Paid Media Strategies That Turn Ad Spend Into Profit

Paid advertising, or performance marketing, plays a key role in tracking measurable marketing results. While ad budgets get bigger and platform options become more plentiful, it can be easy to forget what works. With good paid media management, you can stay focused and get the most out of your ad spend. 

At Lyv Marketing, we want to help you manage your paid media and get the most out of your campaigns. In this week’s blog, we’ll outline what this involves and how to use data to build a straightforward strategy that drives outcomes across all of your marketing channels.

Understanding Paid Media

Paid media is any kind of advertising that a business pays to promote its market product or service. In modern marketing practices, the main channel for this media to appear is on social media. Social media ad spending is expected to exceed $330 billion by 2029. 

The counterpart to paid media is owned media. Owned media refers to things you have complete ownership of as a business, like your website and social media accounts, while paid media places ads on platforms that target your specific audience. 

Paid media is an essential piece of digital marketing because it allows businesses to expand their reach and encourages awareness of their brand online. The key component, though, is making sure you are getting a return on investment (ROI) from what you’re spending.

Managing Paid Media

While paid media is a great tool for marketers to make potential customers aware of their brand, it is only so effective when managed properly. Paid media campaigns require diligent planning and timeline execution. Successful management includes a focus on ad spend, utilizing the right channels, and monitoring the performance of your campaigns to make sure that your creative is performing well.

Paid Media Strategies

Understanding what channels are available to you and how to use them to your best advantage is essential for crafting a successful paid media campaign. 

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM calls for the placement of paid ads on a potential customer’s search engine results page. This includes Google Ads and other search engine ad formats. When someone uses a specific key word in their search, the ad is triggered to advertise to that person. SEM is best for companies looking to get their products or services in front of users who are looking for those things already. 

• Social Media Advertising

While there is plenty of earned media on social media apps, there are also opportunities to use paid media. On platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook, advertisers are able to use tools to reach their audiences based on different key factors. These factors can include interests, behaviors, and scrolling habits. The creative for these sites is very diverse also, allowing you to make carousels, videos, or even single posts available to advertise with. Social media ads are best for building awareness and driving traffic to your page. 

• Display Ads

Display ads or banner ads, appear on websites within Google’s network or other advertising networks. They are visually enthralling and can be used, like social media, to target a specific audience based on their interests and shopping habits. Display ads are best for driving traffic to your site. 

• Video Ads

Video ads appear on platforms like YouTube, network television, and social media apps that support video content. They are meant to make the viewer interested and draw them into the product or service. Video ads (or commercials) are best for demonstrating how a product works and telling your brand story.

• Paid Search

Paid search refers to paying for ads that show up at the top of a search engine result page. They appear under the “sponsored” text when you are searching on Google or Safari. They are usually charged on a pay-per-click basis and are best for people who are ready to make a purchase.

Takeaway: Paid Media Can be Increasingly Valuable if Utilized Correctly

Paid media requires a lot of attention and work, but can also provide a large ROI for your brand. Here at Lyv Marketing, we want to help you utilize paid media to its fullest potential and direct potential customers straight to your website. Contact us today for a FREE consultation to find out if our services are right for you and your business.