Which Online Advertising Model Is the Best?
There are quite a few online advertising models to choose from, but which one is the best? In this post, we’ll cover how each one could benefit your company.
The wealth of possibilities for marketing to customers online is ever-expanding, but standard paid advertising is still one of the best options available to most businesses. However, before you dive headfirst into paid online ads, you must fully understand what each payment structure offers. That way, you can make the most out of your company’s marketing budget.
That’s why we’re here to cover which online advertising model is the best option for your business. Knowing this information will help you save lots of time and money instead of wasting it on a method that doesn’t work for your business model.
Pay-Per-Impression (PPI)
Let’s begin with the most basic level of paid ads: pay-per-impression. The term impression here is a little vague. But essentially, it means you’ll have to pay a fee anytime your ad shows up on someone’s screen. Luckily, that cost is quite small, so it won’t hurt the budget too badly.
In most cases, you’ll only pay for every 1000 impressions. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about significant amounts of money constantly leaving your account. The unit people usually use to measure PPI is cost per thousand, or CPM. The reason for the M in the acronym is that M is the Roman numeral for one thousand. Because of this, many people think they only have to pay once every million impressions, so it’s an important detail to know.
The big downside to this method is you’ll end up paying for many people who see your ad and don’t interact with it. While this might sound bad, the low cost makes it a tolerable trade-off. Plus, if your goal is to build brand awareness, you’ll achieve that with PPI.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
The next method is probably the most popular among businesses. Pay-per-click is when you only pay when a user actually clicks on your ad. This removes the instances where you pay for people who didn’t even notice your ad. However, that comes at the cost of a higher price tag.
Businesses like this method because it ensures that consumers make it to their site every time the company pays. Once a user is on their website, the company gains more control over if they can make a sale or acquire their business in some other capacity. While nothing is guaranteed, PPC gives most companies the best bang for their buck.
Pay-Per-Acquisition (PPA)
If you want to take PPC a step further, you can look into pay-per-acquisition options. This is when a visitor completes a desired action after following the ad link to the company’s website. This action will usually be a sale, but it could also be signing up for a newsletter or creating an account. You can consider anything that can help the business gain new customers to be an acquisition.
Of course, this means the cost for each acquisition will be higher than the PPC would have been, but your company will receive much more value out of this deal. Once you have a consumer’s information, you can work your way toward turning them into a loyal customer, which is priceless.
Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)
While PPS is a subsection of PPA, we still wanted to mention it separately. This is because pay-per-sale is one of the most expensive options on the market. It makes sense since you guarantee profits every time you pay, but the rates can cut into your revenue at times. Still, if you sell big-ticket items or really need to boost your sales, then this method could be worthwhile.
Which You Should Choose
Even though one could argue that PPC is the best option, deciding which online advertising model is best for your company is entirely up to you. We already mentioned that PPI is good for brand awareness, but it’s also a great way to get as many ads as you can out there without paying too much to do so. PPA is the preferred choice for companies who like to have a guaranteed return on their investment, and PPC is a good middle ground between the two.
Once you pick a model, you’ll need to hone your skills in creating ads for that type. For example, if you go with PPC, your next goal will be to pick up some strategies that’ll make your PPC campaign more effective. Once you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to a successful online ad campaign.