Online advertising has opened many doors of opportunities for small businesses to reach their potential customers with ease. Previously, during the age of mass media advertisement, the competition was stark and dominated mainly by the big fish. A small business couldn’t advertise on television, radio, or newspaper due to the cost it would incur. Therefore, small companies resorted to distributing flyers, door-to-door marketing, and telemarketing. Probably, these were the reasons small businesses found it challenging to succeed back then. However, with the advent of online advertising, it has become easier for small businesses to grow due to its ease and cost-effectiveness. For instance, a small business can easily advertise on Facebook or Google with a few hundred dollars and reach more than a hundred potential buyers.
It would have been a dream back in the 90s.
Nevertheless, there are always things to improve on. While online advertising has given way to easy and cost-effective advertising, it also is getting increasingly competitive. Therefore, small businesses might struggle to convert their audience into leads if they cannot present the opportunity the right way. If you are running a small business and wondering how to improve your advertising strategy, then here are a few tips for you:
Tip # 1: Your audience is the biggest draw of the game
Since online advertising is easy to start, most people don’t get into its intricacies and instead keep spending, hoping to get as many customers as possible. No, online advertising is not just about posting and boosting on Facebook. It is much more than that. If you dive a little deeper, social media platforms and search engines offer a lot more that you could work with to reduce your cost and increase your conversion rates. Not selecting the right audience is the biggest mistake most small business owners make. Did you know you can choose the occupation, age, gender, job role, city, state, education level, job title, marital status, and a lot more about your audience?
If you have an email list of your existing customers, you can even upload that and ask the platform to find a similar audience for you to advertise. It would increase your conversion and reduce your cost since you will be making more customers per dollar spent.
Tip # 2: Mobile optimization is the key
According to a recent survey, in 2021, around 72% of people in the United States are using smartphones to browse websites, social media, and search engines. That’s a huge number that you need to focus on. Unfortunately, most small business owners are unaware of the importance of mobile optimization. If your website is not optimized for mobile, yet you advertise it on online platforms, you are losing money. When customers visit your website through their mobile phones, they cannot browse through or sign up because your website is not optimized. You would break your call-to-action form, or the signup button might not be clickable.
Tip # 3: Performance optimization of your website
Finally, if you advertise online, you need to have a fast, user-friendly website to convert customers. According to Google, an average person on the internet spends only about 3 seconds on a web page before making a move. If your website does not load within these 3 seconds, you lose your customer. Imagine paying $10 per click, and the visitors aren’t even able to view your website because it takes too long to load. That’s a lot of money lost.
To conclude
While running advertising campaigns online may seem easy, there’s a learning curve for most small business owners. Yes, they are hassle-free and cost-effective, but you need to get yourself familiar with how it works to successfully operate an online advertising campaign.
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