Paid Media

Buying Guide
A No-nonsense Comprehensive Guide

Create Killer Media Buying Campaigns

Avoline Co. Media Powered By

Buying avoline.
Introduction

While we suggest you put your focus on Facebook and Instagram because of its
affordability and targeting options are a necessity for any business... You can and should
also test other campaigns on other paid media channels.

You need to be where your audience is. You need to get in front of them so they can
discover you. So, while it’s rare that you can’t reach your target audience through Facebook
targeting, then test other platforms to establish the best Return on Ad Spend.

Most of the other ad platforms out there don’t have the same detail, depth or usability of
Facebook, so we won’t go into the details we did for Facebook, but here is a broad overview
of other ad platforms and the best strategies for using them.
Google Ads

We advise you to only use Google Ads if you have a proven product and a big advertising
budget. If you are a startup or medium-sized business that can’t afford to lose a lot of
money trying to find out what works in order to get a profitable CPC then Google Ads isn’t
the right channel for you. In general, it is very expensive and risky.

That said, if you (or your ad manager) are experienced with Google Ads, have a good
product, and want to try some new channels, here are some tips for you to get the most out
of your campaigns where people have a specific intent to purchase your product...

Remember, these are for advanced users. We suggest you use a platform like www.
wordstream.com to save time and make it easy to manage.

Automatic vs Manual Bidding

» Start with Automatic bidding so Google does the hard work for you and you save time.
» Manual bidding will allow you to reduce your CPA (cost per acquisition) and increase
the visibility of your ads while allowing you to prioritize keywords and ads that convert
better.

BUT... DON’T SWITCH TO MANUAL BIDDING UNLESS YOU HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO
MONITOR & OPTIMISE, AND UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
Bidding Tips
» If keywords receive a lot of impressions but don’t have sales, reduce your bids
» Increase bids for high converting keywords regardless of their ad position
» If a set of keywords are converting, increase your bids
» Use the Adwords ‘average’ CPC (cost per click) from your automatic bids to determine
your manual bids
» Monitor the performance of your campaigns and keywords per device (mobile or
desktop)... if mobile performs better, increase bidding as appropriate
» Your bidding cost needs to be higher than your average CPC
» You won’t always pay the highest CPC bid you select

Remarketing & Segmenting

» Retarget to anyone who views your site but didn‘t convert into a sale
» Set retargeting to 30-day window, to begin with, but test the duration options
» Segment retargeting based on your email lists or based on the pages visited

Build Campaigns in Search Networks Only

» Using the display network, and displaying your ads on Google‘s partner sites drives
unnecessary clicks and drives up costs
» Google‘s Display network will put your ads in front of people outside of your target
audience
» Search networks will be more expensive but will drive more targeted leads
» Only test Display network campaigns after search networks
» And for best results, use Display Network for retargeting to people who have already
viewed your content
Run Campaigns at the Optimised Times and in the Right Places
» Adjust your keyword bids to run based on the best-performing devices, location, days
and times
» If an ad performs better on a certain day or time, increase the bid and vice versa
» Each product and industry will have different trends, so monitor and test which is right
for you

Keywords Strategy
» Include long tail keywords (phrases) to increase your views and clicks
» Consider the phrases, questions and statements your customers will use in search
» This is essential for smaller businesses with lower budgets
» These keywords will have lower click-through rates but will be more targeted
» Long-tail keywords pre-qualify buyers and capture customers with buying intent

DO NOT COMPETE WITH HIGH COMPETITION KEYWORDS IF YOU HAVE A LOW BUDGET
OR JUST STARTING OUT OR IF A BIG BRAND IS GOING AFTER THE SAME KEYWORDS

Adwords Copy
» Ad copy is the first introduction to your site that people will see of you and your brand
» As previously stated, the keyword strategy will lean heavily on query-based searches
» So, the ad copy needs to highlight that we have the answers to the question/s that the
user has asked
Landing Page Strategy
The key to success will be the quality of the landing pages that the traffic is pushed to

If your keywords strategy is focused around keywords where the search terms are not
normally associated with a high level of buying intent, each landing page will need to work
hard to convert that user

Competitor Ad Swipe
Use your data and research content from the competitor research section to discover your
competitors best ad copy and keywordseeds to highlight that we have the answers to the
question/s that the user has asked

Final thoughts:
Google Ads is a highly advanced strategy. You can make it a lucrative and scalable channel,
but the ROI for many businesses (especially startups) don’t work, and it’s a highly risky
tactic. This is why we haven’t dived into detail on the traffic methods. So use it with caution.
For those of you with established brands and big budgets, work with a high-quality PPC
specialist or agency to cover the above and much more to ensure your campaigns are fully
optimized.
YouTube Ads

Youtube advertising has been rising in popularity for the last few years. Major brands use it,
and smaller startups use it because Video sells!

And, the biggest attraction to Youtube is the fact that you can run campaigns and only pay
for video views over 30 seconds!

That means that you are only paying for viewers who have shown a very strong interest in
you and your offer, and more likely to go down your sales funnel.
So, depending on your budget, it is worth putting some aside to try out a Youtube campaign
to see how it performs against Facebook Ads.

Here’s an overview of when and how you should bring Youtube advertising into your growth
strategy.

Types of Youtube Ads:

There are a number of ways to promote your brand on Youtube with video ads available
in various ad formats. You can have skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable in-stream ads,
video discovery ads, Outstream ads, and bumper ads.

The terminology can get a little confusing if you are new to it, as Youtube has changed the
naming set up over the years. But here are the main different ad types you can run (all of
which you manage from within your Google Adwords account)...

1. TrueView Ads (Skippable)

2. Non-skippable In-stream Ads
3. Bumper Ads
4. Discovery Ads
TrueView Ads (Skippable In-Stream Ads) :
TrueView ads are the skippable ads that appear at the beginning of YouTube videos. They
can also play in other places in Google’s display network, like apps or games. Viewers only
have to watch the first 5 seconds of the ads before they can skip them.
TrueView ads are known to get three times as much ROI as Non-Skippable ads.

Non-skippable In-stream Ads

Yep, these can be annoying, but they are part of Youtube. The maximum length for these
ads is now 20 seconds and there are two types:
» Pre-roll ads: which appear before a video plays
» Mid-roll ads: which appear at the midpoint of 10 minute-or-longer videos
Forcing the viewer to watch the ad drives engagement up but it naturally drives ad-
abandonment up too.

Discovery Ads:
These are the recommended videos that pop up on the YouTube homepage, or as
recommended/related videos on the search page.

Bumper Ads:
Bumper ads are the more tolerable version of non-skippable ads, lasting six seconds at
most. They appear at the end of YouTube videos and are paid for on a CPM basis (cost per
thousand impressions)
Why You Should Use Instream Ads:

While you can certainly try out other types of ads on Youtube, we suggest initially starting
with Instream Ads.

Here’s why:
» You only pay-per-view of your ad...
» And a “view” is defined as when someone either watches your full ad or 30 seconds of
your ad, whichever happens first!
» This means that you don’t pay for someone who skips your ad after 5 seconds!
» The cost per view is just a few cents and people are engaged!
» There are a LOT of targeting possibilities across multiple countries (see below)
» Retargeting options are expanded as YouTube works with the Google Ads network.
This allows for additional targeting while allowing you retarget to people who visit your
website pages.

Setting Your Campaign Up:

» You will need a YouTube account and a Google Adwords account.
» Connect your YouTube to your Google Ads account.
» Your landing pages for your ads need to be both YouTube and Google Ads compliant
» Ensure your Adwords pixel is on your website
A YouTube Strategy:
There are a number of similarities in YouTube and Facebook. You should use a similar 3
tiered funnel strategy on YouTube as we laid out in the Facebook strategy. This will give you
an entire traffic system for your sales funnel.

As a reminder you should:

» Set up an ad for cold leads
» Send cold leads to lead magnet page to capture email
» Ensure pixel is installed on lead magnet page
» Retarget people who got your lead magnet with your tripwire ad
» Ensure pixel is installed on TripWire page
» Retarget people who bought your tripwire for your core offer ad
» Ensure the pixel is installed on the core offer page
» Retarget people who bought your core offer for your profit maximizer ad

Capturing Attention with Instream Ads:

If people can skip your ad after 5 seconds of seeing it, you have to capture their attention
quickly.

To begin with, you need to choose the EXACT ad objective. It could be to:
» Get signups for your lead magnet
» Drive people to sign up for a webinar or event
» Get people to make a small purchase
» Increase subscriptions to your YouTube channel

If you are targeting cold traffic you should give value without asking for a big ask. As we’ve
previously explained in the funnels, get them to a lead magnet.
Writing the Ads:
You can use the same Ad Copy and Sales Page frameworks to write your ads in YouTube...

Remember the pain points of your customers, their challenges, their reservations, and where
they want to be. Then show them how you can get them to their dream state.

1) Intro with the hook statement and headline

2) Excite them about their dreams
2) Reason and remove their fears of taking action 3) Rationalize their failures
4) Confirm their suspicions
5) Throw rocks at their enemies
6) The Bind (or hook reaffirmation)

Additional prompts you can use to

» Call out the audience you’re talking to
» Makes the viewer curious
» Surprises the viewer
» Shocks the viewer
» Amuses the viewer
» Follow with simple, clear, benefit and emotion statements
» End with a clear Call-to-Action
Video Types:
Depending on your business and brand you can use a variety of ad types. This can be a
selfie video or a highly produced commercial.
It depends on your budget and brand of course, but if you’re a startup or SME, we suggest
making it as personal and raw as possible so you can reduce cost and increase the learning
time.

Head-On Videos
» Use your smartphone
» Film in the office, at home, in a cool location or small studio
» Use an employee, yourself, or any personal brand or personality
» Use local videographers to help shoot and edit if needed

Arguably the most infamous of these video styles is ‘Tai Lopez’, who sells info products to
‘wantrepreneurs’. He walks around his mansion showing off his supercars, girlfriends, and
‘books’. It worked incredibly well for his target audiences and racked up millions of views to
explode his business.
There are a lot of imitators trying to use similar tactics ‘Lamborghini’ tactics... we urge you
to be authentic to your brand and product!

Another success story is Dollar Shave Clubs ads featuring their founder. This, although is a
little more produced, is an authentic way to connect with customers;
Animated / Explainer Videos
Don’t want to get in front of the camera or feel like your product would be best suited to
a different style? Use the platforms below to create, or find somebody who can create an
animated video:

» Powtoon.com
» VeeRoll.com
» Fiverr
» Upwork

Demonstrator Videos / Screenshare Videos

If you want to just show (rather than tell) what’s under the hood of your product... you can
record it using a number of programs, including:

» Screenflow (for Mac)

» Camtasia (for PC)

Upload Your Ad to Youtube:

Once you have your ads created, you need to make sure your youtube channel is set up to
give you credibility. Here are some basic tips:

» Sign up for your YouTube account with a professional sounding username in line with
your brand
» Upload your logo or a professional photo
» Add a cover photo
» Write up a brief and clear description in your about sections
» Link to your other social channels and website
» Name your video something clear and interesting. Don’t just leave it to the video file
name.
» Include a video description that briefly describes the video and use relevant keywords
and tags
Target the Right Keywords:
To make sure your ads get in front of the right people, use keywords for your ad targeting,
just like Google Ads.

We recommend using this method in addition to the ‘placements’ method shown below.

Despite building your ads within Google Adwords, Youtube Ads are cheaper than Adwords
because the competition on the platform is smaller. So you’ll pay less for impressions and
clicks than you would on AdWords search, should you have good performing ad.

» Research keywords by conducting some searches on YouTube to see what videos

appear
» Don’t use single keywords or broad phrases
» Get as specific as possible with your terms for optimal results. Yes, even if it means your
audience narrows a bit.

If viewers don’t find your ad to be relevant, YouTube will show your ad less often and start to
increase your ad bids.
Use the Placement Targeting Option:
In addition to the keywords targeting you should you use the placement targeting options
too. Especially if you are first starting your Youtube Ad campaigns.
It will give you full control of where your ads appear. You can screen what specific videos or
video channels in which your ads will appear.

Rather than allowing Google to try and figure it out, you can tell Google where you want to
appear. If you want to promote your fitness products in front of BodyBuilding.com content...
then you can.

This can take more time to research and can be difficult to scale, but it’s a great way to test
your ads in the beginning.

It’s also a great way to steal the attention away from your competitor‘s channels and content

Target By Interests & Topics:

Targeting by Interests and topics will broaden your audience.

Interests - allow you to target people based on the types of videos they have watched in the
past.
Topics - refers to the content that a viewer is searching for at that very moment.

As an example... if somebody might like to watch business marketing videos which signal
their interests... but at that moment they might be searching for ‘gym workouts’ which is a
topic. So, in that moment, it’s probably better to target somebody with a fitness workout as
they are in that topic mode... rather than a business product as they aren’t currently focused
on that topic.

This is a good option to test out for your targeting, but it isn’t as targeted as using the
keywords or placement options.
Retargeting:
If you haven’t got the message yet that you should be retargeting within all of your paid
media, then you should go back and read the strategy.

Retargeting can and should happen in your YouTube campaign. So make sure your Adwords
Pixel is installed on your website.

Once someone has visited a part of your website that has the remarketing pixel, you can
retarget them with specific YouTube ads and take them down your funnel. In the same way,
you would set up the Facebook 3 Tier Funnel.
Setting It Up:

» If you want to test ads, Google will automate that for you:
» Select “Ad Rotation”
» Connect multiple videos to the campaign
» Set the campaign to rotate the ads evenly so you can see which performs better
» Set the frequency of the ads between 3-5 times a person will be targeted with your ad
» Let Google collect the results and start displaying the winning ad more often!

Additional Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/ads/
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375464?hl=en
https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/2679940?hl=en
https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-advertising/
LinkedIn Ads

Linkedin is the largest network of professionals in the world who tend to have a budget for
higher-priced products. So if you are a SaaS company or are selling info products to B2B
(business to business) then Linkedin will be a good platform to test.

It does generally have a high cost per click average but if you are selling a high priced
product you should consider the potential ROI to see if you can make it work. For example, if
you’re selling a $50-$100 product, it might be a little too expensive to scale and profit from.
But, if you have a product that you sell at enterprise level for $1000+ then this could be
perfect for you.

Keep in mind that 80% of Linkedin users want to connect and engage with other businesses
on the platform to improve their decision making. And... 50% of users say they are more
likely to buy from a business on LinkedIn rather than other options.

So... you will need to be active in providing them with content and interacting with them in
order to be successful on the platform.

Linkedin’s ad platform has improved a lot over recent years to the point where you can use
very similar setup processes to the Facebook strategies we previously explained.
Action Points:
Targeting will allow you to focus on business types, locations, job roles/titles, seniority, skills,
etc and you can use lookalike audiences based on your lists and retargeting options

Use the same video scripts formulas, and headlines, etc that you use for Facebook ads, just
be sure to adapt your tone to a more ‘professional’ environment

Advertise your lead magnets as your main objective to capture the email addresses of
prospective customers. If you are advertising on Linkedin, your product should be priced at
a point that usually requires relationship nurturing via email.
» Optimize your company page for credibility
» Give value and build trust to start a relationship with your customer
» Test different ad formats: Inmail, Text Ads, Sponsored Posts/Content
» Join Linkedin groups and engage
» Create your own Linkedin in group
» Publish articles, videos, infographics directly on Linkedin
» Follow Up and Retarget customers on other platforms (email, facebook, etc)
Retargeting

We have talked about Retargeting with each paid ad campaign above.

Retargeting is the glue that holds everything together and takes the user on a journey that
builds a relationship with your brand. It can lift conversion rates by +20% or even higher.

So you’ll need to utilize retargeting to capture leads that get away and sales that didn’t
close.

You should make set up retargeting campaigns wherever you are running paid ads. So that
could be on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Youtube. And, if you are running a Google
Display Campaign, then that too should be used for retargeting.

To take it to a further level, you can use retargeting platforms such as AdRoll & Criteo​,
which can expand the delivery of your ad in the same way as Google‘s Display Network.

Your ads will show up as banner ads on Adrolls network of sites. This will give your ads even
more exposure, getting in front of the same audience to stay top of mind.

You can use a site like h​t tps://www.bannersnack.com/ to make affordable banner artwork
optimized for the various display sizes.