How to Use Paid Advertising for Your Industry
In 2022, you can't think of 'digital marketing' without also thinking of 'paid ads'.
Paid ads are a necessary requirement for every brand’s digital marketing toolbox. We are a firm believer in the power of paid advertising to compliment your organic marketing efforts. Paid ads provide a critical marketing boost, allowing brands like yours to reach and engage with potential customers you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
So, why do paid ads work so well? First off, digital paid advertising platforms are smart. Really smart. They have an impressively vast amount of data on their users, allowing them to pinpoint behaviours and attributes digital marketers can influence to elicit the desired response. From generating traffic to your website, building awareness of your brand, or even pushing for a sale- paid ads are a very powerful marketing channel.
Every business should take advantage of the power paid ads present. So how can your industry take advantage of paid ads to deliver results for your business? Every industry is different, therefore, ensuring you have an industry-tailored paid ads strategy is key.
Here are some quick tips to get you started.
Real Estate
Organic and paid search drive 57% of website visitors. Search-based advertising has allowed realtors to put themselves in front of people looking for a new home or property. While the competition is high to gain the attention of buyers, real estate marketers can become laser-focused on local SEO to drive visitors to their physical locations while encouraging online leads. (Ruler Analytics)
Humans are visually curious by nature, therefore, high-quality video ads (and/or 360° virtual tours) are ideal. This format enables the prospective buyers or renters to get a better sense of the space and potentially feel as if they’re in the property itself.
TikTok and Reels advertising are great for real estate, as they present low-cost strategies that can drive impressive results. With considerable focus on design, decor and lifestyle imagery, the results can be extraordinary.
Health and Wellness
Mckinsey’s research suggests that the shift to digital channels will be sticky: a majority of consumer categories will continue to project more growth in e-commerce than in other channels over the next several years. Health and wellness are massive industries (global wellness market is valued at more than $1.5 trillion, with annual growth of 5 to 10 percent) that are gaining significant growth as consumers look to prioritise their mental health coming out of lockdowns. (Mckinsey)
Paid advertising in this sector should be personalised around key demographics, such as gender and age. Messaging focused on actual customer testimonial health outcomes is usually the key to engagement, as it provides a level of social proof for the effectiveness of the product or service.
See above, July paid ads results from eCommerce brand and Content Smith client.
Start-Ups and eCommerce
Out of 1000 startups surveyed by Campaign Monitor, 42.8% are making use of paid searches. The idea behind paid marketing is to get immediate results. Startups are often looking for early traction and quick results, so strategies can be modified if necessary. This is why formulating a paid marketing strategy is essential. At this stage, it’s all about experimenting. Startups must build an audience with the crucial keywords to target the right market.
Professional Services
Paid ads for professional services tend to target other businesses, therefore, they should always reflect a proven reputation and reliability. Creative featuring customer results or testimonies provide good results across most platforms. Lead generation is key, however, so advertising on LinkedIn with Lead Generation ad units would provide good ROI in ad spend for businesses in this sector.
Personal Branding
For personal brand businesses, it’s all about building an audience and using that influence to create opportunities. Using paid ads for growth is perfect for these brands, where growing audience size is crucial. Using a combination of unique and personal ad messaging with ad objectives set towards awareness and engagement should see audience numbers surge.
Restaurants
Restaurants use social media ads to reach new customers, promote their brand, and boost sales. According to Sprout Social, 67% of restaurants paid for at least one social media ad or campaign in 2021. This is up from 63% in 2020 and 60% in 2019. The most popular platforms for restaurant ads are Facebook (61%) and Instagram (38%).
Create ads that feature prominent food vloggers or influencers. Ads that feature giveaways and discounts are easy messages that your audience will engage with and take up. With restaurants the creative needs to go beyond the amazing food (which is still very important to feature). Users will also want to experience the atomosphere and vibe of the establishment. Creative that highlights the interior, customers, and staff are good ways to share the whole experience with your audience, providing another layer of context to your ads.
Not for Profits & Charities
34% of nonprofits worldwide have paid for social ads (Global NGO Technology Report). Paid ads for NFPs and charities rely heavily on appealing to their audience's passion for the respective cause. Since social media drives 57% of traffic to fundraising campaign pages (Classy), paid ads should focus on messaging that reinforces that passion and connects them to the cause in a more meaningful way. Video ads are an excellent media to use for this sector. Not only do they allow for deeper storytelling but viewers of the video can be used to generate look-a-like audiences (on META) for re-marketing campaigns.
Sports, Entertainment, Cultural (Museums and Galleries)
Global ad spending is forecast to rebound, with an increase of 7.6% (99firms). The latest statistics on advertising predict the cinema and entertainment sectors to see the largest comebacks in ad spending (Forbes).
Paid ads in the entertainment industry need to focus on selling tickets and/or memberships, plain and simple. Paid ads set for conversion are key! But building a warm audience through traffic ads is a smart way to get started. The creative should be all about the fun and excitement surrounding the event! Make it look like the 'time of your life’ while keeping the pedal down on conversions.
So, what now?
As digital marketers we know paid ads work, they work undeniably well in fact. But getting your customers to purchase isn’t always a straightforward process. So while paid ads are an incredibly powerful channel, they aren’t the only channel you should be focusing on. The best strategy is an integrated one, where paid ads are merely one piece of a greater puzzle to marketing nirvana!
When you’re ready to take on a paid ads campaign or simply looking to improve its performance, come talk to us, we’re performance-driven and we love helping businesses succeed.