For small and medium-sized business owners, the power of paid advertising cannot and should not be overlooked. Ads can help to increase your brand awareness, promote products and services, and produce results quickly.
If you have already been working on your organic ranking and SEO, paid ads will complement those efforts if your budget allows. Paid advertising data will also allow you to learn more about your target audience and the best ways to reach them.
In today's newsletter, we are going to focus on three main platforms for paid advertising: Google, Social Media, and Bing. Keep reading for the pros and cons of each of these paid ad platforms!
Differences Between Paid Ad Platforms
Not all advertising platforms are created equal. Where you decide to advertise should depend on your goals as well as where, when, and what your target clients are searching online. Budget considerations come into play here as well. For example, though Google may seem to be the obvious choice for advertising, if you do not have the budget to run an effective campaign, you may want to look into social media or Bing advertising to promote your products and services. Some of the pros and cons of different platforms are outlined below:
- Google: More than 80% of internet users are on Google! Advertising on Google is a direct way of getting your products and services in front of people who are actively searching for what you offer. Additionally, there are a wide variety of advertising options through Google Ads available including Google Search Ads, Display & YouTube Ads, Google Guaranteed Ads, and more.
- Social Media: Facebook and Instagram ads generate more than 22 billion ad clicks every year. Though the user base is not quite as large as Google, these platforms are still very widely used. This is more of a passive way of advertising which targets people who have shown interest in some way in what you have to offer. Paid social media campaigns are most successful when you are able to clearly identify your audience. It can take a lot of trial and error to find the best targets.
- Bing: Advertising options on Bing are very similar to Google. Though Bing has a smaller audience base, there are reasons why you would want to incorporate Bing Ads into your overall advertising strategy. Bing users tend to be very loyal to Bing and seldom cross over to Google when searching for products and services. Bing also offers advertising opportunities to additional industries not currently allowed on Google or Facebook. Finally, Bing Ads can be a lower-cost alternative to Google.
Advantages of Advertising on Multiple Platforms
An important point to remember is that you are not limited to choosing just one source of advertising. Because different advertising platforms target users in different ways, the most effective strategy may be to combine your efforts across multiple platforms.
- Build Your Brand with Facebook, Close the Deal with Google: Introduce your company to users through ads on Facebook. Show off what you have to offer and who you are. Then, target them once they are ready to make a purchase by having your ad on Google! Increase the chance of them choosing you because they are already familiar with who you are and what you do.
- Effectively Remarket Google Users with Facebook Ads: Remind users who have found your website through Google that you are there for them by building a remarketing list and showing your ads to them through Facebook.
- Capture Non-Google Users on Bing: As mentioned previously, not everyone uses Google, and users who choose Bing seldom stray. Don't let valuable customers slip through your fingers!
