Online Advertisement: What Google won’t Tell You
It is interesting as the number of hours we spend on the Internet becomes more than we spend on any media even the TV, the internet has become increasingly important to advertisers. Many are aware of the unlimited opportunities businesses and brands could be exposed to through online advertisement ,but they get frustrated each time they spend so much money putting their adverts on Google and other websites without getting the required or expected result and eventually think online advertisement doesn’t work.
What has Google got to do with this? Everything! Google makes over 70 per cent of their income from online adverts. They sure are the pacesetters online no doubt. With recent development and applications in their store, it is obvious Google no longer wants us to watch TV; they want us to be online 24 hours everyday so they can make more money through online advertisement. I got so curious and that made me ask the question I asked at the G-Nigeria event early this year in Lagos, frankly, am yet to receive an answer to that question. Well, Lets leave that for another day.
One of the benefits of online advertisement over traditional advertisement is that the former can be tracked and measured, online adverts when done properly drive instant sales with high conversion rates from prospects to consumer with a click, and they can be highly targeted at the right customers.
For effective online advertisement or campaign, the advertiser must have a defined and thought- out plan, your website which is the heart of your online adverts will have to be ready in all sense of it for the advertisement. Your plan should include your budget for the advert, payment method suitable for your advert. All of these are summed up in your Campaign Objective.
Your Campaign Objective (CO) must be well defined; this is where many miss it. Your Campaign Objective is simply having in clear terms what you want to achieve as an advertiser. It must answer some of these questions:
-what do I want to achieve with my online advert,
-what type of product-service am I advertising,
-who are my target audience, where can I find them online
-is it to let them know about my brand (Brand awareness),
-is it to make instant sales or
-drive traffic to a website or to create a demand
The answers to the above questions will help you choose the right method, the website to do your campaign and the mode of payment suitable for you.
The most common payment models for adverts online are:
Cost per thousand (CPM): this is needed when brand awareness or exposure is the primary goal of the advertiser.
Cost per Click: In this model, the advertiser only pays when their advert is clicked on by a prospect. This is most effective when the aim is to drive traffic to a website.
Cost per Acquisition (CPA): Here, the advertiser only pays when an advert delivers an acquisition. For example, buying a product, filling of a form, downloading of a file etc.This is the mode of payment used mostly in affiliate marketing.
Fixed Rate: Here, the payment is fixed as the websites offer a rate for a given space per month. This is usually good for banner adverts and campaigns that target a particular niche market.
Cost per Engagement: Here, advertisers pay for adverts placed in videos or applications such as Facebook apps based on the interaction with the advert. Advertisers pay when an action is completed by the prospects.
In conclusion, your success as an advertiser online is largely determined by your Campaign Objective (CO), so have a good plan before you put that advert! And also get an Internet Marketing expert to guide you all the way and you will benefit from the unlimited prospects online.
