The internet has made our lives easier than anyone ever anticipated. We can order clothes, cleaning supplies, and even groceries and have them delivered directly to our doorstep. Looking up directions no longer requires a paper map in our hands. And, discovering something new doesn’t require us going to the library. Life has been made simple and efficient. We want fast, efficient, and effective in everything we do. The way advertisers and marketers run their campaigns should be too. There’s no longer need to draw creative on paper and print it thousands of times. Or, write down every price and agreement made with buying traditional media. Digital advertising is a way to simplify the lives of advertisers and marketers. But, it’s important marketers and advertisers are aware of exactly how they can utilize digital advertising to get the most out of their campaign efforts. Here are a few of the best ways marketers and advertisers can utilize digital advertising:
1. Get to Know Your Customer
Digital advertising allows marketers and advertisers to collect real-time information on users. Once a user has clicked on an ad, fill out a form, or completed any event/conversion, advertisers can get information on the user’s geographic location, gender, lifestyle, age and so much more. This information is crucial because it allows marketers and advertisers to tailor their digital advertising campaigns (creative, messaging, call-to-action) to better fit the ideal customer—aka the user most likely to click on the ad—then focus targeting efforts to that customer.
2. Track User Experience
Another piece of digital advertising that marketers and advertisers should be utilizing is the ability to track an entire user’s experience on the web. Advertisers can see where the user was before clicking on the ad, where they went after clicking on the ad and then track the entire path that the user takes through the website. This is important for advertisers and marketers because they are now able to see if there is a falling off point with customers at a time in the buying process or if their ad simply isn’t performing for the goal trying to be achieved. Once this information is known, adjustments are then able to be made to get those customers all the way through the sales funnel.
3. Be flexible
Making adjustments during a campaign is extremely important in utilizing the overall budget effectively. With traditional media, marketers, and advertisers are unaware of the success (or failure) of a campaign until the campaign is finished. And even then, have no real idea of how many people saw their ad in a magazine or bought something because of that ad. Digital advertising allows marketers and advertisers to track the success of their campaign throughout the entire campaign and make adjustments as needed. The flexibility involved with digital advertising allows advertisers to get the most out of the campaign budget and use it in the most effective ways.
4. Adjust Creative
Adjusting creative is another way marketers and advertisers can utilize digital advertising to get the most out of their campaigns. Shortly after campaign launches, data on how different creative is performing is available. If one piece of creative is performing significantly better than another piece of creative, advertisers can adjust the budget of the campaign to shift toward the better creative and cancel the creative performing poorly. By adjusting creative, advertisers and marketers can ensure that the ads most likely to convert customers are being used and they aren’t wasting any campaign funds on the ads users aren’t clicking on.
5. Take Advantage of Cost
The final way advertisers and marketers can utilize digital advertising are by taking advantage of the cost associated with it. The cost of digital advertising is significantly lower than traditional advertising. The average cost of a local TV advertisement is anywhere from $200-$1500, and national TV advertisements have an average cost of $342,000. On the other hand, the average cost of a digital advertisement is $0.40 for action on a platform like Foursquare, $30 for an ad streaming on Hulu, or $20,000 for a sponsored article. While there is a wider range of pricing with digital advertising, it allows marketers and advertisers to have more of choice on how much they want to spend on a campaign or specific advertisement, exactly where it will go, and how it will be placed. Lower cost advertisements allow you to place more in front of the users who are going to pay attention to them. Which, in the end, gets you far better reach and more bang for your buck.
Digital advertising is far more simple and more effective for marketers and advertisers. The best way to utilize digital advertising is for marketers and advertisers to get to know their customer, track user experience, be flexible, adjust creative, and take advantage of cost. If marketers and advertisers use these practices, they will utilize digital advertising in a whole new way in 2017.
