The Top 10 Paid Advertising Strategies for Ecommerce Businesses

If you are an ecommerce business, then you are probably constantly on the lookout for the best ways to market and advertise your products. Many entrepreneurs struggle to find the right strategies that consistently produce results for their businesses. This is where your journey into paid advertising begins!  

There are a variety of different paid advertising strategies that ecommerce businesses can use. These strategies vary in terms of their costs and how long they will take to see results. However, all of them have one thing in common: they offer a way to reach more people with your message. 

Here are our top 10 paid advertising strategies for that you should consider using for your ecommerce business: 

Google Ads

Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on Google and its advertising network by bidding on keywords and phrases that will help you show up in Google’s search results pages. When a user searches for a keyword that a business has bid on, the business's ad may appear at the top or bottom of the search results. You are charged only when a user clicks on the ad, hence the Pay-Per-Click designation. 

For an ecommerce company, Google Ads can be a powerful tool for driving targeted traffic to their website. You can create ads that are triggered to appear when users search for specific products or services and can also target ads to specific geographic locations and even specific demographics. By using Google Ads, an ecommerce company can reach potential customers who are actively searching for products or services like theirs, increasing the likelihood that users will make a purchase.

Some strategies for Google Ads will involve:

• Focusing on specific, high-performing keywords: Identify the keywords that are most relevant to your business and products, and focus your ads on those keywords. By targeting specific keywords and phrases, you can ensure that your ads are reaching the right audience and driving the most relevant traffic to your website.

• Using location-based targeting: If your business has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area, consider using location-based targeting to ensure that your ads are only shown to people in that area. This can help to increase the relevance of your ads and drive more local customers to your business. Using locations can also help lower your ad costs, so that you are only driving traffic to areas that are within your range, i.e only targeting areas to where your business can ship products to. 

• Using ad extensions: Ad extensions allow you to add additional information to your ads, such as your business address, phone number, or a link to specific pages on your website. This can help to increase the visibility and effectiveness of your ads.

• Using remarketing: Remarketing allows you to show ads to people who have previously visited your website. This can be a powerful way to bring back visitors who have shown an interest in your products or services but haven't yet made a purchase.

• Measuring and Optimizing regularly: Regularly measure the performance of your ads and campaigns and make adjustments as needed on a regular basis.

YouTube Ads

YouTube Ads are a form of video advertising that allows businesses to display ads on the YouTube platform through the use of Google Ads. These ads can appear in several different formats, including:

• Skippable video ads: These ads can be skipped by the viewer after a few seconds, and can appear before, during, or after a video.
• Non-skippable video ads: These ads must be watched by the viewer before they can access the content they want to watch. (However, these can be costly) 
• Bumper ads: These are short, non-skippable ads that can appear before, during, or after a video.
• Sponsored cards: These are small cards that appear on the video and can include a product image and a link to a website.

YouTube Ads can be a powerful tool for companies to reach a large audience and build brand recognition. The platform has a wide reach, with over 866 million monthly active users, and allows businesses to target ads to specific demographics, interests, and behaviours, similar to Google Ads. 

With Youtube ads, you can set up your campaigns with the following goals:

1. Awareness – for grabbing attention and keeping your business top of mind
2. Consideration – Help customers think of you when looking to purchase
3. Action – Made for purchases, Subscribers, website visits and more

Action is the most conversion-focused, as it allows you to send customers directly to your website or landing page where they can make purchases or take any other action you want them to make. 

Meta Ads

Meta Ads are a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on both Facebook and Instagram platforms. These ads can take many forms, including:

• Single Image or Video Ads
• Carousel ads - featuring both images and videos in a single collection for the user to swipe or click through
• Collection ads - These are ads that feature a cover image or video and a grid of product images, allowing users to browse multiple products at once

Meta Ads can be used to reach a large, targeted audience and drive sales. The platform has a wide reach, with almost 3 billion monthly active users, and allows businesses to target ads to specific demographics, interests, behaviours and location. 

With Meta Ads, it is recommended that your marketing plan incorporates targeting both hot and cold audiences, getting as many users in your funnel as possible. When setting up your ads, it’s best to segment your campaigns by Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel and Bottom of Funnel, and then further breakdown demographics within each ad set. There are many tactics to exactly how to set up your campaigns, and it’s important to always be testing and optimizing to ensure you are spending your ad dollars on the appropriate converting audiences. 

Instagram Ads

Instagram ads are another part of Meta’s advertising platform, except they are delivered specifically through Instagram. They can be accessed through your Meta Ads Manager in a similar fashion as Facebook Ads, with all the same targeting and audience building capabilities. 

These ads can take several forms, including:

• Image ads & Video ads
• Carousel ads - Similar to Facebook they feature both images and videos in a single collection for the user to swipe or click through
• Story ads - only appear in the Instagram Stories, can be used with both static image and video
• Reel Ads - only appear on the Reels network
• Shopping ads - These are ads that feature product images and allow users to make a purchase directly from Instagram.

With over 2 billion active users worldwide, if you are already advertising using Meta Ad Manager, you are a few clicks away from using Instagram’s influential ads. Instagram's visual nature makes it a great platform for ecommerce companies to showcase their products and services in a creative and engaging way to their potential customers.

Amazon Advertising

Amazon ads are a great way to get people to buy products that they might not have otherwise considered. If you are an ecommerce company that is already selling your products on Amazon, using their ads network is a great way to influence potential buyers on the site. When customers are shopping on Amazon, they already have the intent to purchase, making them more likely to buy once they find the right product they are looking for. Advertising on Amazon is a great way to get your products in front of a highly engaged audience ready to purchase. 

Amazon ads can take several forms, including:

• Sponsored Products: These are ads that appear in search results and on product detail pages, and are targeted to specific keywords.
• Sponsored Brands: These are ads that feature a logo, brand name, and multiple products and can appear in search results and on product detail pages.
• Sponsored Display: These are ads that can appear on other websites, apps, and across Amazon's own properties.

The platform is designed for businesses that sell products on Amazon and allows them to reach shoppers who are actively looking for products like theirs. For ecommerce companies, Amazon Ads can be especially effective when used in combination with other strategies, such as optimizing product listings, using Amazon's fulfillment services, and leveraging customer reviews to improve visibility and sales. 

Pinterest Ads

Pinterest Ads can be placed in a range of spots on the website, including the sidebar, the top of a board, and in banners on specific pages.

Pinterest ads are designed to be visually appealing and enticing to pinners. They usually have stunning visuals that pique your interest so you'll want to learn more about the product or service being advertised. In addition, Pinterest works hard to connect brands with relevant audiences on the site, if there’s a niche for your product you’ll most likely find an audience for it on Pinterest. 

These ads can take several forms, including:

• Promoted Pins: These are ads that look like regular pins but have been paid for by a business to reach a larger audience.
• Shopping Ads: These ads allow users to shop directly from the ad by showing product information and pricing.
• Video Ads: These are ads that feature a video and can be used to showcase products or services in more depth.
• Carousel Ads: These are ads that feature multiple images that users can swipe through.

The platform has a large user base, with over 445 million monthly active users, and allows businesses to target ads to specific demographics, interests, behaviors and location, similar to other ad platforms. What sets this platform apart from others is their audiences. Many small businesses utilize this platform to showcase their works and abilities within their niche. Whether it be cross-stitching, wedding planning, or even aesthetic room decorating, your brand can easily find a community to be a part of.  

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn Ads are a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on the LinkedIn website and app. These ads can take several forms, including:

• Sponsored Content: These are ads that appear in users' news feeds and are designed to look like regular LinkedIn posts.
• Sponsored InMail: These are ads that appear in users' inboxes as private messages.
• Sponsored Jobs: These are ads that appear in users' job feed, promoting job listings.
• Sponsored Company Pages: These are ads that promote your company page to a wider audience.

Twitter Ads

Twitter ads include a variety of types of content. If you are looking for more of a direct way to reach your audience, Twitter will be right for your business.

There are many different kinds of ads on Twitter:

• Promoted Tweets - image, video, carousel ads
• Follower Ads - promote your account and increase visibility
• Twitter Amplify - Video pre-roll and sponsorship ads
• Twitter Takeover - Timeline Takeover and Trend Takeover, for mass-reach on the Explore Tab
• Twitter Live - live broadcasts
• Dynamic Product Ads - DPA Retargeting & Prospecting 
• Collection Ads - showcase a collection of services and products in one ad
• Twitter Ad Features - Polls, Conversation Buttons, App Buttons, Website Buttons, Brand Hashtags and Branded Notifications.

The platform has a wide reach, with over 368 million monthly active users. Twitter's real-time nature also allows small businesses to quickly respond to current events and trending topics, which can help them stay relevant and increase visibility among potential customers. 

Because of Twitter's conversational nature, it allows businesses to engage with their audiences in a more personal and direct way. Having a fast response time and help desk through Twitter can help build trust and loyalty with customers. 

Bing Ads

Bing Ads is a part of Microsoft’s network of platforms. Bing is their search engine that allows businesses to display ads on the Bing search engine and its advertising network, which includes other sites such as Yahoo and MSN search results. These ads can take several forms, including:

• Text ads: These are ads that appear at the top or bottom of search results and feature a title, description, and a link to the business's website.
• Product ads: These are ads that feature product images and pricing information and appear on Bing search results and Bing shopping pages.
• Video ads: These are ads that feature a video and can be used to showcase products or services in more depth.

Google may be one of the more well known search engines, however The Microsoft Search Network powers 38.1% of U.S. desktop searches and 7.6 billion monthly searches around the globe, with it being the default search engine on most Microsoft Windows products. 

In similar fashion to Google Ads, Microsoft’s Bing Ads rely on the use of keywords and phrases to accurately connect your ads to your target audience. 

Some strategies specifically for Bing include:

• Keep your ads relevant and optimized often
• Describe what sets your product and business apart from the competition
• Use your customers' language and writing tone that will attract your target audience
• Be specific and clear in your wording
• Give customers a reason to click your ad right now by communicating enticing call to actions

Native Advertising

This is a type of advertising that is integrated into the content of a website or app, and is often designed to look like editorial content. Some popular native advertising platforms include Outbrain, Taboola, and Adblade.

Native ads are a form of online advertising that blends in with the surrounding content on a website or app. They are designed to look and feel like the content around them, rather than standing out as traditional banner ads. Native ads can take several forms, including:

• In-feed ads: These are ads that appear within the content feed of a website or app, such as in a news feed or product list.
• Recommendation widgets: These are ads that appear as recommended content on a website or app, such as in a sidebar or at the bottom of a page.
• Paid search results: These are ads that appear at the top of a search results page and are designed to look similar to organic search results.

By blending in with the surrounding content, native ads can be less disruptive to the user experience and more likely to be seen and engaged with.

BONUS - TikTok Ads

TikTok Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on the TikTok app. These ads can take several forms, including:

• In-feed ads: These are ads that appear within the content feed of the app, and can be either image or video ads.
• Brand takeover ads: These are ads that take over the entire screen of the app when a user opens it, and can be either image or video ads.
• Hashtag Challenge: These are ads that encourage users to participate in a challenge or campaign by using a specific hashtag.
• Branded Lenses: These are interactive ads that allow users to engage with a brand's product or message through a lens.

TikTok's algorithm helps to ensure that users are exposed to content that is most relevant to them, increasing the chances that they will engage with an advertisement. Additionally, TikTok's interactive features, such as live streaming, polls, and quizzes, can help to increase engagement and build relationships with customers in ways that are unlike any other advertising platform, making it a unique experience for both the customer and business. 

TikTok Ads can be especially effective when used in combination with influencer marketing campaigns. This allows businesses to reach a wider audience by partnering with creators who already have a significant following on the platform. 

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If you are still unsure about your digital strategy or maybe you need someone to help execute it, Shoelace is here! Our knowledgeable Growth Partners are happy to answer any questions! Connect with us here to learn more about how we can help set up a winning strategy that is sure to help your business grow!

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