How to Create Ads That Bring Targeted Customers

The success of an advertising campaign depends on two things. Firstly, it is critical that the ad copy and the landing page communicate exactly what you want your audience to know. Secondly, it depends on how well you target your customers. Failing at either of these two steps will mean wasted resources that could potentially harm the ROI you aim to gain from your campaigns.

Communication

Communicating to your prospects over ads is a two step process. The first step is to lure your customers through an attractive hook in the ad copy. This could be talking about attractive discount offers, or the chance to win a prize. Once a casual visitor is hooked to the message, a call to action drives these visitors to your landing page where you communicate your message in greater detail.

What you communicate in the ad copy and the landing page is also restricted by the platform you are advertising on. Advertising networks like Adwords and Facebook set their own terms for advertisers reaching out through their platform. In addition to this, the buyer mindset is different over these various platforms. A potential buyer on Google is looking for information about the product, so ad copy for this audience is vastly different from the type youwill need to attract a visitor over a social networking medium like Facebook, or a visual network like Instagram.

Retargeting

It may not always be possible to reach out to your target customers when they are in the market for your product. For instance, if you are a business that sells traveling gear, advertising on online travel booking portals may not yield much ROI since visitors on these websites are more focused on booking their ticket rather than clicking on ads to buy gear. Advertising on travel blogs may not be optimal either since a lot of visitors on these websites are casual readers who are not traveling immediately. Retargeting is a fantastic opportunity to reach your targeted users.

Using the above example, here is how retargeting works -- a travel gear seller uses web cookies from services like Adroll to tag visitors to online travel portals. These visitors are targeted with relevant ads on other websites that these visitors go to. A prospect for this business is more likely to check out the products after a travel booking is made and retargeting makes sure the ad is delivered when the target is most likely to buy. Showing the same ad multiple times over different websites also helps with branding and also conversions.

Picking the right ad network

The choice of ad network has a great bearing on the quality of audience you reach out to. A business selling homemade cookies would do well to target niche groups and communities on a platform like Facebook. On the other hand, a business offering accounting services may find little success on Facebook unless the objective is to build a brand. Such a business should instead target visitors typing related search queries on Google. The mode of ad delivery is important as well. Popup advertising has garnered a bad reputation over the past decade and most reputable sites do not deploy such ads. If your ads are geared towards brand-building, then picking a popup network could backfire quite badly.

How well you target your ads has a direct impact on the return on your advertising investment. Failing to target your ads to the right audience can deplete your ad budget. If you are a small business, this could be the factor that makes or breaks your business.

About the author

Trott advises small businesses on their market go-to strategy. He may be reached at [email protected]

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