How Paid Advertising has Evolved: Making Successful Ad Campaigns

Advertising needn’t be a hindrance to your audience. In fact, if you’re creating successful campaigns, ads can be seen as necessary efforts by a business that ultimately provide an offer of value. In other words, they shouldn’t be disruptive or irrelevant. With digital media and inbound marketing, you can ensure that your advertising heads in the right direction. 

The Transformation of Paid Advertising 

Targeting customers is more advanced today than it ever has been. Brands can position their campaigns to be seen not only by specific market segments but also based on specific points along their journey with a brand. That is when an ad can be seen as most helpful to your audience. 

Inbound marketing as a whole is all about how connectivity and individual needs can improve the customer experience. It works because it benefits the business and customer alike. Search engines have the same overall goal - to provide value to the searcher, and ultimately a positive experience. Ads have become an integral part of the digital marketer’s toolbox in supporting the overall marketing strategy. 

The core of advertising has had to shift, too. It has been seen as a muddy activity using tactics to push provide you with everything you don’t really need or want. Today, advertisers have shifted gears, and so too has the technology. Ads need to convince, not course. It also needs to be tailored to specific needs which can be derived from data sets. 

Successful paid advertising requires an innate understanding and knowledge of your audience. This will ensure the best possible recommendations are made and that long-term relationships are built. It all comes down to knowing who the person is, what their needs are, and which stage(s) they are at. 

It takes a lot more than previous mass marketing that was focused on brand positioning and awareness. It also means that one or two ads won’t cut it. Your ads need to be reflective of the sales funnel and directed towards those needs. It's a new way of thinking about ads, but they’ve evolved over time to become an essential part of lead nurturing. 

This is also where the concepts of retargeting and remarketing come into play, both of which can boost revenue for a business. With retargeting, you’re able to show your ads to people who have shown interest in your website before or engaged with you on social media. Remarking is similar, but serves as more of a reminder of certain products or services to users, either through paid ads or email marketing. 

What advertisers need to do is be discerning. That is to say, you need to direct your ad spend wisely, not only in terms of formats, platforms, and campaigns but also the direction of these ads. That is to say, advertising to the right audience who is likely to make the purchase. Leads need to be segmented into the appropriate phases, otherwise, you’ll be spending money on leads who are not at the buyer’s stage.

The majority of paid ads are spent on social media ads and search engine ads. There are a number of variations of each, and each of these can be important in ensuring your brand maintains its presence online. To have a comprehensive strategy, your business should allocate budgets to both of these sectors. Ads may be intimidating since this is content that is paid for, with KPIs attached and a clear goal of getting ROI. In reality, that applies to all content produced for your brand, whether you are putting budget to back it or not. 

Paid Advertising Resources

There are many elements that can make paid advertising easier to carry out. Here are some examples...

• Having a centralized platform to manage all of the data from (like HubSpot)
• Having an in-depth understanding of your buyer personas and segmenting them accordingly 
• Utilizing technology to record customer interactions for in-depth data on their buyer’s journey
• Having established branding guidelines 

Optimize Paid Ads

In terms of optimizing your paid ads, you can:

• Perform split testing experiments to see what performs best and gain insights on specific details that resonate with your audience
• Utilize all of the features that the platform has to offer, like all of the ad extensions offered with Google Ads
• Conduct thorough keyword research as this is a driver for search, especially when it comes to PPC ads

Want Better Paid Ads?

Paid advertising has transformed over the years in many ways, from technicality to purpose and perception. To run successful campaigns, you need to understand these changes, adapt your strategy, and keep in mind the tools that drive optimization for high returns. 

Speak with us at Nexa. We’ve got experience working with brands across a wide range of industries on award-winning campaigns. Whether you’re new to the market or need to increase revenue, we’ll tailor a solution suited to your business’s needs.