Formulate your marathon game plan today! [Schedule Free Consultation]
The offer of a free life coach consultation when you apply for regular sessions could read something like this:
- Overcome yesterday. Thrive today. Excel tomorrow. Start your healing and growth journey today! [Schedule Consultation]
- Bootstrapping your way through life? And how’s that going? Get ahead of your next hurdle before you’re in the weeds. [Schedule Free Session Today!]
The action button needs to be concise and impactful. Here are a few more examples to get you started:
- Get %25 off – Shop Now!
- Grab Your Swag
- Schedule Free Session!
- Discover Your Workout
- Learn More About….
- Start Crushing Your Goals!
- Sign Up For Free!
This ad is essentially a mini sales presentation! Be genuine and consistent in your messaging. Continue to speak to their pain points or desired results at every turn and design ads that can cut through the online noise.
Read more on copywriting techniques HERE!
After They Click…
Your ad worked! Huzzah! Now that you have their attention, the next step is crucial.
Don’t be a dud! You spent all this time and money on your amazing ad, make sure your landing page isn’t a disappointment. Purposefully map out your client’s journey from click to cart to ensure the highest degree of impact.
According to TechJury, 51% of the time spent online in the US is on mobile devices. Optimize your ads, landing page, and website to suit mobile searches too.
The best way to utilize your paid ads is to be genuine and avoid spammy speech! Keep your keywords in alignment with your brand’s messaging and your ads are sure to attract your ideal customer.