Digital advertising and marketing have become more important than ever to businesses and organizations. With traditional sales strategies struggling because of canceled events and diminished foot traffic, many have had to pivot their marketing plan to embrace new digital advertising and marketing opportunities.

As with any marketing, your return on investment is very dependent on how strategic you are in your approach. You can very easily throw thousands of dollars away and not understand why you aren’t seeing the results you desire – especially if you don’t have a lot of experience analyzing what impressions, clicks, and any of the other metrics in the reports provide.

Targeting is the key to getting a higher return on your investment with digital marketing. The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Identifying who to target can be challenging, but it is worth the effort each and every time.  If you don’t have the talent (or genius) on your staff, consider hiring an outsourced marketing agency that can ensure you are getting the most for every dollar. Their expertise partnered with your understanding of your ideal customers can drastically improve the results of your efforts.

There are five key areas that can make a big impact on your digital advertising campaigns.

1. Get Granular

One of the blessings of digital advertising is that you can get very detailed in who you are targeting.  The more detailed you get, the better your results.

This may be difficult to understand for some.  It may seem like the more you target, the more opportunities for sales but that is not how it works.  If you really dial in on a specific target, it’s easier to identify if your strategic plans are working.

Imagine you have ten arrows.  Is it easier to hit a target by shooting those arrows one at a time if you have 100 small targets?  Or one large target?  That’s how it works in digital advertising.

2. Play Pretend

This is going to sound silly, but it’s time to put on your imagination hat. Pretend you are one of your customers.  Who are you? What is your age range? Where do you live? Where do you go to seek out information on your problems? How do you stay on top of industry news or get continuing education? What are your interests or behaviors?

Answering these questions will help you build buyer personas that will help you target your digital advertising to the right kind of potential customer.

3. Build Your Library

Now that you have your personas built, it’s time to build your content library with content that appeals to them. Provide the answers they are searching for in their day-to-day work lives. 

More content on customizable landing pages improves your chances to get both paid and organic clicks from your target markets. Content is still king when it comes to attracting your buyers who are searching for the answers your products or services can provide them.

4. Customize the Content

The next step is to actually build your digital advertising.  You need to customize it to the different personas that you have built.  What is going to make them take action and click on the link or ad to go to your website?

The same ad can be customized in many different ways for many different placements depending on the personas you built. Once they get to your content (that has been customized for them as well), the next trick is to capture them as a lead and add them to your sales funnel.

5. Plan to Pivot

The unfortunate truth is that digital advertising is not something that you can ‘set and forget’. It needs constant monitoring and adjustments. As things change in the marketplace or your buyers’ behavior changes – you will also need to change.

You may discover that your personas aren’t quite right and they may not be your ideal customer. You may need to adjust your content, your advertising, or your targeting.

There’s more to digital advertising and marketing than just throwing up some Facebook or Google ads. As with every marketing effort, you need to be strategic in your approach. Otherwise, you’ll be throwing money down the drain and miss the mark on achieving the results you need with your marketing dollars.

If you need help with any of this – strategy, training, setup, or management, please contact us. We would be happy to have a consultation with you to discuss your needs and budget and find a solution that will work for you and your team.