Back to Basics: A Brief Guide to Running Digital Ads

In the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, running effective digital ads is a key strategy for businesses seeking to reach and engage their target audience. While the overall concept of digital ads seems simple, some of the terminology and best practices can be a little confusing. This blog post aims to demystify the basics of running digital ads and some commonly associated vocabulary.

Understanding Digital Ads

Digital advertising is a powerful tool that allows businesses to showcase their products or services to a vast online audience. Grasping the fundamentals is essential for running a successful campaign. 

Choose the Right Platform

Before diving into the nitty-gritty, identify the platforms that align with your target audience. Common choices include Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The factors below will affect which platforms are right for your business.

Define Your Objectives

Clearly outline your advertising goals. Are you aiming for brand awareness, lead generation, or direct sales? Defining objectives will guide your ad strategy.

Budgeting

Set a realistic budget for your digital ad campaign. Consider factors like ad placement, duration, and the size of your target audience. 

Ad Creatives

Craft visually appealing and compelling ad creatives. Images, videos, and ad copy play a crucial role in capturing your audience’s attention.

Targeting

Utilize audience targeting options provided by the platform. Define your audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and location. Creating buyer personas can help aid you with targeting.

Introduction to CPC

If you’ve never run a digital ad campaign before, you may not understand that the pricing of digital ads is based on the Cost Per Click or CPC model. Digital ads do not have a standard cost per day like traditional advertising platforms but rather are priced based on a cost per click. Let’s cover the basics of CPC.

What is CPC (Cost Per Click)

CPC is a metric that measures the cost incurred each time a user clicks on your ad. It’s a popular pricing model for many online advertising platforms.

How CPC Works

Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their target audience. The ad platform charges the advertiser a certain amount each time a user clicks on their ad.

Factors Influencing CPC

Quality Score, ad relevance, and competition in the ad auction are critical factors affecting CPC. A higher Quality Score can result in a lower CPC.

Optimizing Your Digital Ad Campaign

Once you’ve mastered the basics of running your digital ads, take your advertising to the next step by working on optimization techniques.

Monitor and Analyze

Regularly monitor the performance of your digital ads. Use platform analytics to gain insights into impressions, clicks, and conversions.

A/B Testing

Experiment with different ad creatives, headlines, and calls to action through A/B testing. Identify what resonates best with your audience.

Landing Page Optimization

Ensure that your landing page is aligned with your ad. A seamless transition from ad to landing page improves user experience and conversion rates.

Retargeting

Implement retargeting strategies to re-engage users who have interacted with your brand but haven’t converted. This can be a powerful way to boost conversions.

Are you ready to reach a larger customer base by running digital ads but you don’t have the time or knowledge to run them yourself? Blackbear Marketing is here to help! Get in contact with us so we can discuss what your business needs and how we can help get you there!