Why Online Ads Are Essential for Ecommerce

For ecommerce, it’s a no-brainer that the best way to reach customers and attract new ones is online ads. You want to reach potential customers in the places they spend most of their time and showcase items that are tailored to their interests. Don’t believe us? Let’s review the facts!

Drive Sales and ROI

Online ads have revolutionized the advertising industry for ecommerce businesses. They most definitely help drive up the metric that matters most to your business – revenue. With targeting getting more sophisticated by the day, ads are becoming more personalized and relevant to shoppers online. Over the past year, Vantage has seen an average 10X return on ad spend across our customers running online ads. That’s ten dollars in incremental sales for every dollar spent in online advertising. Not bad, eh?

Almost, Lauren Conrad, almost.

Targeting and Reach

By advertising online you can overcome barriers of time and distance. You’re able to sell goods in any part of the world without having to reach out to a local or international agency or other cumbersome (and expensive) avenues. That’s right, you’re no longer constricted by traditional means of advertising – the whole web is your playground. With today’s ad technology, there’s no reason that your cat costume store in Australia can’t connect with cat lovers from Norway or even Japan! Then again if you only want to attract cat lovers in a certain city, state/province or country, targeting and geo-fencing allow you to do so! Targeting and reach go well beyond simply location, though. You can target anybody who’s visited your store regardless of where they bounced, customers who abandoned carts, customers likely to make a purchase, or even audiences similar to your best customers! By employing these savvy tactics you can that drive growth, capture market share, and improve profitability.  

Growing Influence

It’s predicted that spend for online ads and specifically social ads will drastically increase in the coming years. Consider this statistic: social media advertising budgets have doubled worldwide over the past 2 years—going from $16 billion U.S. in 2014 to $31 billion in 2016. As for 2017, analysts have predicted a 26.3% global increase on spend for online ads. Advertising your ecommerce business online is truly becoming the norm and there’s no time like the present to get in the game. Just like Gretchen Wieners can’t help that she’s popular, you can’t help if your stores revenue skyrockets on account of your awesome online ads.

The Power of Facebook

Facebook joined the advertising game well after display and search ads had established themselves. Despite that, their desktop ads have 8.1x higher click-through rates and mobile ads have 9.1x higher click-through rates than normal web ads! The best part? Facebook ads are oftentimes much cheaper than other online ad alternatives. They’re incredibly user-friendly and make it simple to target you ideal customers based on interests, age, location and more. You done good, Mark Zuckerberg.

The Growing Power of Instagram

Many ecommerce business owners haven’t yet considered Instagram as a viable advertising option. This is because the platform only introduced advertising in October 2015 ,so it’s a relatively new platform for advertisers to take advantage of. As a mobile-first social network, Instagram is in the perfect place to capitalize on the influx in mobile growth. As mentioned Instagram ads are still a rather new advertising tool, but keep in mind that the platform has over 500 million active monthly users. What’s more is that ad recall from Sponsored Posts on Instagram is 2.9x higher than Nielsen’s norms for online advertising. Just like Facebook their campaigns are user-friendly and offer a bevy of targeting options. Get in on a good thing and become an early adopter of Instagram advertising!

Even JLo knows the power of Instagram advertising.

Budget Friendly

We’ve saved the best for last, which is that online ads in general, are much more cost-efficient than traditional mass marketing and media. Online ads can be viewed by millions of people and are displayed 24hrs a day. The added bonus is that according to online advertisers, Facebook and Instagram ads in particular tend to be cheaper than other online ads. No need to fret though – just because you’re paying less doesn’t mean you’re getting less. Many have stated that they found Facebook and Instagram offered longer placement for text which can help significantly in introducing your business to your potential consumers. Plus, think about how many times you check your social media a day. Each time your preferred audience checks their feed you’re getting repeated exposure to your ads. More bang for your buck!

Insight

On top of everything mentioned, one great thing ads can provide is insight. You may be surprised at what you find out about your customer base and who is engaging with your ads and content. Through data and insight, you can refine your approach to how and when you execute your marketing strategy. Data-driven marketing gives marketers all the more confidence in their approach. AdWeek notes that 77% of marketers are confident in their approach, and 74% intend to increase their data marketing budgets this year. Consumers are now more digitally engaged than ever and there’s a greater need to carefully consider your approach in order to reacher your desired customer base with effective and personal messaging.

 

So what are you waiting for! Start driving revenue for your ecommerce store by launching online ads today.

If you have any questions or need assistance, we encourage you to reach out to learn more about online advertising.

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