7 Things You Need to Do Before You Start Buying Online Ads

Planning is always the first step when tackling any worthy project. Otherwise, you are just deciding in the moment, which usually leads to a monumental waste of time and money. 

The same is true for any digital marketing campaign. You need to look at your product and build a strategy to fit it before you start spending any money on ads.

No matter what avenue you are contemplating for online advertising (influencer marketing, social media marketing, paid ads, etc.)  you need to plan with intention. Before even buying a single online ad, you should answer the following questions we will be looking into today.

1. What are your goals?

Beginning by setting goals is the most logical place to start, because if you don’t have this established, there’s no way to measure what you have accomplished. Understanding what you want your audience to do with your ads dictates the type of ads you will purchase and where you will put them. Don’t just jot down generic goals either — use SMART goals. For example, instead of saying “grow social media followers,” set a specific number and platform. “I want to grow my Instagram followers by 10 thousand in 6 months” is a much more defined objective that you can actively work towards reaching, keeping you accountable and motivated.

2. Who is your audience?

Determining who your ads are trying to reach helps to narrow your strategy. Some questions you might ask yourself include

• Who are they?
• What are their interests?
• What problem does my product solve for them?
• How old are they?
• Where do they live?

Asking these questions will help you identify where and how you can best cater to them.

For instance, if you are trying to sell a new product to younger adults, Instagram or TikTok tend to be better platforms to purchase ads on than Facebook or Google, as the active user base on the two former platforms is younger.

3. What will make them notice you?

While you might know that your product is unique, your audience doesn’t know that — yet. You need to reflect and clearly identify what your unique value proposition is. Now that you know who you are trying to reach and what your goals are, you can begin designing the creative copy to entice them. You will need to plan how you will cut through all the noise in advertising and posts, especially if you are looking at social media as an option. What is your brand’s X-factor that sets it apart?

4. Where will they go if they click?

This step is where you design the landing page that an ad will drive traffic to. This should be determined by the goals you set out in the first question. For instance, if you want to build your email list, the first thing your new landing page should feature is an offer that your audience will find attractive. Though it does not cost anyone money to give up their email, they are still protective of it, as they are wary of spam. 

5. What happens if your ads are not working?

To answer this question, you need to set up a plan to make sure that you set time to review the campaign as it is going. As lovely as it would be to set up a marketing campaign and have everything go smoothly, this is hardly ever the case. 

You need to take some time to look at what’s working and what’s not through the platform’s analytics and other data available. This way, you have actionable data for the next campaign, and can pivot then and there if it’s not working.

6. What are your keywords or hashtags?

You should make sure you understand what keywords or hashtags will work best for your goals before purchasing any advertisements. Determining the right keywords requires an understanding of your audience in addition to what your competitors are using. Sites like Moz, SpyFu, and SEMrush can help with this.

7. What is your budget?

Lastly, you will need to define your budget since it determines how diversified your marketing strategy can be. If you do not have a lot of money to work with, you will need to focus on less costly methods of advertising that have a high return on investment, like influencer marketing. 

This also ensures that you do not overspend, so that you have a steady steam of money for ads during the entire promotion period, instead of running out of money halfway through.

Answering these questions and having a well-developed advertising strategy will enable you to purchase ads and increase your revenue. If you still need help buying online ads, ChuckJoe can help! Contact our team to get started today.