Top 5 Paid Online Advertising Strategies (Updated for 2022)
In today’s digital world, not investing in online advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time. Utilizing a strong paid online advertising strategy, on the other hand, is the most powerful sales tool you can have in your digital marketing arsenal. As Mark Twain once said: “Many small things have been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
Marketing is an ever-evolving dynamic – it’s about perpetual motion, innovation, and keeping up with the latest trends. So, to guide your digital advertising efforts the right way here’s a freshly updated list of the most popular (and most effective!) paid online advertising strategies to focus on in 2022.
Dig in!
Online Marketing In 2022: What Is Paid Advertising & Why You Need It to Succeed
Paid advertising is, as the name implies, a cross-platform online advertising model that costs money, or in other words, ads you need to pay for. It primarily targets audiences on different marketing channels in search of products or services similar to that of the advertised brand, ensuring a larger number of potential customers witness its search ads or display ads and opt for the brand.
Paid ads are, thus, one of the most important types of ads in your digital strategy arsenal that can help you reach the right people at the right time where they are most likely to hang out online. Nonetheless, they’re often over or misused. Keep reading to find out which paid online advertising strategies it is best to focus your time, energy, and resources on.
5 Best Paid Advertising Strategies to Use In 2022
It’s safe to say paid advertising is a non-negotiable piece of your marketing funnel – the modern sales leader has to be a marketer first, as there is no sale without good advertising. However, there’s also no knockout marketing without the right setup.
In today’s highly-digitalized world, data trumps intuition — you must create a data-driven marketing culture and choose your advertising battles wisely. Luckily, we did the nitty-gritty data-digging for you and served you the most lucrative online advertising strategies to leverage in 2022 on a silver plate.
So, if you’re looking to put your money where it’s worth and make the most impact without spending a fortune on your marketing efforts, you can’t go wrong tapping into these 5 paradigm-shifting paid online advertising strategies bound to get you the most bang for your buck:
1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Are you leveraging all that Pay-per-click advertising has to offer to boost your marketing efforts? If not, you better start because you’re missing out on valuable traffic and revenue. One of the most compelling benefits of PPC advertising is that you only pay when a user clicks on your ad, making it one of the most cost-effective paid advertising methods as you don’t have to waste your budget on people not interested in your offer and can choose to spend as much or as little as you like.
Customizable and targeted, PPC gives you more control over the search queries you appear for and the audiences you reach than organic search, allowing you to tailor your messaging and obtain results that are easy to measure and track. Plus, unlike other digital advertising strategies, a robust PPC campaign can start driving results almost immediately.
Since we regularly search for products, services, and information on search engines like Google, we know our target customers are doing the same. So, paid search engine advertising, like Google Ads, is one of the most popular forms of PPC and one of the best ways to position your business at the forefront of your audience’s decision-making process and generate qualified leads in 2022 without breaking the bank.
2. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing – a method of advertising to, with, and through influencers to drive brand messages to both of your target audiences. It is one of the most powerful paid online advertising strategies for increasing brand awareness and reaching fresh niche audiences to generate new leads, drive conversions and get great value for money, too.
Another perk of partnering with content creators is that using industry leaders’ followers means your target audience is already there – with the right partnership, both parties offer value to each audience. It also encourages user-generated content.
Traditional advertising is also no longer trusted by many consumers. Authentic brand mentions from popular social media influencers can help digital marketers side-step ad-blockers and leverage their degree of authority amongst loyal fans to build credibility and trust with your target audience.
3. Social Media Ads
Ads are fire, and social media is gasoline, as more than half of the world’s population uses social networks. Advertising through social media channels is the closest thing to being a fly on your ideal customers, prospects, and competitors’ wall, which is why it has deserved a place in our 5 most popular paid online advertising strategies.
Social media platforms are now a pay-to-play model for both startups and established brands and companies, as the average reach of organic, non-promoted social media posts, is very low. The solution? Increasing your paid social media ad budget. Yet, paid social media advertising is within anyone’s reach as campaigns can be created to fit any budget.
Whether you decide to run YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook ads (or use another social platform), leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) best practices in tandem to create a savvy, cost-effective social media strategy that makes an impact, reach a defined custom audience, and drive more qualified leads, engagement, and actual sales than you ever could with traditional advertising or organic content.
Choose social media channels that align with your brand’s digital marketing strategy, format and craft your ads for each platform and its audience, and track their performance until you find the ones with the thumb-stopping ability you’re aiming for.
4. Banner Ads
Contrary to popular belief, banner advertising is not dead! Wondering why you should invest in one of the oldest forms of online advertising in 2022? Banners are highly customizable and cost-effective compared to other forms of visual content, responsive, and work well with other media as they’re adaptable to new marketing strategies. The downfall of banner ads is the so-called “banner blindness” you can easily avoid.
The secret is in creating eye-catching banner ads that are not disruptive but impossible to resist and, thus, actually click-worthy. Make sure users can understand what your offer in the blink of an eye (because that’s how much time you’ve got), captivate their attention with highly relevant, attractive images, and give them a strong call-to-action (CTA) so they know exactly what to expect if they click and sneak a peek into your must-have offer.
When targeted at the right audience and optimized correctly according to the latest trends, display ads are still among the best paid online advertising strategies to improve brand awareness and customer acquisition and increase your Return on Investment.
5. Ad Retargeting
The more purchases your customers make, the higher their customer lifetime value (CLTV) and ROI. But how do you get shoppers who leave your site without converting to finish what they’ve started? By running a retargeting campaign. Ad retargeting means showing ads to visitors who have previously interacted with your ads or website but navigated without acting or completing a conversion – made a purchase, filled in a contact form, etc.
Retargeted ads will show highly relevant ads to continuously engage active users who have shown interest in your brand, product, or service that otherwise would have likely slipped away. By doing so, you are constantly in the back of the mind of your current and potential customers – re-sparking your visitors’ interest, reminding them of your brand, bringing them back, and encouraging them to complete the buyer’s journey. Talk about proactive online advertising!
Many online advertising platforms allow you to retarget people based on different criteria, and you can even mix & match – get a visitor to your website with, for example, a Google Ad and then retarget them on Facebook with Facebook Ads. Whatever the platform, the advantages of using ad retargeting remain the same – increased brand awareness, engagement rate, and conversion rate, and reduced cart abandonment.
Money Talks: Paid Online Advertising Is So Worth It
In the digital space, consumer attention is a currency. We earn it, we spend it. Make sure you fill your digital pockets by letting these insights guide your paid online advertising strategy choices in 2022.
Always remember to keep a 360-degree view of your prospects and customers and experiment with different digital marketing campaigns and formats until you strike gold and find yourself with an improved bottom line as a result.