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Reaching your target audience online, when each of your competitors is there competing for attention, is tougher than ever.
Paid media helps you cut through the noise and connect with potential customers.
For example, 65% of consumers click on Google ads when they’re looking to make a purchase.
Besides, every $1 you spend on Google ads can bring you $2 in revenue. A
nd the average ROI for social media ads is 250%.
So, let’s see what paid media is and how you can use it to reach your marketing goals.
We’ll discuss paid media challenges, solutions, and our in-house tactics with real results.
Let’s start.
Paid media includes any form of digital advertising where brands pay to promote their content on various platforms.
Here’s the thing:
Most people use the terms ‘paid media’ and ‘PPC ads’ interchangeably.
But they’re not the same thing.
Paid media includes ads on websites, social media ads, and search engine advertising.
Leveraging these advertising platforms simultaneously lets you target your ideal audience more effectively.
And you’ll reach a broader audience than through organic search alone
Basically, you’ll be driving more potential customers to your products or services.
That brings us to the next point:
Paid media is a crucial component of any comprehensive marketing strategy because it helps you:
For example, inBeat Agency’s campaign for Soylent used influencers from different niches to attract different market segments.
Results: The 10 content creators produced over 50 reusable content assets that led to over 5 million impressions.
Pro tip: If you want to find similarly engaged creators, use our influencer discovery platform.
It’s fast, flexible, and has a free version.
All you need to do is pick the right keywords and filters and then compare your influencers’ stats to shortlist the right ones for your campaign.
You can create ads for your content pieces, too, not just your products.
Here’s Agency Analytics doing it on LinkedIn:
And SEO tool SEMrush created this article about enterprise SEO audits, then used Google Ads to push it higher in search results:
That’s how they’ll get more high-quality leads to their website.
However, paid media isn’t easy.
You need to face its challenges with the right solutions.
Challenge: Many – if not all of your competitors – are investing in paid media, so the competition is fierce.
This leaves you with higher costs and difficulty in standing out.
Solution: Focus on creating unique, high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.
Use relevant keywords to improve your ad's visibility and effectiveness.
Plus, leveraging influencer marketing can help you tap into established audiences and enhance your brand's credibility.
For example, inBeat Agency’s campaign for the Greenpark app reduced CPIs by 70%, while increasing installs by 6X.
Challenge: Your audience may become tired of seeing the same ads, which will decrease ad engagement and effectiveness.
Solution: Refresh your ad creatives every two weeks.
Rotate your display ads, update your social media posts, and experiment with different ad formats like video ads and banner ads to keep your content fresh and engaging.
Pro tip: We use these free ad mockup generators to build different ad creatives and then different versions for the same ad.
Challenge: Determining the return on investment for paid media campaigns can be complex.
In fact, 90% of marketers are not trained to measure ROI at all. I
t all becomes especially problematic when you’re dealing with multiple channels and have to face attribution problems.
Solution: Use comprehensive analytics tools to track your campaigns.
Monitor key performance indicators such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs.
This data will help you adjust your digital strategy and optimize your marketing budget effectively.
Our free toolkit is packed with calculators for paid marketing to help you monitor all your KPIs.
Challenge: Many users employ ad blockers, which can reduce the reach of your paid media campaigns.
Solution: Invest in native advertising and sponsored media that blend seamlessly with organic content.
These types of ads are less likely to be blocked and more likely to engage users who typically avoid traditional advertising.
Again, using micro-influencer marketing can help you reach niche audiences without being intrusive.
Pro tip: We recommend our clients use this free engagement rate calculator to make sure the influencers they pick have a solid relationship with their audience.
Challenge: Targeting the right audience with your ads can be difficult, leading to wasted spend and low conversion rates.
Solution: Use advanced targeting options available on advertising platforms.
Develop detailed buyer personas and leverage data from customer reviews and social media interactions to refine your audience segments.
Influencers can also help by promoting your content to their followers, who should align with your target market.
However, we use this fake follower checker to make sure the creators we work with don’t buy their followers.
Here’s what the profile check looks like:
Challenge: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, so it’s hard to keep up with the latest trends and best practices.
Solution: Stay informed by following industry news, attending webinars, and participating in professional networks.
We also look beyond the US to gain inspiration for our paid ads. Countries like Germany, Mexico, or Finland have plenty of good marketing agencies doing an awesome job.
Understanding the differences between paid, owned, and earned media will help you create a successful digital marketing strategy.
Each type has its unique advantages and roles in your marketing efforts.
Paid media involves paying for advertising space to promote your content.
This includes search ads, social media advertising, and display advertising, just like the examples we saw above.
Benefits:
Owned media refers to the content and platforms that your brand owns and controls.
This includes your website, blog posts, social media accounts, and email marketing campaigns.
Benefits:
Earned media is publicity gained through word-of-mouth, customer reviews, and organic mentions.
This includes shares, mentions, and positive reviews on social media and other digital channels.
Benefits:
Cost:
Control:
Credibility:
Longevity:
Lesson learned: Paid media can drive immediate results, owned media ensures consistent brand presence and earned media builds trust and credibility with your audience.
Integrating all three types can help you achieve your primary goal and enhance your marketing efforts across digital channels.
Understanding different pricing models is key to optimizing your digital advertising budget because you can choose the right one according to your digital marketing goals.
CPC is great for driving traffic, CPM works for brand awareness, CPA is perfect for conversions, and CPV suits video campaigns.
Let’s analyze them below:
How it works: You pay each time a user clicks on your ad.
This model is common in search engine advertising and social media ads.
Benefits:
How it works: You pay for every thousand times your ad is shown, regardless of clicks.
This model suits awareness campaigns on social media platforms and display advertising.
Benefits:
Pro tip: Use this free CPM calculator to get an accurate CPM. The advanced mode helps you compare CPMs across two or more campaigns.
How it works: You pay when a specific action is completed, like a sale or sign-up.
This model is useful for performance-based marketing campaigns.
Benefits:
How it works: You pay for each view of your video ads.
This is common in video content platforms and social media advertising.
Benefits:
How it works: You pay a fixed fee for advertising space, often on websites or news feeds.
Benefits:
Using various paid media channels can help you achieve different marketing goals.
Paid social media boosts engagement, search engine ads capture high-intent users, banner ads increase visibility, native ads enhance user experience, and OOH/DOOH ads offer an impactful outdoor presence.
Choose the right mix to effectively reach your potential customers and drive results.
Paid social media involves promoting your content on social media platforms.
You can use social media ads to reach your target audience based on demographics, interests, and behavior.
Benefits:
Facebook Ads allow you to promote your content on one of the largest social media platforms.
You can use various formats, including image, video, and carousel ads.
YouTube video ads are perfect for showcasing your brand through engaging video content.
These ads appear before, during, or after other videos.
LinkedIn sponsored content helps you promote your posts to a professional audience. This is ideal for B2B marketing and reaching industry professionals.
inBeat Agency used B2B influencer marketing to promote the Miroverse.
This is a gallery of templates created by Miro, an awesome digital collaboration platform. For businesses looking to streamline their content creation process, AI template generators offer an efficient solution. These tools can produce customizable templates for various purposes, saving time and ensuring consistency in design and messaging.
Here’s one of their sponsored posts:
Instagram sponsored posts promote your content to a broader audience on Instagram.
Use images and videos to engage users.
Also, leverage Instagram Reels Ads and Stories Ads.
Search engine ads appear on search engines like Google.
These ads show up when users search for relevant keywords.
Benefits:
Programmatic display ads use automated technology to buy and place ads on websites and apps.
This ensures your ads appear where they are most likely to be seen by your target market.
Benefits:
Banner ads are display ads that appear on websites.
They can be static images, animated, or interactive formats.
Benefits:
Native ads blend seamlessly with the content around them.
They appear as part of the content feed on websites and social media channels.
Benefits:
Out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising include billboards, digital displays, and other outdoor media.
Benefits:
Choosing the right type of ad creative depends on your marketing goals and target audience.
Text ads are straightforward and cost-effective, display ads enhance visual appeal, video ads drive engagement, sponsored media builds credibility, and promoted media boosts visibility.
Use a mix of these ad creatives to optimize your digital marketing strategy and reach your target market effectively.
Here’s what you can opt for:
Text ads are simple, text-based advertisements.
They appear in search engine results and on various digital platforms.
Benefits:
Display ads use images, graphics, and sometimes animations.
They appear on websites, mobile apps, and social media channels.
Benefits:
Video ads are engaging and informative.
They can be used on social media platforms, websites, and video-sharing sites.
Benefits:
Pro tip: Pick a good video marketing agency if you want your ads to stand out from the competition.
Sponsored media includes content that looks like regular posts or articles but is paid for by advertisers.
This can be found on social platforms and news feeds.
Like so:
Benefits:
Promoted media is similar to sponsored media but is specifically boosted to reach a larger audience.
This includes promoted social media posts and articles.
Benefits:
To kickstart your paid media strategy, we advise you to follow the best practices below.
This game plan is also the one we use at our agency, so it’s tried and tested.
Start by defining your marketing goals.
Know what you want to achieve with your paid media campaigns, whether it's increasing brand awareness, driving traffic, or boosting sales.
Tips:
For example, the beauty brand Native came to our agency with a specific goal in mind: to increase awareness for their product releases.
They also understood their audience extremely well: this audience wants diversity and craves posh, stylish content.
That brings us to the next point:
Understanding your target audience is crucial for effective paid media.
Use data to identify your audience segments and tailor your ads accordingly.
Tips:
Select the digital marketing channels that best reach your target market.
Different platforms offer unique advantages, so choose the ones that align with your objectives.
Tips:
Your ads need to stand out.
Invest in high-quality, valuable content that resonates with your audience and encourages engagement.
Tips:
Monitor your campaigns regularly to see what's working and what isn't.
Use analytics to track performance and make necessary adjustments.
Tips:
Plan your marketing budget carefully to ensure you're investing in the most effective campaigns.
Balance your spend across different channels to maximize impact.
Tips:
Customer reviews can significantly impact your paid media strategy.
Positive reviews enhance credibility and trust, driving more engagement.
Tips:
As you can see, there are different types of paid media, paid media channels, and paid media costs.
And even if you get these right, paid media has a slew of other challenges, like ad fatigue and increased competition.
inBeat can help you tackle all that.
Our paid marketing calculators help you keep track of all the essential KPIs.
Our influencer database is safe and fast.
It will help you find the best influencers to decrease CPAs and boost your ROAS.
Besides, our free ad mockup generators will help you develop different ads fast so you can rotate your creatives and fight ad fatigue.
You can even schedule a free call with our growth agency if you need a solid strategy that will get you similar results to what our clients have.
So, start using all these resources today to enhance your digital marketing efforts and achieve your goals!
