How much, if any, of your marketing budget is currently allotted to paid advertising?

If you aren’t investing in paid ads on search engines and social media, you could be missing out on highly qualified leads.

Digital brand growth is becoming increasingly pay-to-play, especially for social media. Posting a few times a week about your inventory is not enough to pull buyers because it will only reach a small percentage of your audience. Organic search engine strategies fare better, as SEO is the foundation of building your online prominence, but it takes time to build results. Shoppers today are fast-paced, and if your website’s natural search ranking is still budding, you can use paid ads to supercharge your online presence and dominate relevant search results.

 

Search Engine Ads

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) means investing at least part of your marketing budget into paid digital advertisements to achieve a stronger ROI. Search engines are a fantastic platform for paid advertising because you have a variety of targeting options to build your goals and connect with shoppers who are searching for inventory like yours.

The most common type of search engine ads is pay-per-click (PPC), in which you pay a small fee when a consumer clicks on your ad, and these fit into two main categories:

  • Search ads appear in search results featuring specific keywords (such as “2022 speedboats” or “replacement parts for a Yamaha”).
  • Display ads combine text with imagery to excite and/or educate viewers about a product. They can appear in search results or as banner ads displayed on other website platforms.

 

Social Media Ads

As we mentioned, organic reach on social media is low. REALLY low. For example, Facebook’s organic reach – or the number of followers who see your unpaid posts – is an average of 5.2% per post (1). That means out of 100 followers, only about 5 interact with your content, and that’s not good.

If you are running a big sale on inventory and only 5.2% of your audience sees your promo post, you probably won’t generate many buyers from your social media. However, running a paid advertisement ensures that a much larger audience finds your content – and many of them may not even be current followers!

Paid social ads have two different approaches: boosted posts and actual advertisements.

Boosted posts are the most affordable way to get extra eyes on your content – for a handful of dollars, you can ensure your Facebook post is seen by more of your followers. This is a great tactic if you have an exciting announcement – such as a promo on units, a new store opening or the introduction of a new line – and you’re looking to get the word out.

Paid advertisements mean you can target a specific demographic (followers or not) who are most likely to buy from you. This is done by selecting ideal audience features, such as location, household income, and interests. This builds the efficacy of your ad campaign by funneling your marketing dollars into qualified leads.

 

Paid Ads Make Sense for Any Budget

We understand your marketing budget isn’t infinite, which is why we’re thrilled that paid ads are very cost-effective for any budget. When creating your campaign, you can pre-set your total budget for the lifetime of the ad. Your search engine or social media campaign will optimize your ad to get the most results for the cost, and you don’t have to worry about going over budget.

Advertising online can help you grow your brand presence, improve your social media following and attract more buyers. It only takes a segment of your marketing budget to see significant results.

If you’re interested in seeing how paid ads can benefit your dealership, connect with ARI today to schedule a complimentary demo.

 

(1) Hootsuite