In today's online market, ads are extremely important. But not many businesses know how to optimize their ad strategy and maximize their ad spend to get the best results. Here are 3 things you need to know to make your ad strategy smarter:

What: Types of ads

Today, marketers mostly use two main venues for online ads: Facebook and Google. Facebook ads allow you to narrow audience scope, use custom audiences, and have a wider variety of objectives (page likes, brand awareness, traffic, etc). Because of the variety, Facebook is a great way to make a variety of ads that fit in different parts of your sales funnel. You can use brand awareness ads for cold audience members, traffic ads for warm audiences, and conversion ads for hot audiences.

(Check out our blog on cold, warm, and hot audiences to find out what they're all about!)

Google ads, on the other hand, are ideal for converting warm audiences. Since Google ads show up in searches, your ads are getting in front of people who are already looking for a service like yours. Google ads are shorter and more action-oriented than Facebook ads. You only have a few hundred characters of text to get your audience to click. Instead of targeting by demographics and interests, you're targeting by search terms and locations. If you use Google ads, you should be strategic in how you integrate them in your strategy as well as in how you create them.

Why: Purpose of ads

In the noisy and often chaotic online market, effective ads help your business stand out. They put your message in front of the right people at the right time and make it easy for customers to convert. Effective ads also display the personality and professionalism of your brand and convince customers that your solution to their problem is the best. They are customized for the platform they're appearing on, and bring you the highest ROI over any other marketing technique. In short, ads are where the money is.

Effective ads are always:

1. 1. Targeted
   2. Visually captivating
   3. Concise and streamlined 
   4. Highly action-oriented

How: Designing ads

Designing ads looks different for Facebook and Google ads, but like we mentioned earlier, all ads need to have certain elements. They need to target the right audience, grab their interest visually, communicate a message clearly, and move them to take action. Videos and pictures need to be high-quality and engaging. Copy needs to explain the deal in as few words as possible while catching the reader's attention with emojis and punchy phrases. And the call to action should be clear, motivating, and actionable. Here are some elements that every ad should have:

1. Landing pages
2. Pictures or video
3. Concise and eye-catching copy (with emojis)
4. Actionable CTA

Want to know more about landing pages, visual content, ad strategy and ad campaigns? Check out our previous blogs and subscribe to our chatbot to receive all our upcoming blogs!

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