Katy Mackenzie

Sometimes, organic marketing just doesn’t cut it. You have a specific goal, and you want to dive into the world of Paid Advertising. It’s a large landscape that needs to be carefully maneuvered but I’m here to talk all things paid and how it can help your business.

There are two routes to go down when considering paid advertising:

• Paid Social
• Google Ads – PPC

Each of these routes has its pros and cons and each takes a lot of time to understand how it works for your business.

Paid Social

You will see ads on every platform, you know those Amazon ones that pop up in your Facebook feed? That’s a paid social ad and they can come in many forms. No matter the platform, there will be ads, and with that comes each platform’s business or ads manager. They are mainly all the same just a different colour scheme.

Paid social is wild, there are so many platforms to choose from but your choice must be the one suited best to your audience. If you’re promoting education and/or internships to 18-year-olds, you wouldn’t have a campaign on LinkedIn, you would use TikTok or Snapchat as this is what the younger generation is using.

Your audience must be front of mind when choosing a platform and putting ads live. Ask yourself these questions when faced with the problem of what platform to use:

• Who is my audience?
• What platform do they use the most?
• What will catch their attention?
• What are my competitors doing?

The Pros of Paid Social

• Creative Control: Paid Social ads are very creative meaning you can create engaging content using imaged, videos, carousels
• Precise Targeting: Platforms provide highly detailed targeting options like demographics and geographical to help target the right people
• Brand Awareness: Social ads are great for boosting brand awareness even if users are not searching for your product or service
• Engagement Potential: Platforms will allow for direct engagement with users to encourage clicks, shares, and comments to help gain deeper connections.

The Cons of Paid Social

• Ad Fatigue – people get bored, they don’t want to keep seeing the same ad all the time. Make sure to change up your copy or creative if you are reporting that your ads are becoming fatigued.
• Dependant on Algorithms – we all talk about how the algorithm hates us and it doesn’t play in our favour but with paid, it’s even worse. Platforms can change and tweak their algorithm at any point therefore having an effect on the performance of your ads.
• Challenging Attribution – tracking conversions is easy if they stay within the platform but your audience may click out and then go search it themselves therefore you can’t record that as a conversion from your ad.

Google Ads (PPC)

The big one, the one that has so many parts to it. Google Ads is a massive culmination of a range of things; search, display, and shopping are just three of the big ones. It is focused on intent-driven advertising helping to target users who are actively searching for specific products, services, or information.

The Pros of PPC

• Intent-Based Targeting: You can target those who are already searching for what you offer making it highly effective if you’re looking to capture sales or leads.
• Wide Reach: As the most popular search engine in the world, it allows you to reach lots of potential customers.
• Diverse Ad Formats: From search to video and shopping, Google provides you with various ways to promote your business.
• Measurable ROI: Google Ads offers robust reporting tools making it easier to track campaign performance to help maximise your ROAS.

The Cons of PPC

• High Competition: If you are trying to target a popular keyword, bids can be costly
• Steep Learning Curve: Setting up and optimising a Google Ads campaign requires time, skill and ongoing testing. If you’re new to PPC I would advise taking Google’s free courses to bring you up to speed.
• Click Fraud Risk: There is always a risk of competitors or bots clicking on your ads and this in turn can waste your budget

Which Route is Right for You?

The choice between Paid Social and PPC depends on your business goals, marketing objectives, target audience and budget.

• If you’re looking to build brand awareness or target a niche audience based on their interests and behaviour, Paid Social might be the way to go.
• If your goal is to capture high-intent users actively searching for your products or service, Google Ads would be the more effective option.

For many businesses, the sweet-spot is to combine the two approaches. For example, you can use Google Ads to capture intent-driven traffic and Paid Social to retarget users who have shown interest in your business.

Paid advertising is a powerful tool that can help increase your business’s reach, engagement, and conversions. Success will not happen overnight though. Both Paid Social and PPC require a deep understanding of your audience, making sure to A/B test campaigns and a willingness to adapt.

Ready to tackle paid advertising? Make sure to define your goals, select the right platform, and invest time in learning what works for your business. With both careful planning and execution, paid advertising can help you achieve your goals faster and more efficiently.

If you’re looking to enhance your marketing skills, check out my list of free courses here.