Advertising is a viable marketing strategy to reach and influence your target audience. It is perhaps the marketing tactic with the longest history, and online advertising in particular is a growth industry.
Whether you are a charity, small or large business or indeed a home based business then advertising online should be a key element of your marketing strategy. However, simply placing an advertisement for your business doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to achieve results. Here’s how to optimize your advertising efforts by choosing the right place to advertise for your audience.
Step One: Determine where your audience hangs out – what websites do they visit?
Blogs. There is a blog on just about every topic under the sun. Analyze your audience, determine what blogs they frequent and search for advertising guidelines. Some blogs do not publish their advertising guidelines. You’ll instead need to contact the owner of the blog. Banner ads and text ads work best on blogs.
It is important to find a blog that:
* Speaks on a relevant topic
* Has a fair amount of visitors
* Doesn’t have too many competing ads
Social Networking Sites. Social media has become a prevalent force in our personal and professional lives. Explore the wide range of social networking sites and your target audience’s interests to see if there are any which match.
Websites. Websites are very similar to blogs in terms of the typical advertising format and the guidelines to find appropriate and profitable places to advertise.
Search Engines. Google, Yahoo, MSN and a whole slew of other search engines offer advertising programs. They’re a highly targeted advertising strategy – you’re only viewed by people looking for information on your business products or services.
Email. Enewsletters and email marketing messages are still a great way to reach a targeted audience. Enewsletter advertising is cost effective and because they are subscribed to, the recipients are generally looking forward to receiving them and more receptive to the advertising content.
To begin thinking about ideal locations to advertise it’s important to understand the habits and preferences of your target audience. Visit sites they visit, consider what they need before or after they might buy your product and research potential advertising locations.
Consider your target consumer’s buying cycle, behavior, interests, and habits. If you’re really stuck for ideas on where to advertise, research where your competition advertises. While you may not want to advertise on the same website, blog, or social networking site, you can at least use those ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
Step Two: Choose The Right Format For Your Audience.
There are many types of advertisements including banner ads, text ads, pop-up advertisements, and even video advertising. Often, it’s difficult to know at first what your audience will respond to. This is where step three will come in very handy.
Step Three: Tracking and Testing Your Advertisements
The advertising of old had one big drawback, there really wasn’t a way to track the effectiveness of an ad. Online, the whole world of advertising has changed. You can track everything from the effectiveness of a headline to the color of the ad, the font, the call to action, the placement and so on. Every variable is easily tracked and tested so you can maximize your advertising efforts. Data collection programs like Google analytics and basic split testing tactics often provide all the information you need to create and perfect advertisements to influence your target audience.
Online, reaching your target audience and influencing them to visit, promote, and buy is accomplished by studying their online habits and creating advertisements which speak to them in a personal and effective manner. Testing and tracking optimizes your efforts and helps you hone in on those messages which have the most influence.
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With so much emphasis on blogging many coaches might think email marketing is outdated – I believe it has never been more powerful. Capturing your visitor’s name and email address is a critical strategy in any online marketing mix.
I use and recommend using keywords in the subject line – not for search engines but because keywords & phrases will typically make sense – sometimes more sense – to your audience and will stand out to them in their overloaded Inbox.
Great post!