Paid media for brand success
While today’s media influx may make it difficult to get your company’s message heard organically (i.e. without paying to anyone), it also brings with it an influx of methods to promote it. With the help of a range of paid communication channels i.e. ‘paid media’, businesses can reach to large number of target audience
Paid media is any form of media that a brand pays to utilize. These are properties/channels owned by others who are paid to carry promotional messages. These can be the following:
- Search engine ads platforms like Google ads, Yahoo ads etc.
- Third party sites/apps
- Social media ads Platforms like Facebook ads, Linkedin ads etc.
- Video ads on video platforms like youtube, vimeo etc.
- Digital music, games etc.
Paid media ads can be in the form of Search ads, Display ads, video ads, Sponsorships, Classified ads, Product placement, Social media ads, Mobile ads, In-app ads, In-music ads, In-games ads etc.
Tips for leveraging owned media to engage consumers
To get the best out of paid media advertising, brand marketers should follow the tips below.
- Use paid media sparingly. Brands should not bombard consumers with intrusive paid media. Instead, brands should make sure that their advertisements appear on uncluttered pages where they don’t have to compete for consumer attention.
- Get to the point. Because consumers may not spend too much time viewing the ad, brands should send a short, concise message.
- Be creative. The online ad market is saturated with paid ads. Brands need to be creative such that these stand out from the crowd through eye-catching images, interesting storylines or humor.
Benefits of Paid Media
- Allows a brand to reach passive customers: Purchasing paid media allows a brand to reach consumers who are not actively searching for or seeking to connect with that brand.
- Target specific groups of consumers: Paid media can also be used to target specific groups of consumers who may be interested in the brand’s products and services.
- Control on message: the ad appears on channels the brand doesn’t own or control, but the message/content is created and controlled by the brand. However , the no. of words is limited by the paid channel like google.
- Move target customers to owned and earned media: Paid media can engage target markets and move them to owned media and social media conversation (earned media).
Paid Media Performance Metrics
If you want to understand the health and performance of your paid ads, focus on the measurement of the following metric:
- No. of impressions and CPM (Cost-per-1000-impressions) – Impressions are how many times your ad was displayed to a user, regardless of whether the user has interacted or not.
- No. of clicks and CPC (Cost per Click_ — Clicks usually follows with the user being taken to your landing page for more information or to take further action.
- CTR – Click Through Rate — This is a percentage calculated on clicks/impressions.
If your ad had 1000 impressions and received 100 clicks, that would result in a 10% click-through rate. - Conversion Rate and CPA— A Conversion is commonly the desired result of the customer’s interaction.
CPA (Cost per Acquisition) – Cost of successful conversion of a user.