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There are many ways to promote your business online, but the method we will discuss here involves Google Display ads.
As the largest search engine in the world, with over 92.62% market share in June 2019 and a whopping 63,000 searches a second, it’s no wonder companies are turning to Google to promote their services.
Google Display is a platform that allows companies to pay to create an ad that targets specific prospects. With Google Display ads, you can use different targeting options to strategically show your message to millions of viewers.
These ads are then displayed on a vast range of websites, including blogs, news pages and other Google sites including Gmail and YouTube.
There are many reasons why you might decide to use Google Display ads to promote your business. By following the best practice for Google Display ads in this guide, you could reap the following benefits:
1) Build brand awareness
Google Display ads target visitors on different websites who are unlikely to know you exist. This is because you are targeting visitors on sites that are relevant to their search history.
Putting your ads on different sites will boost your visibility. It also increases the likelihood that a single person will see or hear about you multiple times. As a result, people are more likely to buy from you since they are familiar with you and your brand.
2) Create powerful visual ads
Rather than leveraging standard written content, Google Display ads tend to be visual graphics or animations, which studies have shown to be far more engaging.
If you couple the visual element with the correct placement on a relevant site, you will likely see an increase in click-through rates and conversions from these ads.
3) Re-market to potential customers
Google Display ads allow you to re-market to customers that have previously shown an interest in your product or service. This refers to anyone that has visited your site or taken an incomplete action, such as abandoning a shopping cart.
With a re-marketing strategy in place, you can use Google Display ads to reach these people and nurture them into purchasing from you. By encouraging customers to return to your website, and by keeping them informed about your promotions, you are also helping to create loyalty and solidify their connection to your brand.
Now you know what Google Display ads are and why they’re valuable, here are some best practice tips to help you attract visitors.
1) Triple-check your work
You are representing your company, and even the slightest error you make will reflect badly on your brand. This means you should check for typos, grammar mistakes and image misalignments.
Always have a small team dedicated to checking, preferably with multiple stages, as this will help to eliminate human error.
2) Draw attention to your brand
The purpose of a Google Display ad is to attract attention while clearly displaying a branded message. As a visual marketing method, pulling visitors in using strong imagery should be your main goal.
You also want to reduce the barriers for the visitor understanding your key message and this means using striking high-quality images and easy to read fonts.
If you have used dull colours or an illegible font, the audience will not be drawn to your ad, and you risk losing their attention in the first few seconds.
3) Don’t cut corners
High quality should always be your top priority when creating ads, regardless of their size and scope. This means you should always use high-resolution images and brand elements that are clear enough to be read even at a smaller size (i.e. on a phone screen).
One thing to note, however, is that Google Display has a 150 KB file limit, so you should keep this in mind when choosing an image for your ad.
4) Keep it relevant
Everything on your ad needs to be representative of your brand and its voice. This means that the language you use, the colours, the style and font should relate to your brand image.
This diligence helps to ensure consistency in your ads and builds brand recognition and loyalty. Your customers need to be able to recognise your brand without prompt.
5) Include a clear call-to-action
There should be a clear call-to-action directing the person viewing your ad to the next step on their journey. This might be to contact you, subscribe to your feed or complete a purchase.
Without a clear path for people to follow, it is easy for them to ignore your ad. It also means that you miss the chance to redirect visitors towards the action you want them to take. Put simply, having a call-to-action increases conversions.
6) Use data to construct your ad
Research and collect data on your audience from your other channels and on related prospects. You need to watch out for the kind of language they use, the elements they respond to better and the components they liked or disliked about previous ads.
By including these elements into your design, you are able to help your audience relate to you better and encourage them to engage with you. People are more likely to interact with companies they feel understand them.
Using Google Display ads can be extremely effective in increasing customers and revenue. Failing to do it correctly can lead to a large amount of money lost for a mediocre return.
As a digital consultancy with 15 years of experience and a focus on paid search, conversion rate optimisation and more, we have helped many companies elevate their business to the next level.
If you need help and guidance with setting up your ads in a way that maximises returns, or if you need more in-depth Google Display ads best practice info, contact us today.
Many companies debate whether or not to work with a marketing agency.
This article explains some of the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing and will help you decide whether the decision is right for your business.
Working with a reputable agency can be a great business decision, especially if you don’t have the time and resources to manage your marketing in-house. However, it can also have some downsides.
1) High quality comes at a cost
The amount that you will be spending is dependant on the expertise and size of the marketing agency.
If you want good quality work, expect to be paying between £6,000 to £20,000 per month for a top agency.
2) Initial learning curve
When you start to work with an agency, the beginning will be slow. They may need extra time or guidance to learn about your company, its values and internal business processes.
The project could have a delayed start if the agency does not have much experience or knowledge about your field, or if you operate in a niche industry.
3) Issues with communication
Trying to have an open line of communication with the agency can pose a problem. With an in-house marketing team, you have the convenience of being able to walk in and have the conversation directly to discuss any problems.
With an agency, there is an inherent barrier if they are not working on-site, as you may have to schedule a phone call or Skype video call.
4) You may not be a priority
The typical marketing agency works with 15+ clients simultaneously and, therefore, cannot solely focus on the work they are doing for you.
Another of the agency’s clients could be paying more than you, resulting in them being prioritised. This shouldn’t be the case with a reputable marketing agency, but it may well be true for those who are new to the business or don’t have a proven track record managing big and small clients.
5) Detachment from your business
Since it is not their money they are spending, marketing agencies are more likely to experiment and push the boundaries of a project. While risk-taking can pay off big time if it’s done right, it could also tarnish your brand if done incorrectly.
It’s also worth noting that it’s not always possible for an agency to understand and be able to reproduce your vision exactly as you imagined it.
Many companies outsource their marketing work successfully, resulting in more qualified leads, higher sales and long-term relationships with clients or customers.
Here are some of the key advantages of working with a marketing agency:
1) Inspiration and a fresh perspective
In-house marketing teams are only working for one brand, which can be limiting. They may fall into the trap of producing the same kind of content over and over again, leading to stunted creativity.
The advantage of bringing a marketing agency into the mix is that they can provide you with fresh ideas and perspective.
2) Years of experience and varied expertise
Full-service marketing agencies tend to have a team with a wide variety of expertise and marketing backgrounds. These agencies are constantly updating their knowledge and keeping ahead of the trends.
This means that these agencies can help you fill in any skill gaps or perform tasks that one person alone may not know how to do. Depending on the size of the agency you work with, they may even have whole departments with expertise in differing fields of marketing.
Those who work for an agency already have a good relationship and can work well with each other; they already understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses and workflows, so they tend to be able to perform tasks efficiently.
3) Relatively low cost
Hiring a marketing agency is often cheaper than recruiting full-time staff. The cost of hiring a key marketing member in-house can sometimes equal the cost of an entire outsourced team.
Besides having to pay a high salary for a whole in-house team of marketers, there is also the hidden cost of having to advertise for a candidate, interview and train them. Outsourcing to a marketing agency is much more cost-effective.
4) Saves precious time
Saving money is important for any business, but saving time is another priority. By hiring an agency to do the marketing for you, there is no long-term commitment like there is when you hire a new team member.
This means you can scale up in your own time and focus your attention on growing your business, forming valuable corporate relationships and expanding on your vision.
5) Good work ethic
Marketing agencies have a reputation to uphold. Therefore, an established agency is likely to produce consistently high-standard work. They will also be looking to retain you as a customer and will typically do everything in their power to provide you with a quality service.
After all, a happy customer is one that is likely to give them a good review and may also refer them to other potential customers.
Now you know the advantages and disadvantages of working with a marketing agency, here are two important questions you should ask before choosing to work with one.
1) How many clients can they handle at once?
The answer to this question will provide you with great insight into where the agency’s priorities lie and how far they spread their resources.
It also gives you an indication of how much time the agency will allocate to your business. This provides insight into the quality of work they could be producing for you.
2) Who are their previous clients?
Look at some of the agency’s past work or the companies they have previously worked for. This will give you an understanding of whether they are familiar with your industry or not.
This is especially important if you are in a relatively unknown field or where in-depth knowledge and expertise is required.
If you are looking to generate traffic and grow your business, we would love to help. As a digital consultancy with 15 years of experience and a focus on paid search, conversion rate optimisation and more, we have helped many companies elevate their business to the next level.
To find out more, please contact us today.
The future is digital. Are you prepared?
There is a skills shortage in the digital sector in Europe. Skillsets can’t keep pace with digital growth, which is opening wide skills gaps in the industry. What’s more, employees at all levels lack the digital literacy that companies need to keep pace with new technologies. In fact, 32% of the EU workforce has low or no digital skills, according to the European Commission. (more…)
Let’s face it, we’re all looking for ways to improve the quality and, vitally, the relevance of our leads using pay per click (PPC). An extremely effective way to do it is through re-marketing – re-targeting the people who have a proven interest in your website & its products or services.
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