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By Lance Podell
Amid all the increased competition to build market share, businesses of all sizes – particularly small businesses competing against “goliaths” in their respective industries – are feeling the pressure to dedicate a significant portion of their advertising budgets online.
Driving this pressure is also the incredible revenue opportunity for businesses to target consumers online, even if the Web isn’t their primary sales channel. In fact, a May 2006 report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that online advertising revenues soared to a record $3.9 billion in Q1 2006 - a year over year increase of 38 percent.
But for small businesses, allocating dollars for an online campaign can pose certain challenges. Most small businesses don’t have the resources in-house to effectively run a year-long marketing campaign, let alone the staff to manage an online campaign to determine its return on investment (ROI). This is a job in itself. Additionally, the task of designing, implementing and managing an online campaign can be complex, especially for a business that’s just starting.
However, that doesn’t mean the challenges outweigh the opportunities. There are many innovative targeting tools available for small businesses seeking to increase their visibility online that won’t break the bank. Consider these simple rules and tips when embarking on your campaign and you’ll be armed for success.
Start With the Basics: A successful online ad campaign will fail without clearly defined, quantifiable objectives that you can measure against. Think about and determine your campaign goals. Of course you want to convert clicks into sales, but what other business objectives are you trying to achieve?
Define Your Audience: There are many innovative tools available today to marketers that can help target their campaigns. So it goes without saying that one of the first steps for success is to define your audience. Once you know this, it’s much easier to determine where your ads need to be.
Speak the Language: Every industry has its own native language. The world of online advertising is no different. There are several different targeting strategies such as “behavioral,” “content,” “keyword,” “local” and “geo-targeting”. You’ll also hear acronyms thrown around like “CPM” and “CPC”. Take the time to educate yourself so you speak the same tongue.
Integration is Key: As in most cases, there are usually several ways to answer a question. The same idea holds true in advertising where your customers complete the buying cycle in various ways. Often, an integrated marketing strategy will yield better results rather than limiting yourself to a single targeting tool.
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