Advertisements. It can be hard to find the fine line between effective and annoying. It takes a very special kind of advert to hold someone’s attention long enough for them to complete the call-to-action.
Different ad formats branch out to different audiences. So, if you are looking for a wide target audience, you might want to consider using a few (if not all!) of these formats.
However, if you have a small target audience, picking the one best for your campaign would benefit you.
Luckily, we have created this list of ad formats you need to use to make the decision process a little bit easier for you.
1. Social media ads
Social media is a big part of our day-to-day lives.
Personally, I check social media at least a few times a day. Often I see ads while scrolling and every now and then one catches my eye and I feel the need to check it out.
With such a wide range of people using different types of social media platforms, your business is open to a lot of new, potential customers.
You can’t really go wrong!
It is important you choose the platform most relevant to your target audience to gain the most attention. However, if you are using most/ all of them, make sure you change the advert based on the platform you chose to use.
There are many different facebook ad formats, as well as ads for Instagram, LinkedIn and more. Experiment with different platforms depending on your offering and the types of clients that you have or that you want to engage with.
Best social media ad platforms for small businesses – Check out this article for more info!
2. Print advertising
Print advertising could be seen as a more ‘old-fashioned’ way of advertising however, it is still incredibly useful.
Print advertising through newspapers, for example, will allow you to reach a specific target audience.
Perhaps you want to capture the attention of people who commute to work, your business could be based around travel or you could just simply have an older target audience.
3. Google ads
Google ads are often linked to PPC (Pay per clicks) and can be extremely helpful when advertising to a specific audience.
This advertising format allows you to create ads that link to specific keywords, once these keywords are searched, your ad will show up. This means you will be gaining more relevant traffic into your website and campaigns.
Google ads also allows display marketing which I see used all the time on the platform where I write my book.
Below my book, there is an empty space for advertisements which is used for display marketing.
For example, think you were to google the new iPhone and click on an ad for it but you do not convert and instead leave the advertisement. Google, through the use of cookies and other formats, will place an ad for the exact iPhone you were looking at underneath my book in the hopes to get you interested in the product again, leading to a sale.
Google Discovery Ads Now Available to All Advertisers – Check out this article for more info on google!
4. Blog posts & podcasts
These two are great for advertising because if it is your own blog post or podcast you are able to educate your audience before trying to make a sale or call-to-action.
This means you will receive more relevant leads and an increase in possible conversions.
If you have paid to be advertised on someone else’s podcast or blog post, it might not be as effective unless the content is relevant to what your business represents.
Also, you are opening your business up to a wider audience who may not have heard of your company before.
5. Post advertisement
Post advertisement is a tricky one.
I know that personally, if I randomly get leaflets posted through the mail they end up in the bin.
But there is a way you can use post advertisement to your advantage.
By using the sales funnel you could recommend, using a call-to-action, that the leads sign up to a monthly newsletter or leaflet giving them access to specific information that they want to know.
Once you have this info you are able to send out post advertisements nudging these potential leads to make a purchase.
Getting your advertisements right can be hard to begin with, but once you choose the formats most favourable to your business, it will help bring in more traffic to your campaigns.
