Deciphering Digital Ads
- Written by
- Harri Sharman
Which type of paid advertising should you invest in and why…
There are so many options out there, along with technical jargon about how they work, that it can be hard to know where to start. So, we decided to break them down into bite-sized pieces, to help business owners understand how online advertising can be used to target consumers in different parts of the sales funnel.
Facebook Ads
Perfect for brand awareness and reaching new people.
Facebook (and Instagram) ads can be targeted at people with interests matching your demographics, which is good for increasing your visibility among a new audience who may not yet be familiar with you or your products. They can also be great for telling your existing social audience about short-term promotions, like sales or upcoming events.
Google Search Ads
Perfect for converting hot leads and generating sales.
Google Search is best for capturing people at the end of the marketing funnel, where they already have lots of buying intent and are just looking for the right place to buy. We consider Google search to be a crucial part of digital strategy for that reason. If you’re not on Google Search, your competitors probably are! Search campaigns are great for general long-term ads.
Google Shopping Ads
Perfect for encouraging product purchases.
This is a standard shopping campaign using a feed from your website of all your products. Google Shopping ads display in the Shopping tab on Google Search, next to search results (separate from text ads) and in Google Images. They are good because they show a visual product, with pricing and an image, so they can be more appealing to people than just a text-based ad.
Google Display Ads
Perfect for raising brand awareness.
Similar to how Facebook ads can help put your brand in front of a new audience, so can Google’s Display campaign – across millions of websites around the web. Display ads are a highly visual format combining images, text, your logo, and optionally (but highly recommended!) video. They are great for reaching a large number of people, generating interest in your brand through a more visual medium.
Performance Max
Perfect for all of the above!
Google’s new campaign type, Performance Max, combines the best features from all of Google’s ad inventory – that includes Search, Shopping, YouTube (video ads), Display (which is on millions of partner websites, mobile games, online newspapers and so on), Gmail and more. It also uses smart learning to place different types of ads that can be highly customised to the viewer. It’s great for brands who are already somewhat established and looking to drive their performance to the next level – especially e-commerce stores.
Need some advice? Chat to ninetyblack’s digital team about your business goals for 2023, and which digital advertising options would best suit you and your business needs.