There’s no doubt digital advertising has become an essential asset for your company’s marketing mix, but picking the right platforms is vital for each strategy’s success. Keep reading to learn how to choose the appropriate digital advertising platform.
The Customer Journey
Before you can choose the right digital advertising platform for your business, you must first understand where the customer is in their search for your service or product. Each platform plays a different role in connecting the customer to your business. Once you know where your customers are in their journey, it’s easy to determine the best way to approach them. There are many customer journey theories out there, but let’s stick with the main three: Awareness, Consideration and Conversion.
Awareness: This is the first step in anyone’s process of buying a product or hiring a service. Maybe your ideal customer already knows they have a need but aren’t fully aware of what business might be able to help.
Consideration: This is where you can clearly identify a potential customer. Someone knows what they want and is actively looking to purchase a product or service.
Conversion: This is the last step in the process. This potential customer has done their research and just needs an extra push to get in touch with you.
3 Important Questions to Ask When Choosing a Digital Advertising Platform
Now that we know the three general steps of the customer journey, there are three questions to help you determine the best advertising platforms for your business:
- What do I want to achieve with digital advertising?
- Who is my target audience?
- Where is my target audience in their customer journey?
Answering the Questions
What do I want to achieve with digital advertising?
The first step in deciding your digital advertising platform is determining what you’d like to accomplish with your campaigns. Some goals may include generating more sales. Others might let people know about a product or service you offer or ask them to subscribe to your newsletter. It doesn’t matter if you have several goals; the important thing is to write them down.
Who is my target audience?
It’s extremely important to know who your ideal customer is. One way to determine this is by using Google Analytics (check out our previous blog for tips on how to do it). Another way to determine your target audience is by writing down who your ideal customer would be. What are their demographics, their interests? What motivates them to buy? What frustrations and fears do they have? What are their aspirations?
Where is my target audience in the customer journey?
This is the last step before deciding which strategy is best. By now, you should have a pretty good idea about your goals and to whom you want to deliver your message. Think back to what you’ve just learned about the customer journey, and ask yourself, “Is my target audience aware they have a need, and are they actively looking for my business to fulfill that need?” If the answer is no, they’re in the Awareness phase. If the answer is yes, they’re in the Consideration phase. Has the person gotten in touch with my business by visiting my website or contacting me? If the answer is yes, they’re in the Conversion phase. If the answer is no, they might need an extra push in the Awareness and/or Consideration phase for them to finally reach out to your business.
What Digital Platform Should I Choose to Reach My Audience and Objectives?
There are many digital platforms to choose from. You’ve likely heard of the most common ones like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. Now let’s further break down which platforms and strategies will best help you reach customers, depending on where your target audience is in their customer journey.
Google Search
This platform tends to have the highest conversion rate, simply because it means someone is actively searching for a service or product. It works by creating keywords that trigger your ads when people search in Google, making it an amazing platform for the Consideration phase.
Google Display
With display, you’re able to show images about your business to people across Google’s entire network. You’d use display ads for people in the Awareness and Conversion phases since your potential customer already knows what they’re looking for. In the Awareness phase, businesses can target people based on their intent to buy or interest in specific topics. For the Conversion phase, you’d use display remarketing ads, which target people who have already interacted with you by going to your website or subscribing to a newsletter, for example. Display remarketing ads are a great tool to simply remind a potential customer you’re ready to help—all they need to do is enter the Conversion phase.
YouTube
YouTube is similar to Google display but uses videos instead of images. YouTube works great for potential customers who are in the Awareness phase, because it places your ad in specific videos or channels your target audience is already watching.
Google Shopping
Do you have an online store? This platform will work great for you! With Google Shopping ads, you’re able to target potential customers in the Consideration phase who are actively looking for your product or service.
Facebook/Instagram
These two platforms have one of the most powerful targeting and segmentation features in the industry. Facebook and Instagram work well for the Awareness phase since you’re able to target people based on their behavior, interest and demographics. In addition to awareness, you can also promote Conversion by delivering remarketing ads to people who have already visited your website but haven’t taken the desired action.
We recommend using LinkedIn to create Awareness, especially if your main audience is B2B-focused. With LinkedIn ads, you’re able to reach people in specific companies and industries and even those with specific job titles. LinkedIn also has the capability to upload contact lists and target people who have visited your website, making it another great platform to drive Conversion with remarketing ads.
Geofencing
It might be the first time you’ve heard of it, but geofencing works by drawing a virtual fence around a specific place. Ads are then shown to anyone who enters that perimeter. Geofencing is an amazing tool to drive Awareness for your business since you’re able to select the exact place your target audience is expected to visit.
The Best Digital Ad Platforms for Each Phase
Awareness | Consideration | Conversion | |
Google Search | X | ||
Google Display | X | X | |
YouTube | X | X | |
Google Shopping | X | ||
Facebook/Instagram | X | X | |
X | X | ||
Geofencing | X |
Putting Everything Together
Whether you’re looking to drive more sales or simply promote your brand, you have to know exactly who your target audience is and use the right platform to guide them through the customer journey to achieve your goals.
At Campaignium, our team of experts will help you determine your goals, develop strategies to reach your target audience and then roll out and manage your campaigns. Get in touch with us to get started.