Running your own ad campaign is no joke. That is, if you’re running it correctly. If not, it very well could turn out to be one big joke. Spoiler: Below, we’re outlining how to avoid that.
If you’ve ever tried running a campaign yourself, you’ve already discovered how many moving parts you need to balance simultaneously. A well run ad campaign consists of five main parts:
- Strategically crafted content
- Targeted ad copy
- Distribution on the right platforms
- A well-written sales/landing page
- Maintenance and optimization
Within each part, there are several nuances and workarounds, which are learned over time. Unfortunately, depending on these workarounds to stay the same is impossible since platforms and algorithms constantly evolve. Thus we’re forced to adapt our methods in real time to maintain relevance.
There are many other important factors to consider, however these five factors alone are enough to make anyone stop and scratch their head. How does one approach implementation of an ad campaign when it sounds like a full time job just to maintain it?
It sort of is a full time job, which is why we actually have an entire team dedicated to running campaigns for our clients. We have these campaigns down to a science, so we decided to break it down for you.
First consider your end goal. Are you pursuing general brand awareness for your course business? Increased sales of a specific course? Promotion of a brand new product or course offering? It’s important to define this first.
The second, and surprisingly most overlooked factor, is whether the infrastructure of your business can support an ad campaign. It seems like everyone, everywhere touts the benefits of paid advertising for all businesses across the board. We’d argue that, if not properly implemented and maintained, an ad campaign might actually hurt more than it can help.
Ask yourself, if your end goal were achieved, would you:
- Have the bandwidth to support and fulfill the sales generated from your campaign?
- Have enough money budgeted to put towards a campaign that will generate results?
- Know how much money you should spend on ads?
- Have the necessary resources and platforms to track data in order to make optimization decisions?
Without the proper setup to support your campaign, your initial efforts might just fall flat and increase the likelihood that your campaign fizzles out—ultimately wasting money and valuable resources.
Another critical component of any campaign is the content. Will you use video or static images to promote your product or course offering? Or will you rely solely on text-only Search ads? Regardless of your top-of-the-funnel sales approach, you will need eye-catching content and imagery to support your campaign at the point when someone opts in (but ideally before).
It’s no secret that video is the primary medium our clients engage with. Video is the best way to reach the current landscape of online consumers and the quickest way to hold the attention of your audience. Buyers want to see exactly what they’re getting when they buy your course, so whether that’s showing off other successful students or a teaser of the actual course content itself, you have to give them something.
Whew. That was a lot of information. Visually, it looks a little something like this once you put it together:
Whenever we begin building your ad campaign we build a campaign map that visually outlines your student’s buying journey. This is a very basic example that shows the process from ad click to purchase. Some other things our campaign maps might include are:
- Social platforms such as LinkedIn or Pinterest
- Retargeting campaigns with multiple ad sets
- A/B testing for Landing Pages
- A/B testing on follow up sequences
If you’re interested in seeing what an ad campaign for your course creation business could look like, schedule a time to chat with us here! Every campaign map we build is completely custom and made specifically for you.
After chatting with us you’ll find out:
- If running an ad campaign is a good decision for your course creation business
- What kind of content you might need
- How long it will take to build and launch your campaign
- How to take the immediate next step in the process
We can’t wait to get started!
Learn more about running an ROI positive ad campaign with 9miles Media.
