Paid Advertising Intro

According to eMarketer, worldwide digital ad spending is expected to reach $567.49 billion in 2022 and reach $626.86 billion in 2023. This includes spending on various types of digital advertising, such as search ads, display ads, video ads, and social media ads.

According to a global estimate, China would have a total digital advertising spend of nearly 142 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2022, right behind the U.S. with approximately 233 billion dollars

Overall, digital advertising spending continues to grow worldwide, driven by the increasing use of digital devices and the ongoing shift to online channels for advertising and commerce.

What is Paid Advertising

Paid advertising refers to any form of advertising that a business pays for, in order to reach a specific audience or achieve a specific objective. This can include a variety of different advertising channels, such as online display ads, search engine advertising, social media advertising, and more.

Paid advertising typically involves creating and displaying ads that are targeted to a specific audience based on demographics, interests, or behaviors. Businesses can choose to pay for their ads based on a variety of different metrics, such as cost per click (CPC), cost per impression (CPM), or cost per acquisition (CPA).

Paid Advertising Purpose

The purpose of paid advertising is to promote a product, service, or brand by paying for exposure to a targeted audience. Paid advertising is a key component of many businesses’ marketing strategies, as it can help drive traffic, generate leads, and increase sales.

Some common objectives of paid advertising include:

• Increasing brand awareness: Paid advertising can help businesses reach a wider audience and increase brand recognition.
• Driving website traffic: Paid advertising can be used to direct users to a website, which can help increase traffic and potentially generate leads and sales.
• Generating leads: By targeting specific audiences with tailored messages, businesses can use paid advertising to generate leads for their products or services.
• Increasing sales: Paid advertising can be used to promote products or services directly to potential customers, which can lead to increased sales.
• Promoting events or specials: Paid advertising can be used to promote upcoming events or specials, such as a sale or limited-time offer.

Ultimately, the purpose of paid advertising is to drive business results by reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time. By carefully targeting ads and tracking performance, businesses can optimize their paid advertising campaigns to achieve their objectives and maximize return on investment (ROI).

Paid Advertising Platforms

There are several paid advertising platforms available that businesses can use to run their ads and reach their target audience. Here are some examples:

• Google Ads: This is one of the most popular and widely used paid advertising platforms, allowing businesses to run ads on Google’s search engine, as well as on its Display Network.
• Facebook Ads: This platform allows businesses to run ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network, with a range of targeting options available to reach specific audiences.
• LinkedIn Ads: This platform allows businesses to run ads on LinkedIn, targeting specific professional audiences based on job title, industry, and other criteria.
• Twitter Ads: This platform allows businesses to run ads on Twitter, targeting specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and other criteria.
• Amazon Advertising: This platform allows businesses to run ads on Amazon, targeting shoppers based on their search and purchase behavior.
• Microsoft Advertising: This platform allows businesses to run ads on Bing and other Microsoft properties, with targeting options similar to Google Ads.
• Pinterest Ads: This platform allows businesses to run ads on Pinterest, targeting users based on their interests and behaviors on the platform.
• TikTok Ads: On this platform businesses can create campaigns and choose which type of ads you want to run. TikTok also offers targeting options to help you reach specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Each of these platforms has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the best choice for a business will depend on its target audience, goals, and budget. On the major paid advertising platforms the spending numbers show the significant investment that businesses are making in paid advertising platforms to reach their target audience and drive conversions:

• Google Ads: Google’s advertising revenue reached $146.92 billion in 2020, accounting for the majority of Alphabet’s overall revenue.
• Facebook Ads: Facebook’s advertising revenue reached $84.2 billion in 2020, with the majority coming from mobile advertising.
• Amazon Advertising: Amazon’s advertising revenue reached $21.45 billion in 2020, with the majority coming from sponsored product ads.
• LinkedIn Ads: LinkedIn’s advertising revenue reached $2.58 billion in 2020, with the majority coming from sponsored content and sponsored InMail ads.
• Twitter Ads: Twitter’s advertising revenue reached $3.72 billion in 2020, with the majority coming from promoted tweets and promoted accounts.

Paid Advertising Strategies

Paid advertising strategies refer to the methods and techniques used to promote products or services through paid channels such as social media, search engines, or display networks. Choose the right paid advertising strategy based on your business goals, target audience, and budget. Some common paid advertising strategies:

• Search Engine Advertising: This includes running paid ads on search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The ads appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for specific keywords.
• Social Media Advertising: This involves promoting products or services on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Social media ads can be targeted based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and other factors.
• Display Advertising: This involves placing banner ads, pop-ups, or video ads on websites that are relevant to your target audience. Display advertising is often used to increase brand awareness or drive website traffic.
• Remarketing: This is a technique that involves targeting users who have already interacted with your website or social media profiles. Remarketing ads can be shown to users on search engines or social media platforms to encourage them to return and complete a purchase.
• Influencer Marketing: This involves partnering with influencers to promote products or services to their followers. Influencers can create sponsored posts or videos that showcase your products or services.
• Affiliate Marketing: This is a performance-based advertising model where advertisers pay affiliates a commission for every sale or lead generated through their referral link. Affiliate marketing can be a cost-effective way to reach new audiences.

Some Best Practices

Here are some best practices to consider when creating and implementing paid advertising campaigns:

• Set Clear Goals: Before creating any paid advertising campaign, define your goals clearly. Whether it’s driving more traffic to your website or increasing sales, clear goals will help you measure success and optimize campaigns accordingly.
• Know Your Target Audience: Understanding your target audience is essential for effective paid advertising. Research and analyze your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviors to create targeted and relevant ad content.
• Choose the Right Platforms: Each paid advertising platform has unique features and capabilities. Consider your target audience’s preferences and habits to determine which platforms will be most effective for your campaigns.
• Use High-Quality Visuals and Messaging: The visual and messaging elements of your ads can significantly impact their effectiveness. Use high-quality visuals that are attention-grabbing and convey your message effectively.
• Test and Optimize: Continuously test and optimize your ad campaigns to improve their performance. Experiment with different ad formats, targeting options, and messaging to see what works best for your target audience.
• Set a Realistic Budget: Determine a realistic budget for your campaigns based on your goals, target audience, and platform. Keep track of your spending and adjust as needed to maximize ROI.
• Monitor Performance Metrics: Keep an eye on key performance metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-acquisition. Analyze the data regularly to identify areas for improvement and adjust your campaigns accordingly.

Paid Advertising Analytic Tools

There are several paid advertising analytic tools available in the market that can help businesses track the performance of their paid advertising campaigns and to optimize targeting and messaging to improve results and maximize return on investment. Here are some examples:

• Google Ads: This is a popular paid advertising platform that provides a range of performance metrics, including clicks, impressions, conversion rates, and cost-per-click (CPC).
• Facebook Ads Manager: This platform provides a range of performance metrics for Facebook and Instagram ads, including reach, engagement, clicks, and conversions.
• LinkedIn Campaign Manager: This platform provides performance metrics for LinkedIn ads, including clicks, impressions, and conversion rates.
• AdRoll: This is a programmatic advertising platform that provides a range of performance metrics, including impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.
• HubSpot Ads: This platform provides a range of performance metrics for paid advertising campaigns, including clicks, impressions, and conversion rates, and allows for integration with HubSpot’s CRM.
• SEMrush: This is a comprehensive marketing analytics platform that provides insights into paid advertising campaigns across multiple channels, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads.

Paid Advertising Metrics

Here are some common metrics that businesses can use to measure the effectiveness of their paid advertising campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize them for better results:

• Clicks: The number of times users click on an ad.
• Impressions: The number of times an ad is displayed on a user’s screen.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that result in clicks.
• Cost per click (CPC): The cost of each click on an ad.
• Cost per thousand (CPM): The cost for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives.
• Cost-per-view (CPV): A bidding method for video campaigns where you pay for a view. A view is counted when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video ad (or the duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with the ad, whichever comes first.
• Conversion rate: The percentage of clicks that result in a desired action, such as a sale or lead form submission.
• Cost per acquisition (CPA): The cost of each conversion or acquisition.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS): The amount of revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
• Engagement rate: The percentage of users who interact with an ad in some way, such as by liking, sharing, or commenting on it.
• Ad frequency: The average number of times a user sees an ad.
• Quality score: A metric used by some advertising platforms to measure the relevance and quality of an ad, which can affect its visibility and cost.

Paid Advertising Benchmarks

Paid advertising benchmarks can vary depending on a variety of factors such as the industry, type of advertising platform, target audience, and geographical location. However, here are some general benchmarks for some common advertising platforms:

• Google Search Ads:
  • Average click-through rate (CTR) for search ads: 3.17%
  • Average cost per click (CPC) for search ads: $2.69
  • Average conversion rate for search ads: 3.75%
• Facebook Ads:
  • Average click-through rate (CTR) for all Facebook ads: 0.90%
  • Average cost per click (CPC) for all Facebook ads: $0.97
  • Average conversion rate for all Facebook ads: 9.21%
• Instagram Ads:
  • Average click-through rate (CTR) for Instagram ads: 0.52%
  • Average cost per click (CPC) for Instagram ads: $0.50
  • Average conversion rate for Instagram ads: 1.41%
• Paid search across industries:
  • Average click-through rate: 6.30%
  • Average cost per click: $2.96
  • Average conversion rate: 7.26%
  • Average cost per lead: $40.74
• Google Display Ads:
  • Average click-through rate CTR for Display Ads: 0.46%
  • Average cost per click CPC for Display Ads: $0.63
  • Average conversion rate for Google Display Ads: 0.57%
  • Average cost per acquisition CPA (across all industries) for Google Display Ads: $75.51
• YouTube Ads:
  • Average click-through rate CTR for YouTube Ads: 0.65%
  • Average cost per click CPC for YouTube Ads: $0.49
  • Average cost-per-view CPV for YouTube Ads: $0.026
  • Average cost per thousand CPM for YouTube Ads: $3.53
• AdRoll’s Retargeting:
  • Average click-through rate CTR: 0.2%
  • Average cost per click CPC: $3.15
  • Average cost per thousand CPM: $4.93

2023 Search Advertising Benchmarks by WordStream
Find the average cost per click, click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per lead for search ads for over 20 different industries.

27 Google Ads Benchmarks (2023) by Store Growers
A collection of 27 Google Ads benchmarks. It will help you get a better idea of what good (and bad) looks like for all the key Google Ads metrics.

Advertising KPI Benchmarks Report by AdRoll
Advertising KPI benchmarks report aggregating data collected from serving tens of thousands of brands across industries.

Complete Guide to Advertising Metrics in 2023: 100+ Benchmark KPIs for Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat & Bing by Adriel
Find out benchmarks of advertising metrics for five most important PPC ad channels for your industry.

2023 average ad click through rates (CTRs) for paid search, display and social media by Smart Insights
Summary of ad clickthrough rates statistics in the US, Europe, and Worldwide is designed to help you benchmark your paid digital and social media ads, set marketing budgets, and define your goals

Paid Advertising Latest Trends

Here are some of the latest trends in paid advertising:

• Increased use of AI and machine learning: Many advertising platforms, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, are leveraging AI and machine learning to improve ad targeting, ad delivery, and ad performance.
• More focus on video ads: Video ads continue to gain popularity as they are more engaging and can convey a message in a more memorable way than static ads.
• Growth of native advertising: Native advertising involves creating ads that blend in with the content on the platform they are displayed on. This approach can improve ad engagement and drive more conversions.
• Greater emphasis on personalization: Advertisers are increasingly using data to personalize ads based on a user’s interests, behaviors, and preferences. This can improve ad relevance and drive more conversions.
• Increased adoption of social commerce: Social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, are becoming more focused on e-commerce, with features that allow users to buy products directly from ads.
• More investment in programmatic advertising: Programmatic advertising involves using software to automate the buying and selling of ad inventory. This approach can improve ad targeting and efficiency.

More Information

WebFX: 18 Best Paid Advertising Platforms

WordStream: The Comprehensive Guide to Online Advertising Costs

Filmmaking Lifestyle: 14 Best Digital Advertising Platforms in 2023

eMarketer: Three trends disrupting the marketing and advertising industry

The Social Shepherd: 19 Essential Google Ads & PPC Statistics You Need to Know in 2023