Once you’ve built your online store, you may be starting to wonder how to draw people in. You especially want to consider how to find interested buyers, people who are already in the market for your type of product or who might want to learn more about what you are selling. This is where paid ads can come in handy. We have talked about the how-to behind Pay Per Click. Now let’s dive into the where. How do you decide which paid ads to start with?
Where Is Your Target Market?
Where you place your ads really needs to line up with your brand’s market and the product you are selling. The most obvious and simple place to start is to ask “Where is my market?” Where are they spending their time?
We recommend you choose one to three places to place paid ads to test initially. There are three main reasons you want to keep it small.
- Logistics: It’s easier to manage a smaller pool.
- Analytics: You’ll get a clearer picture of how they are performing.
- Budget: If you’re throwing a lot of money to too many places, you may end up losing some.
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Where to Start With E-Commerce Paid Ads?
For most e-commerce stores, we recommend starting with Google and Facebook.
- Google Ads are the ones that show up at the top of a Google search page, linked to specific keywords and phrases people are searching.
- Facebook Ads are either the ones that show up in the sidebar on the Facebook website or boosted ads in the main feeds, linked to specific demographics and Facebook activity.
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These two are a good place to start because they have a big, broad audience. You are likely to find some group within that audience that will fit your target market.
However you may want to start smaller, if you know your target market well. For instance, if you’re marketing to a younger crown, Snapchat ads might make more sense. Or if your buyers are professionals, maybe LinkedIn ads are better.
Getting Creative with E-Commerce Ads
Once you know who you are trying to reach, you might consider some creative ideas.
- Local Businesses: Think about local websites and directories. These could be a great place to sponsor an ad. You might also look into Yelp and other locally-driven sites.
- Selling on other platforms: If you are also selling on other websites, such as Amazon or Etsy, you could pay to promote your product and get seen more prominently.
- Very Niche Market: If your ideal market is a very specific group, maybe all in a specific trade or industry, then banner ads on a specific news or magazine site or sponsored placement in an email newsletter could be a good use of your budget.
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Remember, first you need to know who you are selling to and where they read and hangout online. Go there and look for ad options. Choose only a few to start with and see how they do. Make strategic changes, to pour more energy and money into what works.
We hope this helps you get started. If you ever have questions or want to talk about a whole campaign to get your online store out there, drop us a line. We love talking about e-commerce marketing.
Want to learn even more about leveraging the power of ads? Click here to read our article on Pay Per Click for online sales.
Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash