25 Digital Advertising Tips from the Experts [Video]

It's about creating a visual for your company, it's about getting your name out there. You can't rely on older print companies anymore to provide advertising and get your customers to come into your store.

Digital advertising is super important for local businesses for three reasons. The first is budgeting. It's super important for local businesses to have a budget of what they want to spend and what they can afford. Digital advertising allows them to do that. The second is metrics, so you can see exactly how your ads are performing, and furthermore you can allocate your resources into the mediums of digital advertising that are working better. The third reason is targeting because you can tailor your products or your business to certain groups of people or certain areas in the city that you think it would perform better, which is super important, especially when you're on a tight budget.

I believe that it's important for local businesses because everybody goes online nowadays for research, for buying products, etc., so it's very important that they pay attention to their online reputation and their online presence.

Most consumers nowadays, that's their first point of contact. Before, it was entering the stores, and now it's doing research through Google and through Facebook. They see how they respond to customers, they see what kind of ratings they get...it's very important that they pay attention to their online reputation and presence, primarily because that's where they're going to reach their customers and grab more leads.

Digital advertising can help with that. If they're posting a lot on their social media profile, digital advertising can help bring that attention and make it worthwhile for them to put that effort into their online presence.

Online presence is super important for digital advertising because without having an online presence, your ads aren't being directed into the proper places. So even if people are interested in your product, they're not finding you. If you're not on Google, you're not on the internet. So start with that before even thinking about doing advertising.

I believe they all have their merits. It really depends on what the client or the business is looking for. If the business was looking for more of a branding campaign, trying to get their name out there if they're new, trying to get people aware of who they are, I believe both Social and Display are the best options.

If they're looking to target more high-intention consumers, people who are actively searching for their product or service, then they'd want to focus on Google AdWords (Search). That's where they're going to find more consumers who are actively searching for them.

If they're looking to engage with customers, and build that relationship in creating contests, then they'd want to focus on social. Whether that be Facebook, or Twitter, or any of those social marketing platforms. That's where they want to put their attention because that's the best way to build up that relationship with clients and consumers.

I'm going to give a cop out answer and say that it depends on the goals of your campaign. If you're trying to get calls, I'd suggest Google Search. If you're trying to get visits, I'd suggest Google Display. If you're trying to target your product or service, I'd suggest Facebook, because it allows you to do that.

Probably just not putting enough time and attention to their online presence. A lot of local businesses will make a website and just leave it there for years and years and years.They'll build a Facebook page but they'll never post on it, they'll never engage with their consumers, they'll never give a reason for people to go to their Facebook page. I believe primarily they just don't pay enough attention. Again, it's where people are going to have a lot of their first contacts with businesses nowadays.

It's very important that they put attention into their online presence and make sure that when consumers go there, they know exactly what they're getting.

Not understanding what they're doing before they're doing it. Time and time again you see on Facebook, or on Google, people are trying to do it themselves that don't know what they're going. In my mind, you're just wasting your money, and you could be using it more effectively if you're using an expert.

The biggest mistake I see is that they're flat out not doing it. Local businesses suffer from being anonymous—to not even be seen.

The best ad campaign we've done is for a restaurant. They already had a great reputation within the community, which really helps to begin with, but they're very active on social media as well. They're constantly posting promotions, deals, specials, what their updated menu is for the day and so on. It really helped that they engage with their consumers.

We ran a Facebook campaign for them, it did very well. They got huge engagement from their posts. People liked it, commented, shared it, it was great. It just shows that it helps to build that reputation, especially with sharing and commenting, because a lot of Facebook users are sharing with people that might not have known about that business or who are outside of the city itself and coming to visit. So, they not only reached consumers within their market, but they extended beyond that just in the engagement and how people felt about the business.

One of the best ad campaigns I've ever heard is a radio one we created for Spar's Prosecco. We wrote a nature documentary-style commentary on the life of a bubble drifting up through a glass, it's completely compelling to hear in-store, and really makes you wish for some refreshing fizz!

The worst ad campaign I've ever seen is when we ran a social campaign for a bedbug company. Their whole purpose was just getting rid of bedbugs, and all their creative revolved around showing images of bedbugs. They wanted to bring people to their Facebook page and grow their Facebook audience, but it was very difficult to do that because it's not a consumer-friendly business.

People aren't on Facebook to look at pictures of bedbugs. It was very very difficult and we had to get that across to the client that we understand that that's where they want the attention, and we did bring some attention to it, but it's not something people want to see on their newsfeed. People aren't scrolling through and looking for that. So it was a very difficult campaign, unfortunately, just due to the business itself and what their services were focusing on.

One of the worst is the recent McDonalds "beaks and feet" campaign... It's attempting to convince people that their chicken nuggets only contain breast meat... All it achieves is to link "beaks and feet" with McDonalds Chicken Nuggets!

One of the biggest things I see is just making sure that your online information is up to date, and then bringing attention to that. Put some money behind bringing attention and awareness to your business, to your Facebook page, showing your products and services. Primarily, you want to make sure that everything is up-to-date online and then make sure that it's out there for customers to find easily and frequently.

My biggest tip for local businesses who are interested in digital ads is to understand what the goals of your company are, what the goals of your product are, who you're trying to target, and make sure you have a presence online. Without that, you're wasting your money and not using it effectively.

It's common for small B2B companies to struggle with generating ROI and leads through digital advertising, especially when selling to a niche audience or targeting a local area. For these businesses, a media plan that encompasses print and digital will work best, but regardless, digital ads should be placed in both local and industry publications.

Facebook ads are fantastic, if local businesses know to produce 1 minute videos posted from their page, talking about who they are and what they do, boosted for $1 a day for 7 days. That simple.

Understand your metrics and identify the gaps in your marketing funnel and use digital ads to fill that.