You've already heard that Facebook ads and Google ads are so much cheaper than other forms of advertising. And in terms of Return on Investment (ROI), they certainly are. A television commercial, for example, is not only expensive to produce and air, but it's likely to reach only a very small percentage of viewers who have any interest in what you're selling. In the online world, you can target your audience much more precisely.
Even so, Facebook and Google advertising requires its own form of "overhead" if you want to run your ads correctly. There's no point running your ads incorrectly, because you'll wind up overpaying for them! In the pre-web era, all an advertiser had to do was to put together the camera-ready copy in time to send to the publisher, and then their work was done for a while – maybe even for an entire year. This doesn't work in the online world, where things can (and sometimes do) radically change overnight. Ensuring that your ad gets the optimal response consistently requires a great deal of performance tracking and analysis, which is a big part of what every digital ad agency does.
It doesn't stop there, however. One of the essential parts of ad campaign management that every agency does, including Black Greyhound, is split testing, also called A/B testing. In any ad, there are dozens of variables that can and should be tested: the headline, the call-to-action statement, the ad's targeting, and many others. As the name implies, the advertiser changes only one variable and runs two different versions of the ad to see which performs better. The idea, which is a solid one, is that if you run enough of these tests, you will finally have crafted the most powerful ad possible.
The only downside to A/B testing is the cost. According to the laws of statistics, the advertiser must have a minimum of between 100 and 200 clicks on each split; otherwise, the performance data won't be reliable.
Don't panic: there are situations where you don't need to worry about the highest mathematically possible return. For example, if you're simply looking to build awareness of your company or your product, it's not really an issue. Either way, you should consult with a knowledgeable online marketer who can understand your needs and put them above what can be invoiced.
We'll see you next time!
