Carrie Sporer, the cofounder of Swair, has found paid ads to be effective for her business.
Courtesy of Carrie Sporer
It’s a tough market for paid advertising, but these marketers found a way to see results from it.
Justin Fredlender, the VP of growth for vitamin brand Ritual, said to start with one ad channel.
Katie Wilson of snack brand BelliWelli said traditional methods like billboards can pay off.
This article is part of “Marketing for Small Business,” a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business.
It’s a tough economy for paid advertising these days. Ad prices are fluctuating wildly, technology changes have made it harder to target audiences and track results, and many marketers are grumbling that they just don’t see the ROI that they used to for paid online advertising. Meanwhile, cash-strapped small-business owners may feel like they should just rely on organic marketing instead.
Not so fast: There are still plenty of companies finding value in paid marketing to get in front of new customers, grow their brand reach, and increase sales. “Yes, there are opportunities to use organic social media and mediums that are free, but at the end of the day, you can’t find reach like you can with paid marketing,” Justin Fredlender, the vice president of growth for vitamin brand Ritual, told Insider.
Carrie Sporer, the cofounder of showerless shampoo brand Swair, added that the pay-to-play approach may have a lower conversion rate than more organic strategies, but she’s found it to be more efficient for getting in front of new customers with a relatively low time investment.
Sporer, Fredlender, and other small-business owners shared with Insider the strategies that have been helping them get results from paid advertising.
1. Start with one channel, iterate, and then diversify
Fredlender said growth marketing is “part art, part science,” meaning you have to be open to experimenting with everything from messaging and creative to which audience demographics you’re targeting, and diversifying where you place your efforts.
Justin Fredlender, the vice president of growth at Ritual, says paid advertising is “part art, part science.”
Courtesy of Justin Fredlender
That said, if you find yourself with limited resources, Fredlander suggested establishing your strategy on one channel before moving on to …read more
Source:: Business Insider