Online advertising projects are very exciting. But they’re also super complex …
There are a lot of moving parts and changing variables as the campaign evolves. So this article aims to shed some light on how The Visionary Team will be working to continually enhance your advertising results during your project.
Of course, you don’t need to know any of this – that’s what you’ve hired us for. But it helps for you to have a little understanding of what we are doing so that it doesn’t seem entirely like Black Magic …
Learn about the significants of B2B Online Advertising in this short clip:
The Flow Of Attention On A Social Media Advertisement
As a viewer is scrolling through their social media newsfeed, they are in a semi-conscious state. They’re barely paying attention. They’re scrolling very quickly and making immediate subconscious decisions on whether they will read a piece of content or whether they’ll keep scrolling.
Next time you’re in a public place like a bus or a train – take a moment to watch the way people scroll unconsciously like this on their phones. (don’t be too creepy!)
So the first priority of your advertisement is to stop them from scrolling and immediately captivate their attention. This is done by the image or the video of the ad, which is the first thing they’ll see.
Tip: for more insights into creating compelling video ads, check out our B2B Video Production services here.
It needs to be powerful and it needs to stand out from everything else on the feed. So we’ll re-size your images and videos to make them as large and bold as possible.
Once you’ve captured their attention, they will watch the video and read the headline before very quickly (again, unconsciously) deciding whether or not they should bother with the rest of the ad.
Should they go on, they’ll read through the ad copy and decide whether to book a call and become a lead.
As you can see, each part of the Ad has to be very specifically crafted to keep the viewer’s attention and keep them progressing through to the call to action at the end of the ad.
Hyper-Relevant Advertisements
These days, people are seeing more advertising than ever before.
As a result, our minds have gotten better and better at unconsciously filtering out advertising that is not relevant to our situation. We do this very quickly and often without even being aware of it.
So to make sure that your advertisement captures attention, it must be “hyper-relevant” to your audience.
The way we do this is by understanding their psychology in depth. We want to understand the silent conversation that is running through their mind as they’re thinking about problems that your services can help them with.
If your Ad can use very similar language to what’s happening in their mind, and if we can answer the exact questions they are pondering, then your ad will immediately stand out in their experience. It creates an anxious excitement in their body. They will feel that it’s almost like this ad was designed specifically for them.
Many marketing campaigns fail because they don’t resonate with their audience. Learn more about why marketing campaigns don’t work and how to avoid common mistakes here.
This inspires your viewer to click through and book their sales call – but it also sets their mindset for the sales call. So they’re more likely to progress in your sales process.
See the full Comtrac Case Study here to see how this works for LinkedIn Ads.
Or, view the ICETS Case Study here, to see how this works for Google Ads
Targeting Ads at the RIGHT decision-makers
It’s very important that we only show your ads to the right decision-makers. These are the ones who are able to speak to your sales team and make decisions on behalf of their business.
But it’s also critical that they can afford your services so that inappropriate leads don’t waste your sales team’s time.
Online Ads platforms like LinkedIn, Google, Facebook and Instagram give us endless targeting options to make sure that your Ads are only being shown to the right decision-makers. Here are some common examples:
-Job titles
-Content they are searching now, or recently
-Company size
-Company revenue
-Company industry
-Skills and interest
… and SO MANY more (like literally thousands of targeting options …)
But what makes Online Ads truly powerful is the ability to show new ads to people who are in your contacts lists, CRM, website visitors and people who have already engaged with your initial ads. Now you can start taking an audience through a buyer’s journey online, so they are highly qualified when they speak to you.
Learn more about the dynamics of how this works in our article here:
[ARTICLE: The 4 Layers Of B2B Advertising Audiences]
We will continually tweak these targeting options to show your Ads to the best possible people for your service.
View the full EMKE Case Study here to see how this works for LinkedIn Ads.
Remarketing
Even if your ad is inspiring to a decision-maker, they may not register for a call immediately. Often it’s not the right time, they’re too busy or there’s something else that gets in the way.
So once they’ve seen your ad, we’ll setup a process of remarketing.
Your chosen advertising platform will now start showing them more of your ads over time so that they are always being educated and reminded about your service. When the time is right to proceed, you’ll naturally be at the top of mind.
Advertising variables
One of the most crucial skills for online advertising is tweaking advertising variables on the chosen social media platform. There are literally millions of different variables and combinations that can be tweaked to enhance your Ad results.
Here are some important examples:
– Video or Image: We will test multiple different videos, or multiple different images to see which one creates the best impact on your audience.
– Headlines: One of the most important parts of any marketing piece is the headlines. So often we will test different headlines in your Ad to see which one captivates the most attention
– Ad Copy: The text of the Ad (“Ad copy”) is what takes an interested viewer and convinces them to sign up for the sales call. So this also must be very well tuned – there are many different marketing angles and benefits we can focus on to inspire our viewers. We’ll test a variety of Ad copy versions.
– Audience: Usually you won’t have enough budget to put your Ads in front of every single decision-maker in your target market, at least not in the initial stages. So we will select a subset of your target market and use LinkedIn’s many filtering options to make sure your Ads are put in front of the best audiences possible so that we can get the most optimal results possible.
– Placement: There are many different ways to place your Ad, whether it be on mobile or desktop – or in different formats on the newsfeed in LinkedIn, Facebook or Google Search.
All of these variables, and MANY more, can be tested in different combinations. Cumulatively, there are infinite combinations – so not all can be tested. We’ll use experience and intuition to test out the best combinations for your Ads.
After the lead requests a call …
After the lead requests, a call via your Ad, the work still isn’t finished! Now you need to make sure the lead attends the sales call.
Keep in mind, when someone responds to your Ad, you are still just a random company out of the internet. They don’t feel a personal connection with you yet. That means sometimes it’s difficult to get leads to actually attend your sales calls.
Your sales team may have to follow them up multiple times to get them to attend the call. You’ll find that leads can pick up the phone after 3, 4, 5 or more phone calls over a couple of weeks.
And you are likely to be pleasantly surprised – they will thank you for putting in the effort to follow them up. After all they did want to book the call, something about your service was sparking their interest.
Learn more about how this works in the real world from our Case Study with ICETS.
Wrapping it all up
I hope that helps to clarify some of what is happening behind the scenes of your online advertising project.
I get it. It’s complex and can be confusing.
There are a lot of variables that we will be continually monitoring and tuning. And there are equal parts art and science that go into achieving results for your business.
During your project, we’ll hide a lot of the complexity from you, just to save your sanity – that’s what you’ve hired us for! But you’re always welcome to ask us to dive into the details when you’re interested.
If you’d like to learn more about Visionary Advertising Funnels and how they work, read this article:
[ARTICLE: The 4 Layers Of B2B Advertising Audiences]
