Online Advertising Doesn't Mean Instant

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Online Advertising

Online Advertising-  A Digital Plan to Move Fast 

For Online Advertising Fast and instant are different -
While it’s true that the world of online advertising is fast-paced- banking on instantaneous programs is a good way to fall short of your goals. This is because online advertising is not a synonym for instant. Planning for a digital program will give you time to really define your goals and make sure your campaign has the right components, creative, and timeline to achieve them.

Understand the limitations of digital - 
Digital is a great medium and can deliver emotion and engagement in a way that no other medium can. But it has its limits, digital can be fleeting and overwhelming. Over the last few years, it has gotten harder to deliver a message through digital ads. There is so much bad content and content in general for users to get through, that it will take longer for even the best content to break through. 

Last minute is not last minute anymore… 
Digital has also started to police itself more for good reason, which translates into ads taking longer to go live. If you’re trying to run a digital advertising campaign that lasts a week and you’ve only given yourself 24 hours lead time, you will end up eating into some of that run time. With Facebook you cannot change your campaign the week before the election, so you will need to be live 10 days out to be sure you have no issues. 

Plan first –
Whether you are running an integrated communications program or a digital only program, you need to know and analyze all components of your digital plan before you launch it. Make sure you understand what it will take to build and launch your programs. Different kinds of creative and buys take more time to execute.  

Digital takes time to build -
Good digital grows over time. If you look at a basic graph of the progress of most online advertising campaigns (whether you’re looking at clicks or impressions), you’ll find that the first few days or even the first few weeks are a time for your creative and message to build traction with your audience. In other words, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll have a high volume of clicks and conversions within the first few days of going live with digital advertising. The same principal applies to Facebook likes. If you already have a wide audience for your page, advertising and increasing those numbers can indeed be a quick process. If you’re starting from scratch, however, those numbers take more time to build. 

Know your goals -
This doesn’t mean that it’s always a bad idea to be up for just a week, but I’ve had people come to me wanting to buy for two days, which, unless you’re a big campaign, is likely to be far too little time. If you have the time to play a longer game online, it’s often a good idea. If you know that you have an important date coming in three months, and that you want to run ads around whatever that date/event is, start talking about it now – don’t wait until a week before to get the ball rolling. That lead-time will allow you to manage your resources and time in a way that will be more efficient and effective when it comes to achieving your online advertising goals.

Make it good –
Above all, if you are going to do digital advertising, take the time to make it good. Be aware that good creative takes time. Taking time to make great content will help you achieve your goals and connect in a way that bad and sloppy content cannot. Whether you are running video content, animated or static ads, planning creating, or executing and optimizing the content -know that it is a time-consuming process. To make your message stand out takes time, goals, focus, and execution but the effort is worth it. 

TLDR: 
•    Have a Timeline for Digital  
•    Define your Goals 
•    Understand Your Plan
•    Take time to Execute 
•    Make Great Creative

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