As the end of another year nears, most marketers begin to plan their digital strategy for the coming year. What will the winning strategy be? In this article, I have outlined three strategies which I believe will be key for a prosperous 2014.
1) Leverage The Power of Your Product Listing Ads for E-Commerce Success
If you run an e-commerce business, Google's Product Listing Ads are a must-do. Thoroughly optimizing and expanding your Product Listing Ads, which are search ads that include richer product information, such as, product image, price, and merchant name, will be a key component to increase your e-commerce revenue in 2014.
Recently, Google run a test where Product Listing Ads were shown above regular keyword search ads and they may be planning on making this significant change permanent in 2014. If this happens, then you must be ready to seize the opportunity that this major update will bring.
And if you think that you can get away with simply running Product Listing Ads, but not regular text ads, please think again.
According to Google, by coupling Product Listing Ads with regular search ads, advertisers are able to "own" the digital space when customers are looking for them. Google says that shoppers are 90% more likely to visit a retailer's website, and 83% more likely to buy, when they see a Product Listing Ad combined with a text ad rather than a text ad alone on search results pages.
2) Embrace The Power of Display Advertising To Reach Your Ideal Customer Persona
This is going to be a game changer in 2014. Real Time Bidding and Big Data are changing the landscape of display advertising as we know it, making it increasingly easier for businesses to target their ideal customer persona.
As technology improves, it becomes possible for advertisers to reach their target audience in a more efficient and cost-effective way. Untargeted, generic display campaigns are a thing of the past, and 2014 will be about laser-focused display campaigns (be it regular display, remarketing, or YouTube) that will allow marketers to reach their ideal prospects at any point in their purchasing path.
So, say goodbye in 2014 to the old "one-to-one" digital advertising strategy, (where the user goes online, clicks an ad, and makes a purchase), and welcome to a more holistic, multi-channel, and multi-device strategy that will better serve your customers' needs (and, if executed correctly, increase ROI).
3) The Relevance and Immediacy of Mobile Will Be Keys To Digital Success
According to Google, consumers are spending more than 15 hours a week researching on their smart phones, and more than half of consumers using mobile to research want to purchase within the hour.
Simply put, if your business can't be found during those crucial 15 hours of research, or worse, if after being found you're not able to provide a quick and easy way for your prospect to complete a purchase, then you are certainly missing a huge opportunity.
When planning your mobile marketing strategy for 2014, you should allocate sufficient resources to ensure that your relevant ads are seen by your prospects at all different stages of their purchasing process and that, when they're ready to buy, they can do so immediately and with ease.
By following the three key online marketing strategies I have outlined above, you will be able to take your online business to the next level in 2014, and ultimately increase your return on investment on your online marketing efforts.
