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Paid media is one of the easiest ways to gain awareness and generate leads. But it can also be a considerable risk for companies who are just starting or aren't aware of the downsides and mistakes that can happen when not done correctly.
Below, we compiled a list of top 7 paid media mistakes that B2B companies make in the early growth stages.
1. Poor Planning & Targeting
Many companies start paid advertising without a precise method in mind, which results in unorganized,hard to interpret results, and low ROI. Having a clear understanding of your campaign's objectives, KPIs, and budget will help you know if your ads are exceeding the budget, which are performing correctly and which ones need to be optimized. Having a precise tracking method of how ads and strategies have changed over time will also allow for better decision making.
2. Choosing The Wrong Platforms
Every paid advertising platform has its benefits and downsides: some are better for different stages of the life cycle, some target particular markets, some use specific advertising formats. Each platform's characteristics define their pricing strategy.
It's essential to understand which ones suit your current sales and marketing strategies the best, and based on the previous definition of objectives and KPIs, really know when these platforms are giving the needed results or when you need to move on to another.
3. Not Fully Understanding Personas And The Buyer's Journey
Do you fully understand your prospect's problems? Do you know how your prospects buy and how and why they are reaching out to your brand?
These may seem like obvious questions, but even though most marketers feel they know and understand their prospect's behavior and pain points, they continue to communicate and develop strategies without having their customers at the center of their process.
By understanding and catering more specifically to your audience's needs, you can create better campaigns that reach the leads at the right moment with the right message.
4. Failing To Optimize Landing Pages
Landing pages are the first place where leads land after they have clicked on your ads. They give your lead's the first glimpse of what your product, service, or company is like. And just like any other first introduction, it should be efficient and memorable.
Great landing pages and web pages are created by understanding the webpage's main objective and optimizing what works best, to be continually working towards generating better results. They not only help you create a personalized experience but also help your website's quality score (which depending on the platform, can even lower advertising's pay per click pricing) and keep your audience more engaged.
5. Forgetting To A/B Test
Experimenting with different variations of the user's experience allows you to better cater to your target, reach better results, and avoid spending money on segments that don't convert or generate the expected revenue.
Great A/B testing can only be done by continuous hypothesis testing, data reporting, and documentation. It can reduce your campaign's costs drastically by improving targeting.
6. Not Being Prepared For The Influx Of Leads
Getting too many leads can be bad for business if you can't provide the expected customer service.
This excess influx of leads can be controlled by setting a controlled budget at the beginning of your campaigns until really getting to know what results to expect from your campaigns and learning how to segment and attend to the leads, through efficient systems that'll help your marketing and sales team to process them.
CRMs and Marketing Automation Systems can help sales & marketing teams tend to this demand by prioritizing leads, organizing the information, avoiding downtime, and nurturing leads along the customer journey. They can also set reminders for the team based on characteristics and triggers.
Learn more about marketing automation here.
7. Not Using Retargeting
Retargeting campaigns use tracking cookies to continue to show your ad to the people who initially viewed your ad, webpage, or demonstrated interest in your product or service.
This type of advertising helps your business stay in your prospect's top of mind and complement other marketing campaigns. These campaigns are usually cheaper than different sorts of ad campaigns since they target a narrower audience that is more likely to convert.
At Intelus, we've helped multiple companies get a head start on their sales and marketing strategies. You can reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation to learn more about how to leverage your digital marketing.
