04.08.2011

Seven things you should know about online advertising

1. Goal setting
Set goals to make your marketing budget work as hard as possible for your business. If you’ve spent $10,000 on radio ads and realized 300 new customers as a result, that’s the benchmark you’ll want to beat with your online ads.

2. Targeting
One of the things you’ll learn early on the Web is the notion of keywords. Whether you’re searching for information or optimizing your Web site so others will find you, keywords are specific terms that separate the things you want from the ones you don’t. If your perfect customer loves fast cars, you can use that information to target your advertising efforts.

3. Budgeting
Set aside a small exploratory budget to give yourself room to make mistakes. Chances are you’re not quite sure how much it costs to get a new customer in your door, so plan to test and learn until you can come to a number you trust. The number won’t come easily but will add valuable clarity to all your marketing efforts.

4. Planning
With a goal, target and budget in hand, you’re ready to sit down and plan out your advertising campaign. You’ll be able to avoid the complexity and still reach your goals by focusing on one or two platforms and building up as you go. You might consider trading with a creative, Web-savvy friend to develop the copy and visuals you’ll need for your campaign.

5. Purchasing
Most small businesses will do well to start with Facebook ads and Google Adwords as easy self-service platforms that allow highly targeted advertising and that will let you research your keywords ahead of time at no charge. Facebook.com/ads and adwords.google.com are both great places to start.

6. Measuring
Determined by your goal-setting session, key performance indicators (KPIs) are what you’ll use to determine whether or not you’re meeting your campaign goals. Sites like Facebook and Google will give you a lot of numbers, and figuring out what is both meaningful and actionable can be difficult. You may find that a result, like customers posting positive reviews of your product, wasn’t intended but is still very valuable.

7. Optimizing
Whether you’re testing different ads on Facebook during a campaign or looking at the final numbers from a marketing effort, you should always look to improve upon the numbers you’ve produced. Spending the time early in the process to clarify your goals and really focus on your targets will improve your entire process and drive continued value.