So, you've carefully crafted your product pages. Your SEO strategy is underway. You're regularly engaging with your audience on social media. It's time to take things to the next level by incorporating some paid ads into your ecommerce advertising strategy.
Paid ads are a great way to supplement your SEO and organic social media efforts. They help to bring more exposure to your brand, boosting your business and increasing ecommerce sales.
Ecommerce ads are a form of advertising that allows businesses to promote their products and services to potential customers through various advertising platforms. The ads can be highly beneficial for businesses, allowing you to reach many potential customers quickly and easily. Ad platforms are also very versatile and can be used to target customers based on demographic characteristics like their location, age, and gender, plus their interests.
The good news is most paid ecommerce ads are easy to implement and you can set them up in a matter of minutes. You can also control your ad spend within the platforms, which means they can be a great way to boost your business while staying within budget. This makes it easy for ecommerce businesses of all sizes to take advantage of online advertising.
Several different ecommerce ad platforms are available for paid advertising. We'll discuss the most popular ecommerce ad platforms and how they can benefit your business.
Google Ads
Google Ads (formerly known as Ad Words) is one of the most popular ecommerce ad platforms. It is a pay-per-click advertising platform that lets companies place ads on Google's search engine results pages (SERPs) and millions of other websites across the internet. You can target potential customers based on their interests and demographics, which makes it a very effective advertising tool. Additionally, Google offers a wide range of customizable options, so you can create ads that perfectly match your business's needs.
You'll want to experiment with different targeting options and ad copy to find what works best for you. Fortunately, Google Ads offers a variety of tools and reports that can help businesses measure the performance of their ads and make necessary adjustments.
There are different types of Google Ads:
Search campaigns
Search campaigns are text ads that are displayed on Google Search results pages. They're keyword targeted, so they appear for people actively searching for what you offer.
As search campaigns are text only, they're speedy to set up – you have to select keywords and write the ad copy, but you don't need any media assets like images or videos. Google smart campaigns also automate part of the process, optimizing the ads and targeting audiences based on the business info you enter.
Display campaigns and video campaigns
Display campaigns are image-based ads that appear on websites and apps, while video campaigns allow you to show video ads on Youtube and other websites. Google search campaigns only appear on search pages, but display and video campaigns appear on different websites like blogs or news sites that show ads to support their website.
As display and video campaigns use images and videos, they're a chance to entice potential customers with visually engaging ads. Google also allows you to use data segments to target people who have already viewed your ads or visited your site.
Google Shopping Ads
Google Shopping Ads (sometimes known as product listing ads) are a type of ad that allows businesses to showcase their products on Google. Shopping Ads appear alongside search results with an image of the product, the price, and a link to buy.
Businesses can create Shopping Ads in Google Ads by creating a product list. A product list is a collection of products used in an ad campaign. To create a product list, businesses need to provide the product's name, price, URL, and a few other details.
Once a product list is created, businesses can generate Shopping Ads by targeting users interested in those products based on the keywords they search.
Gmail Ads
Gmail Ads allow businesses to place ads directly in the inboxes of Gmail users who have opted-in to receive them. These ads are not only eye-catching but also highly effective, as they appear right alongside the user's email messages. In addition, Gmail Ads offer excellent targeting options, so you can ensure that your ads are seen by only those likely to be interested in them.
Amazon ads
If you sell your products on Amazon, you can use Amazon Ads to place ads on product pages, search results, and third-party websites. Amazon Ads provides a range of targeting options, including the ability to target customers based on their past purchases.
Social media platforms
Paid social media ads allow businesses to reach a large audience with minimal effort. Additionally, social media advertising provides companies with various targeting options so they can reach the right audience for their products.
TikTok
According to eMarketer, adults in the US spend more time on Tiktok and Youtube than any other social media platform. TikTok is known for its short, humorous videos, and many people have started to use it as an alternative to search engines, making it an excellent choice for advertising. TikTok offers several advertising options, including in-feed ads, carousel ads, and branded filters.
TikTok's 'mind reading' algorithm is known for understanding users' preferences with a high level of precision, making it a good choice for highly targeted ads. When you set up an ad campaign with TikTok, you have the option to choose a campaign objective that falls under three categories: awareness, consideration, or conversion, so you can create ads to achieve goals in any stage of the funnel.
Meta for Business
Meta's ads manager allows you to run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Advertising with Meta is an effective way to reach your audience because the ads show up where consumers spend a lot of time: on users' feeds, in stories, and alongside their messages. Additionally, by using Meta, you can promote the same ad campaign on multiple channels through the same control center.
With Meta, you can create your ads, specify an audience – which can be as specific or broad as you like – and easily manage your ad budget. By selecting automatic placement, Meta will choose the optimal channel to place your ad. The Meta algorithm will display your ad on Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, or in the Meta Audience Network, which is an off-Facebook library of third-party apps.
The reporting tools allow you to review the performance of your ads and A/B test different ad content. You can adjust, relaunch, or pause your campaigns whenever you like.
Choosing a platform
When deciding which ecommerce ad platform to use, there are several factors to consider: your budget, target audience, and marketing goals. Some platforms are better suited for specific audiences than others. As you start out, it's better to focus on getting to grips with one platform. Otherwise, you risk spreading yourself too thin.
Conduct research about your target audience to find out where they spend their time online. Then, prioritize that platform and only expand to other channels when you have more bandwidth.
Each ecommerce ad platform has different strengths and weaknesses, so you need to make sure that the platform you choose supports your ecommerce marketing strategy and goals.
Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all ecommerce ad platform. It's important to consider the specific needs of your ecommerce business and determine which platforms will be most effective for reaching your target audience. Experimenting with different ecommerce ad platforms and constantly monitoring and adjusting your ads can help you get the best out of your ecommerce advertising efforts.
Enhance your ecommerce advertising with SMS
When you bring in new potential customers to your online store with paid ads, there's a good chance they won't buy right away. You need to put some work into nurturing them first. SMS marketing tends to have higher engagement than email marketing, and it's an excellent channel for conversions. So consider starting an SMS program to build relationships with website visitors that come in through paid ads. You'll get more out of your ad spend by giving them a way to stay connected to your brand.
Emotive is a platform that allows ecommerce businesses to easily set up and send automated SMS marketing campaigns. You can use Emotive to send out abandoned cart reminders, personalized product recommendations, and special promotions to your customers.
Emotive integrates with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce, making it easy to sync your customer data and personalize outreach. Emotive also includes reporting tools to track the performance of your SMS campaigns and optimize them for conversions.
Find out more about how Emotive can support your paid ads strategy. Book a demo today.