With the explosion of digital advertising in recent years, and the ever-changing technology that supports it, you may find it challenging to navigate the vast landscape of placing digital advertisements to grow your business.

Some of the most common questions we get asked are “How long do I need to run an ad for it to be effective?” and “How do I know how many people saw the ad?” Certainly there are many more questions people have about digital advertising. It would be impossible to put together an exhaustive list to answer them all, but we’re going to take a crack at answering some of the most important aspects of digital advertising by sharing the do’s and don’ts you’ll want to follow.

Take a look at what you should do – and not do – with your digital ad placement to yield the best results for your business.

Do your research.

Just as you would approach pretty much any other topic you wish to understand, you need to begin with research. You should know who you want to reach – your target audience. Next, determine how your target audience interacts online. Consider the demographic! Based on age, gender, nationality and geographic regions, different websites and social media platforms will draw in a different audience. Through research, you can determine the best places for digital advertising to reach your specific audience.

Don’t try to be everything to everyone.

You will waste a lot of time and money trying to be everything to everyone. Let’s face it, not everyone is an ideal customer for you. You want to be sure your digital advertising strategy has a clear focus and that any digital ad you place aligns with this strategy. Placement is only one component, you also want to consider your message, ad design, how long it runs and at what time. Only when all these pieces work together will you get the most out of your digital advertising efforts.

Do use technology to your advantage.

Don’t shy away from technology just because it’s new or appears complicated. Use it to your advantage! You will find there is a lot of technology out there that can help you enhance your digital advertising by targeting, automating and tracking your ads. It’s well worth the effort to learn to use technology so that your digital advertising is less work for you in the long-run, and also gets you the biggest bang for your buck!

Do establish a realistic budget.

As you learn about digital advertising, you will also learn the standard costs for running ads on websites, social media and Google. It’s important to develop a realistic budget that provides enough resources for you to achieve your desired results. While digital advertising can be far less expensive than running a billboard advertisement, the costs can still add up quickly if you aren’t careful. Your budget will guide your spending and also keep you accountable to purchasing only the advertisements that will be most effective for your business.

Don’t continue to spend money where it’s not working.

If you are just getting started with digital advertising, it’s smart to try different things to see what will work best for your business. However, once you have enough data to show you some trends, you’ll want to cut out the digital advertising that isn’t yielding strong results, or adjust it to try something new. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with digital advertising is that they continue to place ads that aren’t driving results. You can’t “set and forget” your digital advertising strategy! It’s something you’ll want to monitor closely and rethink from time to time.

Do analyze your results.

Finally and most importantly, you want to be sure you’re receiving analytics for your ads and that you’re taking the time to fully digest what they are telling you about your digital advertising strategy. After a few months, you will be able to identify trends, and maybe even some surprising activity you wouldn’t have predicted. People may be finding your content and engaging with your ads in interesting ways. Take this information and compare it to your advertising strategy. It’s likely your strategy will need some tweaking to adjust to what you’ve learned. Keeping track of your digital advertising results will allow you to hone in on the efforts that work best and weed out the ones that fall short.

Do you still have more questions about digital advertising? We’d love to help answer them! Ask by leaving a comment below or reaching out to us here!