In 2019, worldwide digital ad spending rose by 17.6% to $333.25 billion. That means that, for the first time, digital marketing will account for roughly half of the global ad market.
Google was the largest digital ad seller in the world in 2019, accounting for 31.1% of worldwide ad spending, or $103.73 billion. Facebook was second with $67.37 billion in net ad revenues, followed by China-based Alibaba, at $29.20 billion. Amazon came in fourth place at only $14.03 billion in ad revenues, steadily chipping away at the Google-Facebook grip in the US.
Invest in targeted advertising with these strategies:
Pay-per-click Management (PPC)
PPC is not going anywhere in 2020, however, the key is targeted ads. Web algorithms have become smart enough to identify customer data as well as interests and passions, thus ads will be served to more qualified users.
By improving the ad that is served and the landing page the user is directed to, your advertising efforts will be more successful, and you may even save money.
Smart Bidding in Google Ads
As we move into 2020, advertisers can expert smart bidding to become the norm as Google continues to roll out new AI-driven features. Google Ads makes use of machine learning in order to optimize bids.
Using Smart Bidding to maximize conversions, you have the ability to:
- Choose conversion action at the campaign level
- Set your bids to change automatically when sales start or stop
- Optimize bids over multiple campaigns with a chosen set of conversion actions
Benefits of Using Smart Bidding
Advanced Machine Learning – In bidding, machine learning algorithms train on data at a vast scale to help make more accurate predictions across the ad account, such as how different bid amounts might impact conversions or conversion value. These algorithm factor in a wider range of parameters that impact performance faster than a human can.
Wide Range of Contextual Signals – With auction-time bidding, a wide range of signals can be factored into bid optimizations. Signals are identifiable attributes about a person or their context at the time of an auction. Attributes, like device and location, are available as manual bid adjustments but exclusive to smart bidding are additional signals and signal combinations.
Flexible Performance Controls – Smart bidding allows you to set performance targets and customize settings to unique business goals. Optimize search bids to selected attribution models and set device-specific performance targets for mobile, desktop, and tablet.
Those who will benefit most are those that have a history of running successful PPC campaigns. If your business is ready to try Google Ads to increase website traffic, let’s talk.
Paid Social Advertising
Put your money where your market is.
Your online marketing strategy needs to include social media since two-and-a-half billion people are social media users. Facebook alone has over 1.9 billion unique users per month and dominates paid advertising due to both cost and the ability to target your audience.
Facebook Ads
As the current industry leader, it beats out the competition in user volume. Not only does Facebook reach a lot of people, it has also been around longer and offering advertising options longer than many other platforms.
Instagram Ads
Instagram was purchased by Facebook in 2012 and has a slightly different demographic from Facebook. Users spend a lot of time on the app, with recent statistics suggesting that those under 25 years old spend an average of 32 minutes per day on the app, while older users spend 24 minutes/day.
- 80% of Instagram users follow brands.
- 75% of those who view branded posts take some kind of action (visiting the business’ page, etc).
- 70% of users are more likely to make mobile purchases than other mobile users!
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn, with over 100 million members, claims that as much as 80% of all B2B leads come from LinkedIn and that it is also responsible for 46% of social media traffic to business to business websites. Linkedin has detailed data on its users’ industry, professional history, job titles, qualifications, etc. allowing you to target your ads so the they reach people in the right position in your target businesses.
There are four advertising options.
- InMail – send messages straight to your target audience’s inbox.
- Boosted Content – promote posts in user’s newsfeed.
- Sidebar Ads – small ads with graphics on the sidebar when visiting LinkedIn.
- Lead Generation – prepopulated form that let’s users sign up to receive your content.
Snapchat and TikTok
Both apps are extremely popular with Gen Z and Millennials who are quite loyal, clocking in only slightly less time on the app every day than those on Instagram. Both offer an ad platform to marketers.
Snapchat has been around for a while now, but marketers often forget that they can buy ad space. Snapchat has rolled out new features in 2019 and offers a variety of ad formats to reach the platform’s 203 million users.
Even though TikTok is a new entrant in the space, biddable ads are just getting started. If you sell products designed for kids and teens, take a look at this platform.
Reach Out Again with Retargeting
Have you ever been on a website and then for the next few days every website you visit you see an ad for that website? It’s a little creepy, right? That’s the power of retargeting. In marketing, the saying is that it takes 7 touch points before someone buys. Your industry may be different, but you get the point.
This is one of the easiest and most effective advertising strategies to implement. Simply install code on your website for Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and if anyone visits your website that has an account on one of those platforms, their browser gets tagged with a cookie.
Your ads will now follow that user around on other websites. From a customer journey perspective, this is how you can move a prospect through the buying decision.
If you are selling a product or service that people usually research first before buying, you can track how your customers start the journey and end up buying from you. What are all the touches a prospect goes through before buying?
Re-capture their attention and stay top of mind by creating an ad campaign for each of the touchpoints and send them to a specific website page on your site. They are tagged again which can start the next touchpoint, and so on.
Ready to get started developing your strategies for 2020? Our team of experts offers full-service audience planning, creative design, media buying, and unified reporting and attribution for cross-channel campaigns to help you reach your goals. Request a quote today. If your business needs help with social media, or any other aspects of digital marketing, give us a call at (888)4045850 or contact Edge Digital today. We’d love to help you.
Kim works with brands since 2011 to develop and manage their digital and social media strategies; meet company objectives, such as increasing leads, engagement, and website traffic, utilizing best practices, the latest tools and strategies; and develop quality content. She is a problem-solver who loves a challenge when it comes to increasing sales.