In the dynamic landscape of digital marketing, where the competition for consumer attention is intense, paid media emerges as an indispensable tool to boost the reach and effectiveness of acquisition strategies. As experts in paid media, we understand that success lies not just in investing but in investing intelligently. This is a realm where every dollar spent must be carefully directed to achieve specific objectives, whether it’s increasing sales, generating qualified leads, or strengthening brand awareness.
But how are daily, weekly, and monthly optimizations done in sponsored campaigns to ensure that results will be maximized with the same available budget?
In this article, I will share my vision and experience on how optimizations are generally carried out in the day-to-day activities of a media analyst.
Advertising on the Internet is becoming increasingly competitive. You already know that. However, the consumer doesn’t necessarily perceive it this way, mainly because they aren’t marketing experts and don’t view paid ads from the perspective of someone working in the field.
In the end, for the end consumer, ads are often seen as “more of the same.” Therefore, it is your job to differentiate yourself from the competition and capture the consumer’s attention, whether through Social Ads campaigns or Search Network campaigns.
The essence of paid media lies in the ability to target, refine, and optimize every aspect of your marketing campaign. From ad platforms to keyword selection, each decision shapes the path to success. But let’s go beyond the basics, exploring the psychology behind persuasive messaging and the art of creating ads that not only capture attention but also resonate in the consumer’s mind.
In my campaigns, I know the budget available from the start to execute specific actions. But how can you maximize campaign results using this budget?
Here, I’ve outlined some actions that, in my view, are effective for those who don’t want to “burn money unnecessarily.”
1) Set Clear Objectives
Let’s start from the beginning 😊.
In your planning, have you already separated the goal for each stage of your campaign?
I see many companies wanting to focus 100% of their strategy on bottom-funnel campaigns. But this is certainly not a smart decision for several reasons.
First, you become 100% dependent on paid media to bring in new customers. But what if there’s an issue with your ad account? Or if, by chance, your landing pages drop overnight, how will paid ads convert?
Furthermore, in a very obvious analogy, think that if nothing is entering your funnel, how will anything come out at the bottom? Eventually, that funnel will “dry up.”
So, it’s entirely effective to build a plan that takes into account at least three stages of the marketing funnel: Awareness, Engagement, and Conversion. The basics should not be underestimated.
And if your company is thirsty for conversions (like every company, hehe), no problem. You can take the available investment for campaigns and allocate, at least initially, 20% Top, 20% Middle, and 60% Bottom.
Perhaps it’s not the best strategy, but this way you can appease the C-Levels who only think about the bottom of the funnel while ensuring quality for your future conversions.
Understanding the objectives of campaigns such as Traffic, Video Views, Reach, Brand Awareness, Conversion, Lead Forms, and so on, allows you to plan specific goals for each stage, not just focusing on bottom-funnel acquisition.
Consider goals such as Impressions, Clicks, CTRs, CPCs, CPM, CPV, Landing Page Visits, Bounce Rate, and, of course, Conversions, Conversion Rates, CPL, CAC, ROI, and so on.
With this in mind, and knowing how to reassure other teams in the company, you can move on to the next action.
2) Understand Your Target Audience
Do you know your persona inside out?
Do you know what they do, how they do it, where they spend their time, and so on?
Furthermore, is your target audience fully aware of the pain they are experiencing, or do you need to show them that they have a “little problem” that they didn’t even know they had?
At what stage is your audience in terms of awareness of the pain and the solution to the problem?
All of this will have a significant impact on how you plan to engage this audience.
It will also consider the format of the campaign you will run. Will it be on Social Ads? Or Search Network? Or perhaps on Display Network?
You have to understand the details of your company’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
I won’t delve into how to conduct this ICP survey or the study of your Persona. Your company has probably already done that. But pay attention to details such as Age range, Location and region, Common interests, Online behaviors, and so on.
With this, in my opinion, you should focus on figuring out where this specific person is and what they are doing there. This way, through your ads, you can naturally penetrate the habitat of this target audience.
3) Optimize the Details of Your Landing Page
Certainly, this is the most underestimated stage among media experts. What good is having a well-configured campaign on paid advertising platforms, having a good copy, and a good video or image if the landing page doesn’t resonate with the campaign?
Therefore, here your attention must be doubled. First and foremost, you need to ensure an excellent user experience during their navigation on the LP. Make sure that both the desktop and, especially, the mobile versions of your landing page are easy to navigate and understand for a healthy conversion flow.
Additionally, ensure maximum LP performance in both versions. Use Google PageSpeed to analyze and improve your usability rates (especially in the mobile version).
But that’s just the “basics” for a good LP. A good landing page must ensure that its message (or copy, as you prefer) is fully aligned with the ads you are running.
It’s no use saying one thing in the image of your ad, another thing in the copy of your ad, and yet another completely different thing on your landing page. All these steps must ensure that your campaign, from start to finish, is speaking the same language.
Avoid using more than one offer, or more than one big idea. Be precise and efficient here.
Your LP should also contain some persuasive triggers that will address objections your lead may have. Don’t forget to detail the features of your product, answer any questions your lead may have, and, if possible, include a demonstrative video of your product (if it doesn’t affect LP performance). Another interesting thing to include is a clear statement about who your product is for and who it is not for. The clearer and less generic your message is, the more qualified your lead will be.
Last but not least, don’t forget to include customer testimonials and social proof that demonstrate the real benefits your product has brought to their businesses. Whether in video format or just phrases or screenshots, bring high-quality testimonials, preferably where your customer precisely speaks about the change your product made in their company. This undoubtedly makes a difference when choosing between products in the same niche.
4) Conduct A/B Tests One at a Time
As days pass, you need to analyze and optimize your campaigns. That’s obvious. But know how to change one thing at a time.
The same applies to A/B tests on landing pages. If you’re going to change the color, the title, the CTAs, and the offers, change one at a time.
This way, you ensure that you will accurately know what worked and what didn’t.
In paid campaigns, understand which ad is bringing more clicks or has the highest CTR. Also, analyze conversions, conversion rates, and their costs. Understand whether it was the CTA, the format, or the ad placement that brought the best results, or if it was the ad copy.
Once this is done, make the necessary changes and wait for some time for that ad to regain good delivery. Only then should you analyze and conclude what worked or not.
This also applies when fixing segmentations or ad groups. Make one change at a time to understand which changes had an effect.
Don’t forget that, in addition to analyzing the details, it’s essential to create a kind of experiment log where you document the changes made, the dates they were made, the objectives of these changes, and the final results of the experiment.
With this organization, I guarantee that scaling your campaigns will be safer and more reliable.
5) Set Budget Limits and Monitor Spending
Once you’ve set your daily or weekly budget on media platforms and are daily analyzing the delivery and results of campaigns, always keep an eye on your daily investment for each tool.
An effective optimization here is to set daily spending limits to ensure that by the end of the month, you do not exceed your planned budget or even leave money on the table because you didn’t invest everything you had planned.
However, as I mentioned, always keep an eye out. For example, Google allows the possibility of investing twice as much as you configured for the day. This is because Google understands that your campaign has room to deliver more ads and, consequently, convert more. Therefore, as part of the tool, Google can always invest more than you set as the daily budget.
Furthermore, to ensure this configured daily investment, it’s worth adjusting your Desired CPA, that is, how much money you are willing to invest in a conversion.
If your average lead costs, for example, $20, in some cases, it’s worth setting your Desired CPA at $22, or $23. This is you telling Google that your lead costs an average of $20, and you are willing to pay up to 10% more than your CPL.
This way, you ensure a more open delivery without losing the quality of the conversion.
And don’t forget to monitor your CPC and CPM as well. Analyze the impression share of each ad, your position in the auction for each keyword (at least the top 10), and compare costs from the last few months.
With these details, you ensure that you won’t have unpleasant surprises in your campaigns, reducing the risk of exceeding your budget and compromising your conversions.
6) Always Analyze and Optimize Campaigns
And to wrap up, the basics of every media analyst’s work. Do not underestimate the importance of checking your results daily. Look at key indicators, compare them with previous days, and align them with your monthly target.
If you have Google Analytics and dashboards to follow, even better. But, in my opinion, as I mentioned earlier, develop the habit of creating daily reports of your results.
Once you “record,” whether in a spreadsheet, a document, or Notion, it doesn’t matter, you can gain a deeper understanding of what happened and what will happen with your campaigns moving forward.
Always stay one step ahead in your strategy and your company’s goals. This way, you’ll always have the questions at the tip of your tongue, know what to improve, where to improve, and how to improve. And, at the end of the day, this is what will ensure that you maximize the same budget available in optimized and scalable campaigns.
Conclusion
Paid media is not just about clicks and impressions; it’s about understanding consumer psychology, dynamically adjusting to market trends, and transforming every invested dollar into a valuable piece in the puzzle of advertising success.
The constant analysis and optimization we discussed above are not just best practices; they are the soul of digital marketing. It’s the relentless pursuit of perfection, the constant adaptation to the needs of the audience, and the ability to turn data into valuable insights that differentiate true paid media masters.
Therefore, as we conclude this exploration of the power of paid media, I invite you to view your advertising budget not only as a set of resources but as a strategic investment. Be bold in your approaches, meticulous in your analyses, and flexible in your adaptations. By doing so, you not only maximize your budget but embark on a continuous journey of knowledge acquisition and, of course, results.
Tell me what you like to do as part of your marketing strategy to maximize your budget in your media planning.
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