In 2023, effective ads require a comprehensive marketing strategy, make the most of this in your Ad Spend. Ads by themselves are not a magic bullet. They are simply a tool for generating more brand awareness and sales faster if you do it right. Ideally, ads should form part of a well-informed, SEO-optimised content and sales marketing strategy to be efficient.
- Is your website ready for conversions?
There’s nothing more frustrating than having an ad generate success only to have your site crash. Make sure your website has sufficient capacity to handle more traffic, and use ecommerce-friendly website builders like Shopify or Shopstar. These types of website builders make it easy for clients to browse your site and buy what they want quickly.
- Brand awareness
Awareness? Do you have customer data and data from previous ads and sales pages to compare? Do you know who your ideal target market is, aka buyer persona? If you don’t have brand awareness data to work with yet, it doesn’t make sense to spend your marketing budget on sales. It will be like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks!
The beauty of brand awareness is that there are customers who know enough about your business and offering to talk about it, engage with your content and give you helpful feedback. This data is extremely valuable for tailoring your ads to your customers’ wants, needs, and thinking.
That said, everyone must start somewhere, so don’t be too hard on yourself with your first ad or two. Ideally, invest in a dedicated strategy for boosting brand awareness for six months before shifting your focus to sales generation.
- Cohesive content and messaging
Are your website copy and email newsletters in line with the offer you want to promote in your ad? If not, your messaging will not be consistent across all your communication platforms and channels, confusing potential clients. Make sure everything is up to date on all platforms and channels, and that it’s clearly obvious who your offer is for.
- Compelling ad copy is IT
Even if you apply all the other tips on this post, you can still get underwhelming results if your ad is not enticing enough. The panic of writing irresistible short copy for an ad is real, so before you freeze in front of your screen, check out helpful AI copywriting tools like Copy.ai or Copysmith to help you craft a click-worthy ad.
Compelling copy, a clear call to action, and excellent visuals are the first essentials. If your client needs to click through to a sales page, double check that the link works and that all the functions on the sales page work. Your ad and your sales page need to look related and carry the same messaging (albeit a bit more extensive on the sales page) for clarity.
- Digital marketing strategy
Do you have an online marketing strategy? If not, you risk wasting money and getting fewer results in your ads because you’re doing it on the spur of the moment and hoping for the best. Include ad creation and spending in your marketing strategy and budget for more measurable and streamlined results. Again, this is where the customer data from brand awareness fits in.
- SEO-optimised content everywhere
Are you using SEO in your online content marketing? Use the results from it to inform the keywords and phrases you will use to make your ads more effective. Of course, SEO-optimisation is relevant to all your online content — website copy, sales pages, blog posts, social media captions, and your ads.
- Excellent visual content marketing
Are you using excellent quality images in your online content and for your ads? Don’t use generic images. Use something that preferably shows another human in action with your product or service. People tend to connect better to ads that have the human component because it’s more relatable. If you do use stock images, it’s worth the money to buy high-quality ones so that your ad will stand out better.
- Stand out
Make your unique sales proposition as clear and straightforward as possible. Use a headline that grabs attention and helps the reader focus on what’s so special about your offer. From the headline onward, tell the reader how your offer will benefit them and paint the picture for them. Help them imagine how much better they will feel when they use it. If there’s space for it in your ad or somewhere on the picture you’re using, add a customer testimonial for extra punch.
- Remove fear, add urgency
Make your offer as risk-free as possible for the reader. You want them to believe they’ve got nothing to lose by buying, and that parting with their hard-earned money will be totally worth it. A guarantee of refunds/cost-free returns adds credibility because it shows that you’re also willing to risk something to ensure your client’s satisfaction. It’s all about building trust. As the saying goes, clients buy people before they buy products.
Add urgency by giving the client a reason to buy immediately. You can do this by making it a time-limited or capacity-limited offer, adding a bonus product if they buy now, etc. Clients like an irresistible incentive such as a small discount on purchasing. You can take it even further by sending an automated follow-up email if they click on the ad but don’t complete the transaction.
- Test, tweak, and optimise your ads
Are you implementing split-testing? This is where you run two ads at the same time, with only one difference between them (such as caption, image, the call to action, etc.) to see what works best. It’s worth the budget to be able to see what kind of headlines/images get better results. Focus on testing one aspect at a time for more precise outcomes.
- Group ads and extensions
If you’re running multiple ads, group the ones that have similar themes and similar target audiences together. For instance, if you sell food products, group snack food ads together and include relevant keywords. This will help clients see ads relevant to the keywords of the product they’ve searched for.
Adding extensions makes it even better because you can add more useful details such as website links, directions, contact numbers, and more. Use Search, Video, Discovery, and Performance Max campaigns to do this and you’ll likely see an even better click-through rate. Certain extensions will be more relevant to your current ad goal than others, so choose as you think best.
- Work smarter – use intelligent marketing tools
Are you using a tool that makes running Google Ads easy? Search engine marketing is easier than you think. You don’t need to be an expert to do Google Ads, and, you also don’t need to hire an expert to do your Google Ads. You can get excellent results with very little effort on our Adbot dashboard.
Adbot is an intelligent marketing tool, aggregating all the data from your ads as you run them, and using that to help you constantly improve the next ads you set up. Hooray for a tool that does a lot of the analysis and thinking for you! This means that Google Ads is not just for big companies. It’s perfect for you if you’re looking to make your online ecommerce marketing easier. Whatever your goal is with your ads, Adbot can help you achieve it.
A Few Digital Marketing Tips
Advertising can be a great way to improve business growth and sales, but before investing a large portion of your budget on an ad, it’s important to take certain steps to ensure success. The following tips will help you maximise the potential of your online advertising efforts.
First, make sure your website is ready for conversions. This means ensuring your site has the capacity to handle increased traffic and using ecommerce-friendly website builders like Shopify or Shopstar.
Next, consider your level of brand awareness. If you don’t have enough data on your target market and previous ad campaigns, it may be best to focus on building brand awareness before diving into sales campaigns.
Ensure that your messaging is consistent across all platforms and channels, and that your ad copy is compelling and clear. Make sure your ad’s visuals are of high quality, and that your ad and sales page are consistent in their messaging.
It’s also important to have a solid digital marketing strategy in place, and to optimise your online content for SEO. This includes using keywords and phrases in your ads that are informed by your SEO efforts. Additionally, use high-quality visuals in your online content and ads.