Few marketing channels compare to PPC advertising and its ability to give you instant access to your target audience.
That’s not to say that organic marketing isn’t powerful. It certainly is. But PPC lets you skip to the front of the line, putting your brand and its products and services directly in front of consumers when they are ready to buy.
So, what do the numbers say? Businesses with effective pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns have reported generating an ROI of $2 for every $1 spent.
Not only do businesses double their money on average, but they’re also creating brand awareness, nurturing relationships with potential customers, and ensuring a steady stream of traffic to their store.
Read on to learn more about why paid ads for ecommerce sites are absolutely essential to achieving sustainable growth.
The Different Types of Paid Ads for Ecommerce
Before we discuss why paid ads are so powerful for ecommerce, we should look at exactly what paid advertising means for online stores. The types of paid ads that greatly benefit ecom businesses include:
- Paid search: Do you want your products to show up when people are looking for them? This category does exactly that. Google dominates the paid search marketplace with an 85% market share, making it worth focusing on. Running paid search ads places you firmly at the top of the results, provided you win the ad bid.
- Paid social: Organic reach is wonderful, but paid social ads make sure that your followers and potential customers see your content or ad. Approximately 37% of online users say that social networks are the most influential sources of inspiration for making purchases.
- Display ads: Commonly known simply as “banners,” display ads are shown on a publisher’s site in the margins or another pre-designated location that’s meant to be displayed alongside the actual content.
- Native ads: This category covers ads that appear on publisher sites that appear like content from that publisher, typically appearing as a video or blog. Once a user clicks on the ad they are taken to your ecom store rather than staying on the original site.
Each of the above categories can be broken down even further, but for our purposes, we don’t need to get that specific.
Why Paid Ads Are Essential in Ecommerce
Now that we’ve discussed the different types of paid ads for ecommerce, let’s get a bit more specific.
Considering 72% of companies haven’t looked at their ad campaigns in over a month, you need to fully understand how powerful PPC can be so that you keep putting effort into them.
Here’s why we believe paid ads should be a focal part of any marketing strategy.
1. Generate a Significant Return on Investment
Google search ads famously have a 200% ROI, on average. This statistic is widely cited and it’s certainly encouraging, but keep in mind that this is for every industry, not just ecommerce. To reach this ROI, or surpass it, your search ads will need to be targeted with the right keywords and contain persuasive copy.
What about the ROI of other types of paid ads? Social media, display, and native ads are much more difficult to determine. Google provided the above figure, whereas the other paid ad categories are spread across different websites and platforms.
However, digital marketers can shed light on what’s effective and profitable. A Hubspot survey found that Facebook produces the highest ROI of any social platform, along with producing the highest quality leads and engagement. Amazon’s display ads also stand out from the crowd with a 20% higher ROI than a brand’s average marketing ROI.
2. Reach Your Target Audience Where They Are Online
Where are your customers spending their time online? You may already know the answer, but how effectively are you reaching them and pulling them into your sales funnel?
Customers on social media are notoriously difficult to convert since it means leaving the app. Your brand needs to continually appear during their scrolling until they become interested enough to leave the social network, or make a purchase within it.
Display and native ads also reach people where they spend their time: watching videos or reading articles. A well-crafted ad can help pull them to your website and start the journey of becoming a customer.
3. Optimize Your Budget Based on Quantifiable Metrics
Traditional advertising means spending thousands of dollars on a TV or print ad and hoping that it resulted in new customers. Now, paid ads generate mountains of data that can inform your future decisions.
Every type of ad discussed here will let you know which ads are generating customers or leads, and which ads are being overlooked. This allows you to know when to stop running unimpressive ad campaigns and increase your ad spend on successful ones.
You will undoubtedly run a campaign that seems brilliant, but the reality might be that it fails to intrigue potential customers. You can let go of your assumptions and move forward with actual data and refine the campaign, or end it entirely.
Maximize Your Paid Ads ROI with Emarketed
It’s no secret ecommerce and paid ads go hand in hand. The hardest part is building campaigns that are designed to convert.
Many companies quickly become overwhelmed by all the data, features, and integrations supported by the popular paid ad platforms. And without proper experience, it’s even easier to waste your marketing budget on unoptimized ads.
Emarketed brings decades of paid ad expertise directly to your ecommerce marketing campaigns. We can help you maximize your ROI when it comes to paid ads by leveraging your brand equity, meaningful historical data, and relevant market data to create, deploy and refine new campaigns that reach your audience and drive conversions.
Are you ready to optimize your paid ad campaigns? Speak to one of our paid ad experts today to discover how we can help your business reach the next level.