Day 8: Paid Media
Dear Reader,
Yesterday’s owned media letter was good.
But let’s get to it and dive into paid media today…
Paid media is any form of pay-per-click, display, retargeting, influencer, native, social media, TV, or radio advertisement that appears on digital channels.
Paid media is dear to me. I launched my first paid media campaign on Yahoo’s Overture platform way back in 2003.
And in 2015, I worked at YP in their search marketing department. At the time, YP employed over 140 Google & Yahoo Certified Search Professionals to launch its nationwide digital platform, ypSearch.
At YP, I was in charge of the most competitive advertising market in the United States… New York City. And, I was selected as one of the top 5 search engine marketers in the entire company.
So here’s my paid advertising advice to you…
• Thoroughly research your paid media competitors and audience
• Advertise the best possible offer you can make to your audience
• Never drive paid traffic to your homepage, always to a custom landing page with specific content that correlates with your offer
• Clearly place your phone number and business hours on your landing page
• Always use well-conceived confirmation pages after someone gives you their email address, or place an order to confirm their action and continue to nurture
• Study your analytics, look for patterns, and optimize your paid campaigns according to the insights you learn
Look, paid advertising is not easy. Because it requires a great strategy, and tactical execution to maximize your conversion rates and return on ad spend (ROAS).
But, when you hit the paid media bullseye… you can fill the top of your funnel with leads, your pipeline with prospects, and your CRM with more customers faster than you can with earned or social media.
Good luck,
P.S.
Tomorrow we’re going to dive deep into earned media. I have a love-hate relationship with earned, so I hope I don’t offend you. More tomorrow.
From the Desk of:
Anthony Ragland
Thursday, May 6, 2021
7:14 a.m. (ET)
Tip of the Day
Try Google Display Ads to Reach More People for less than Google Search Ads
The Google Display Network reaches 90% of Internet users worldwide, across millions of websites, news pages, blogs, and Google sites like Gmail and YouTube. Many marketers are not taking advantage of this less competitive Google network. Google Display ads is the number #1 marketing channel that 3 Things™ uses to drive awareness and generate subscribers. PRO Tip: Upload banner ad designs for ALL banner sizes (square & rectangle, skycraper, leaderboard, and mobile) to maximize your advertising reach.
Tool of the Day
Use SpyFu to Spy on Your Competitors Google Ads and SEO Campaigns
Have you ever used SpyFu for competitor research? The tool is fantastic. I’ve been using it for years. It allows you to search your competitors’ websites and extract valuable SEO and PPC data. In their user-friendly dashboard, you can conduct extensive SEO research to learn about competitor keywords, backlinks, domain names, rankings, and more. And, you can also research their Google Ads campaigns to learn about their most successful PPC ads, keywords, ad history, and more.
Trend of the Day
The Future of Personalization - and How to Get Ready For It
In this article by McKinsey & Company, they discuss how personalization drives marketing success. In my own experience, personalization was the keystone to my most profitable campaigns. It’s a mistake to automate too much of your marketing. McKinsey promotes three major shifts that will make personalization more personal in the next few years. This article is worth a read. Because marketers who are able to elevate their personalization game, are the ones who will win the biggest in the future. Personalization is in demand.
