by Ryan Gindlesperger
The world we live in today revolves around the Internet and mobile communications. The days of television, newspaper, and broadcast radio solely dominating the market are long gone and for good reason. Mobile communications via the Internet are just more convenient.
Did you ever stop and think how much time a day you spend on the Internet? How much time do you spend on Facebook scrolling your news feed, on Google Finance checking the stock report, or on LinkedIn browsing for new business contacts? Not to sound age biased, but if you’re a person under the age of 55, odds are you spend a decent part of your day engaged online.
What does this mean for advertisers? Before we get to that I would like to take a crack at answering the following question in my own words. What is the actual purpose of advertising? Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the goal, or end result that you wish to obtain from it, but rather the purpose.
In my opinion, the purpose of advertising is to place a business or organization’s message that contains a call to action in front of a target audience at a time or in a setting when they are most inclined to use or buy your product or service. Ok, so that’s a mouthful. Let me say that again so you can fully digest. The purpose of advertising is to PLACE a business or organization’s MESSAGE that contains a call to action IN FRONT OF A TARGET AUDIENCE at a time or in a setting WHEN THEY ARE MOST INCLINED TO USE OR BUY your product or service.
The goal of advertising is to increase sales of a product or service, or in some scenarios build awareness. But just to be clear, the PURPOSE and the GOAL are two entirely different things. One is an action while the latter is a result of the action.
So let’s get back to the original question; what does this mean for advertisers? Of the many advertising options that exist today, the ones that continually prove to be the most cost effective and trackable are online. The more that you can track and measure the results of your advertising efforts, the more effective and efficient you will be.
Two great examples of online advertising options are Google Adwords and Facebook Ads. Both of these platforms allow advertisers to focus their advertisements towards their specific target audience.
Google Adwords allows advertisers to target potential customers by their physical geographic location as well as by keywords they use in Google search. This option can be purchased on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. CPC means that you only pay for your ad when a potential customer clicks on it. Google Adwords also allows you to set limits on the amount of money you spend within a given period of time. For example, if you don’t want to spend more than $10 per day, you can set your maximum daily spend at $10 per day. Once your ad spend reaches $10 within a given day, your ad will stop displaying until the next day. This is a great feature that allows you to work within your set budget.
Facebook Ads are similar to Google Adwords in that you can target potential customers (or viewers) by their geographic locations. Facebook also goes several steps further when it comes to setting your target audience. You can target by age range, gender, language, education level, relationship status, schools attended, workplaces, interests, and many other options that allow you to customize your ideal target audience. Facebook also allows you to set daily max budgets, but in addition you can run your ads based on clicks or number of impressions.
Both of these online advertising options are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to advertising opportunities online. Your organizations use of social media platforms through the creation of pages, feeds, channels, and use of video also plays an very important role in online marketing. Email marketing and SEO within your Website also create a powerful means to reach potential clients. If you want to be competitive in our ever changing economy, you need to take a serious look at how your business promotes itself and how you can leverage online marketing and advertising options to be more efficient and create greater revenue opportunities.
Every business is not the same, so it’s important to build a plan that’s right for you. You don’t have to spend more money to achieve success. If you’re looking for ways to do more for less, fill out the form below and I’ll be sure to personally contact you.
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1st Team Advertising is a professional marketing and advertising firm with full range of in-house creative capabilities. In-house services include marketing consultation, advertising management, media buying – digital & traditional, social media management & content creation, email marketing, Website development, graphic design, and video production. Since 2007, 1st Team Advertising has serviced over 300 clients throughout the northeastern United States.
