3. SIX&FLOW
3
Increase
sales and
conversions
Biddable media can increase sales and conversions for
your products and services, as you can promote any
page you wish from your website. You’ll need a budget,
though, and a clear vision of the people you’re looking to
target and turn into customers. In this blog, we've taken a
closer look at the different biddable media channels on
offer, and how you can use them to achieve amazing
results.
4. SIX&FLOW
4
An
overview
of
channels
We’ve already talked about inbound
marketing. A creative, customer-led
strategy is essential for long-term
business growth online. We’ve also
mentioned how complementing it with
outbound techniques can speed up the
process. Done well, it can help your
inbound strategy to take hold and get
your name out in front of potential
customers.
5. SIX&FLOW
5
Marketing
isn’t science
In our post about the benefits of an inbound campaign, we pointed out that marketing isn’t an
exact science. It never has been. However, one of the most effective aspects of outbound
marketing with biddable media is the amount of power and options it gives you to connect with
your target audience.
6. SIX&FLOW
6
Research
your
audience
We can’t stress this enough. Find out as much as you can about your
target audience; their interests, age, location and the trends they
enjoy. It’s essential information that you need to know, and a huge
part of the battle in growing your status online.
7. SIX&FLOW
7
Biddable media is also a fantastic way of gathering the information you need from those
exact prospects through specific data collection services. Especially through social
advertising (which we’ll get to). Lead generation cards are now available through the world’s
largest social networks with calls to action to get the most from your outbound campaign.
Biddable
helps gather
important
information
8. SIX&FLOW
8
And the best thing for advertisers is that the
technology continues to advance and grow.
It’s ethical marketing, too; people will only
leave their information and data with you if
they choose to and if your advertisement
connects with them on a creative level.
Technology
will never
stop
growing
9. SIX&FLOW
9
New channels and ways of incorporating
biddable media into your advertising are always
appearing. Better yet, the systems and software
used to target people continue to get refined to
offer the advertiser more options than ever
before.
Powerful
paid
promotions
10. SIX&FLOW
10
The three
most
prominent
biddable
channels
online
PPC is probably the most well-known
method of biddable media advertising on the
internet. A search-engine-based way of
advertising, a lot of people can find PPC
initially confusing, but the theory behind it is
actually very easy to grasp.
Pay per click
11. SIX&FLOW
11
Want to know how search works? Search for a keyword or phrase in Google or Bing and links to
websites appear. Google ranks the results based on a number of factors, with the aim of putting the
most relevant website for that keyword at the top of the pile.
See those results at the very top and to the side, though? The ones with a little ‘AD’ box under them?
They’re PPC ads that companies have placed there for every time a specific keyword is searched on
a search engine.
The clue’s in the name; Pay Per Click. Every time somebody clicks on that ad, the advertiser has to
pay a certain set amount to Google or Bing respectively. You can set your own bids, but the more
competitive a keyword the higher it’s likely to be.
How
search
works
12. SIX&FLOW
12
For example:
● You sell shoes and want to be placed top of Google when people search for ‘shoes’
● You sign up to AdWords and set a price against the keyword ‘shoes’
● You bid 50p against ‘shoes’ and your site appears to a certain customer looking for shoes
● They click on your site and make a purchase. Because they clicked you pay Google 50p, but
they bought a £30 pair of shoes, making you a profit
Step up
your PPC
game
13. SIX&FLOW
13
You’ve got
competition
It’s not as easy as that, though. Thousands of websites sell shoes
and will be bidding for top spot in search results. To get a higher
position you’ll need to up your bid, and for such a highly-searched,
popular keyword that’ll decrease your margins significantly. Even
worse, what happens if somebody doesn’t buy a pair after clicking to
visit your website?
14. SIX&FLOW
14
The positives of PPC are incredible, though. You can make
your website instantly visible to your target audience. By
researching and choosing your keywords carefully you can
keep costs low, target different segments of your market,
get a higher ROI. More importantly - you're relevant to your
customer's needs.
"...and more importantly - you're relevant to your customers needs."
Positives of
PPC
15. SIX&FLOW
15
Social media PPC works in a similar way,
with each social network offering you
different biddable options to help you reach
a specific social audience. Facebook, for
example, lets you target people based on
their interests, intent and activity while the
majority of networks let you target based on
age, gender and location at least.
Social
media PPC
16. SIX&FLOW
16
Be creative with your advertisements, too. Remember above when we mentioned lead generation cards?
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and others give you the ability to create a small advertisement complete
with image and descriptions. This can help to create interest and incentivising that all important engagement.
Get
creative
17. SIX&FLOW
17
Social lead generation cards can also provide calls to action to encourage those targeted to do
something positive such as visit your website, follow your social accounts, sign up to a newsletter,
and other useful ways to grow your business.
Lead gen
cards
18. SIX&FLOW
18
You can also advertise with video – the concept is the same as search
engine PPC, though. You have a set budget and each interaction takes a
little bit of a bite out of it. Research and target your audience carefully and
creatively for maximum impact.
Get the
camera
rolling
19. SIX&FLOW
19
Video has become one of the easiest and most
consumed medium across the internet. Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube - all rife with "snackable content" and
each lets you engage with customers through biddable
media channels. YouTube is the second largest search
engine in the world; no wonder with more than 6 billion
hours of video viewed each and every month. And with it
being owned by Google, it also has effective bidding
software thanks to its unique TrueView platform.
Video/
Youtube
PPC
20. SIX&FLOW
20
TrueView allows advertisers to display in-stream and in-display adverts to viewers
on a cost-per-view basis. Ads can appear before a YouTube video, or can be
displayed in search results or next to videos themselves.
You can be charged depending on how long a person decides to watch your
advertisement. If they opt out before 30 seconds, for instance, you won’t be charged
for an in-stream ad. If they click on an in-display ad, though, you’ll be charged as
soon as the ad is clicked no matter if they watch or not.
Cost
per
view
21. SIX&FLOW
21
These are arguably the most popular and effective forms of biddable media currently available to
businesses. There are also other measures such as display advertising, remarketing, sponsored
posts on websites and paid social endorsements.
Other
things to
consider
But there are other things to consider alongside the channels you’re
using, who to target, and where your budget needs to be spent.
22. SIX&FLOW
22
Probably the most important thing to consider is the impact of your website and the pages you’d like
potential customers to land on. Think of yourself as a web consumer. If you visited a website you’d never
been to before and it didn’t look up to scratch, would you feel comfortable making a purchase on it?
Your
website is
your best
salesperson
23. SIX&FLOW
23
Web design and development features also
need to be considered to help raise
confidence amongst visitors. Does the site
load quickly? Is the checkout process safe
and secure? Is the buying cycle smooth
and effective? Are your product copy and
images optimised, effective, and attractive?
Is your social presence clean and helpful?
Is your
website user
friendly?
24. SIX&FLOW
24
Biddable media channels provide a quick and effective way to get
your brand out to big audiences. You can achieve large returns
quickly while your inbound strategy is taking effect. However, a
lot of preparation and planning needs to be put into place to get
the maximum return possible from your investment.
Reach more
people