How To Make Your Ads Work Harder

Do you find online marketing easy? Maybe not.

The online world of advertising becomes more competitive daily. How do you stand out in such a crowded market, when (as rumour has it) most of us are exposed to one ad every 11 seconds of every waking minute!

Getting noticed in a crowd is not easy

Most of us business folk use paid search and social media ads to promote our wares, but how do you get more bang for your buck? We need a solid return on spend or we may as well pack up now and go home.

Where do we start? 

Well, we first need to identify where your customers are. If you have a website selling running shoes, you might be able to get your ad on the website of your local gym or running club, but chances are the sales coming in from that source won’t keep you in energy bars for very long.

So we need to spread the net further and wider, over as many channels as possible, in order to generate sales that will make you and your bank manager happy.

That sounds easy, but where? And how?

Finding where to place your ads yourself is difficult, time consuming and quite frankly, pretty demoralising.

So let’s work backwards. 

You want your brand message to be seen by as many people as possible. You want to be able to get your ads in front of people who are likely to buy. You want the set up to be as easy as possible, and you don’t want to pay agency fees on top, or be tied in to a long contract.

Lastly, but certainly not least, you want to appear alongside top brands, and benefit from the “being sold on the same shelf” scenario.

That’s a long list. Surely that’s not possible?

How to get eyes on your pages

Ah ha! Allow me to introduce you to the concept of the exchange platform, in particular, the LikesXL platform.

This is a very special exchange platform which is kind of like a supermarket of websites, blogs, promotional videos and landing pages, that uniquely also offers a huge engaged audience. Ad agencies love us for this, but also because they can buy ad space in bulk, which saves them a huge amount of time and effort. LikesXL also deliver targeted views and engaged clicks… the Holy Grail in digital marketing.

To try to generate this kind of exposure on your own is a massive task. Why spend all that time and effort when there is a platform already set up that can do the job for you, very effectively too.

LikesXL... first off the blocks

Advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry, and exchange platforms have earned their place on the grid. They offer a serious proposition, and are intent on what they do. In particular, LikesXL is first off the blocks within this exciting industry to offer totally unique and highly attractive packages for large corporate advertisers. 

The market is yours for the taking

If you use the platform correctly, it will generate brand exposure, leads and sales for you, in a way that is out of reach until you are generating big traffic to your site unilaterally. The platform offers a win-win situation.

If you are already advertising on other networks or platforms… no problem. You won’t be asked to enter an exclusivity deal, or do anything that could possibly clip your wings. Just think of this as an extra exposure generator.

See what I mean? Win-win!

Brand Awareness Is Key

The online environment is constantly evolving. The internet now contributes more than $2.2 trillion to annual retail sales… a number that is set to continue increasing at an incredible rate.

To put this into perspective, December 2015 saw 3.26 billion internet users, which accounted for more than 40% of the entire population of the world.

More than 40% of these internet users globally, that’s more than one billion people, have purchased products or services online in 2016… so far.

As business people, we face a huge challenge. How to reach our chosen audience effectively?

Most people now prefer to browse online via their mobile devices 

We know that more and more consumers are using a number of devices and browsing across many channels, before finally making their purchase decision. For example, mobile devices are now taking the lion’s share of internet users with more than 52% globally accessing the web via their mobile. Clearly, if your site is not optimized for mobile devices you are immediately at a huge disadvantage.

People are not just browsing via their mobile, but they are purchasing too. eMarketer anticipate that by the end of 2016, nearly 64% of people in the US and the UK will own and use a smartphone, and that spending on tablets will account for over 64% of all UK sales via mobile devices. They also forecast that paid advertising spend will climb to $542.55 billion globally in 2016.

If we, as business owners, are to make the most of this huge global, online market and opportiunity, we need to follow three simple rules.

Prioritize Social Engagement

Be proactive about finding your target market across social media platforms, and ENGAGE! Avoid the temptation to wait for fans to come to your brand's social media accounts. Instead, proactively search for your targeted audience.

People are engaging with their friends via social media everywhere

Awareness of your brand, within your target audience can benefit massively if you adopt a proactive approach. “Listen” to the social media activity of your target audience, and adapt your social media marketing efforts to take full advantage.

Proactivity will help you provide a good brand experience for your customers, whilst also attracting prospects. To get an idea of how far you can go with targeting on Facebook, check out their Audience Targeting Options! This is an incredibly detailed facility, enabling you to drill down to your target very effectively.

Customers love engaging, so help them engage with your brand to become followers. You might even create conversations between past, present, and future customers. Think outside of the box. You could be pleasantly surprised!

Target ­Specific Audiences

Brand awareness continues to play a vital role in any marketing strategy worth its salt. Reaching out to new customers and re-engaging with current customers contuse to be key. The term “customer” can be used to identify any individual who may have shown interest in a company by visiting the website, interacting with company social media posts or reading company announcements, for example.

Reach out to your target audience effectively

Ideally, focus your efforts on reaching out to your brand's identified target market, via popular publishing sites, social media activity and using targeted platform advertising such as LikesXL.  

Establish Brand Recall

Use digital display ads such as banners, to stimulate brand recall. This is a great way to encourage website visits by your prospects that have a basic awareness of your brand.

Display ads will also act as a strong reminder to people who know your brand, and may have previously purchased from you.

Build your database by using “opt-in” data capture forms, which you can then target via email campaigns.

Customise your marketing messages, according to your target market, and don’t wait for customer to come to you. Go out and find them!

Benefits of Brand Awareness

It is worth sitting down to plan a sound and solid brand awareness strategy.

Brand Awareness is key

Aim to reach out to targeted audiences and improve engagement. This will help to increase loyalty to your brand, increase sales, and help create strong brand recall.

Never underestimate the power of social media platforms, to proactively find loyal followers, and encourage them to tell their networks about their favourite brand.

Success here, coupled with data capture campaigns for lead generation, can help you to really maximise returns on your marketing budget.