How Behavioral Targeting Gets Your Content Seen By the Right Audiences What optimization strategies are you using to improve the performance of ads? If you're like almost half of marketers, your answer probably includes ad placement and targeting. As we know, targeted ads are used to find the most qualified leads by showing audiences content that's relevant to them. Targeted ads connect you with the leads that are going to be the most interested in what you offer. So, how can you be sure that you're generating the most qualified leads with your targeted ads? While there's no sure fire way to tell, there's an optimization strategy you may be missing: behavioral targeting. Targeted advertising allows you to use demographic information, including location or age, to surface ads to relevant audiences. Behavioral targeting uses web behavior as the determining factor, instead of demographics. This increases the impact ads have on audiences. Some of the criteria behavioral targeting looks at includes previously visited websites, search history, and past purchases. If a marketer spent 20 minutes browsing CRMs, Googling software prices, and reading customer management blogs, behavioral targeting would analyze those actions to show that person ads for a CRM product the next time they visited a site like Facebook. Behavioral targeting is used to improve campaign effectiveness. The sales manager weighing their CRM options would likely be more interested in a product ad for one rather than an SEO strategist, making them a qualified lead for the software company....

19 Free Advertising Tips for Your Small, Large, or Local Business When you work at a small business with a limited budget, it’s not really possible to shell out $340,000 for a 30-second TV commercial or $10,000 for an email marketing campaign. It can be frustrating when your budget dictates how many people your business can reach. Here are some free and inexpensive ways to promote your local business:  How to Advertise a Local Business How to Get Free Advertising How to Advertise on Google for Free How to Advertise a Local Business Use Google My Business to optimize for local search. Check out Yext. Network at in-person events when possible. Speak at an association or local event. Put up brochures or flyers. Run geo-targeted Facebook ads. Invest in direct mail campaigns. 1. Use Google My Business to optimize for local search. One of the most powerful free ways to advertise your business is through Google My Business, which enables companies to manage their presence on Google Search and Google Maps. The tool can bolster your rankings in local search results. Ranking high in local search shows you’re a legitimate and relevant company: you wouldn’t rank #1 in Google for “pizza places near me” if you’d closed down six months ago. Plus, if you rank high in local search, more consumers will choose your business over a competitor’s. In today’s...

Adjusting Digital Media Strategies in a Changing Business Climate We've all been experiencing recent lifestyle changes in 2020 — both personally and professionally. For marketers, the resulting shift in business landscape has required us to review our previous strategies and make adjustments that will allow our clients to continue thriving in the wake of unforeseen circumstances. The good news is that current challenges can translate into tremendous opportunity if we can find an effective way to continue reaching our audiences. While each business is different and there are many factors to consider, understanding current media trends is an important step in adjusting your approach to advertising. Here, we're going to explore whether or not you should be advertising at all, where you should focus your advertising efforts, and shifting paid priorities in 2020. Should you be advertising in 2020? The big question a lot of advertisers are asking themselves – "Should I be advertising right now?" — has a wide range of answers that vary depending on your circumstance. The airline and hospitality industries are facing serious challenges at the moment, but at the same time this changing business climate presents unique opportunities for brands focused on other verticals. While job security and unemployment has become an unfortunate reality for many, there are also a significant number of consumers who are benefiting from increased disposable incomes due to cancelled events and forced lifestyle changes. For ecommerce brands, this can translate into increased sales from both new and existing...

How Much You Should Actually Spend on Digital Advertising in 2020 If you clicked on this post hoping to read something like "If you spend $1,000 dollars on digital advertising a month, you'll hit your marketing goals easily!" I'm sorry to disappoint. When it comes to ad spend, there just isn't a perfect answer for every business. I know, it sounds like a cop-out, but I promise you it's true. Now, you might be thinking, So, why am I even reading this post, anyways?  While I can't tell you how much money you should spend on digital ads this year, I can walk you through a framework to help you decide on your own optimal ad spend. Ultimately, here's what you should think about when deciding how much you should spend on digital advertising: How much investment is needed in order to hit my revenue goals? What percentage of my marketing budget can I realistically afford to spend? What is the lifetime value (LTV) of my average customer? How well am I converting website visitors into leads, and leads into customers? How much money am I spending on each bid? At the end of this post, you'll know how to use historical data to determine how much money you need to spend to hit your business goals and how to optimize your efforts to get the most out of each advertising dollar. Sound good? Let's jump in. How Much Investment is Needed to Hit...