Your Digital Advertising Toolkit for 2023 & Beyond
08 December 2022
08 December 2022
With the New Year fast approaching - and yes, 2022 has flown by! - it’s time to set your gaze to what 2023 has in store (digitally speaking), and how to ensure you remain ahead of the competition.
With the digital landscape changing with every year, 2023 is no different; so it’s more important than ever to have the right digital toolkit ready for your business. We’ll take you through why strategising is key, why PPC could be the answer, and some key PPC elements to implement in the New Year.
A Digital Strategy not only provides focus, it also allows you to create unity across your business and get everyone moving in the same direction. It also allows you to plan budgets, research into your markets and ultimately measure success and failure based on very defined business objectives.
What we’re saying is this, you should always plan your digital strategy well ahead of time, and consider the best ways to achieve objectives for your business. With PPC Advertising offering up to 200% return on investment, it can be a popular choice for businesses able to drive growth via digital channels.
So, what does a Digital Toolkit look like for the latest in all things PPC?
PPC stands for pay-per-click. Meaning it is a model of digital advertising where when used, the advertiser pays a fee each time their ad is clicked by a consumer. PPC ads can come in all different forms; text, videos, images or even a combination of all these forms! And they can appear on websites, social media platforms, search engines and more.
The first trend you should consider in 2023, and one we consider a key element to any digital strategy in the New Year, is PPC Automation. PPC Automation, put simply, is the system that charges advertisers every time their ad is clicked but the power behind such PPC campaigns is controlled by Google’s Artificial Intelligence / machine learning.
There are many benefits to using PPC automation:
You may be thinking you’ve heard, or even used this practice before… that’s because this is not a new trend, but by 2023 it will play a much, much bigger role in ad testing. Word from the wise / a Google Premier Partner; by 2023 they should be the most helpful and proactive they have ever been when it comes to understanding user’s searches!
Smart bidding in particular will form a key part of your Digital Toolkit. Using machine learning to optimise conversions and conversion values in auctions, with the cost of living crisis and return on investment being more important than ever, this can add a really valuable element to spending. Examples of this include, Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (CPC), Target Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA), and Target Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). Moving forward in 2023, smart bidding will really allow marketers to put their focus towards other areas like analytics, strategy, and of course conversion optimisation.
Next up is audience targeting. This is where you can target your ads to specific audiences that would have an interest in your product offering and thus increasing conversions. Not only can you target specific audience types in PPC (age, gender, household income, interests just to name a few), but you can also set ad preferences to exclude audiences that you dont think your service appeals to.
The most recent Google Ads update also allows advertisers the ability to layer audiences on top of each other, and that means when it comes to your Digital Toolkit you can really delve into the granular details of your audience and ensure Ads are served to only the highest-intent and those most likely to convert and drive value for your marketing spend. This layering is big, and means you can use both keyword targeting and demographic targeting to create the most relevant ads possible. Something we’ve seen on Social Media Advertising for some time, but a big addition to 2023’s advertising strategies.
Voice search optimisation has been available on Google’s advertising platforms since 2019, but is now becoming increasingly popular and transforming how we use Search Advertising. As with more and more searches switching over to mobile, and the majority of these mobile searches being through voice search, not utilising this trend would be a BIG mistake in 2023. Think about how often you speak to Alexa or Siri at home, why should search ads be any different? It’s also a great improvement on accessibility, and for some brands that’s key.
When it comes to your Digital Toolkit in 2023, some key areas to consider…
If you want to find out whether or not your customers are using voice search - head to Google Search Console or Ahrefs, even SEMRush, export your search terms and filter them to keywords like ‘okay google’ or ‘hey siri’. This will give you a list of all the times someone searched using voice and found your website. If you find none come up, voice search isn’t necessary for your customer base, but if some do come up… ‘Alexa add Voice Search to my Digital Toolkit!’.
Another key element of your Digital Toolkit for 2023 is the use of video ads. Year on year online video consumption continues to rise, gradually becoming the best way to grab consumers attention. You yourself will no doubt know the growing popularity of TikTok - even if you don’t use the app yourself - you will understand the enjoyment of videos on websites and landing pages, explainer videos, voice overs versus written text… so why not use it yourself?
Try moving your focus away from traditional text based ads and try A/B testing video ads in 2023. Videos are both creative and flexible, they enhance engagement, so taking full domination in the advertisement world and driving brand awareness and conversions. Now we must note, this goes beyond short form for TikTok or IG Reels, this is also for YouTube, aka the second largest search engine on the planet. Videos gain the attention of audiences when casually online, and give your brand a wider reach than some ad types.
One major tool you should make use of when using video ads is the bumper ads tool. This tool does exactly as you would think, it “bumps” your ads! Using machine learning (hello PPC Automations!) to automatically edit and format ad content to create much shorter and engaging ads directly from your longer video content, this tool will save both your time and effort, whilst still providing you with the most eye-catching and relevant advertisements possible. Win win!
We’ve all heard the saying, ‘it’s all about who you know’, and Paid Media is the same. While some brands see great growth in singular paid campaign types (and knowing your audience is key here), some brands with a large catchment audience can see huge growth in integrating campaigns. Mix together both PPC and Social Media Advertising for your Digital Toolkit and maximise reach for your budget, catch audiences along their customer journey with tailored creative, clear calls to action, and you might just see your conversions increase. Some pros of integrating Paid Media include:
Some emerging Social Media platforms worth considering for your Digital Toolkit:
Pinterest has been around for a long time, and while it has predominantly been used as a visual mood board for users around the world, Pinterest are now putting huge focus on how it can be used as a PPC Advertising platform. With 431 million monthly active users, you can advertise your brand to users on the platform through promoted pins which can drive traffic to your website, increase sales and boost brand awareness. And better yet, with big room for growth, Cost per Conversions are very budget-friendly.
Another platform that is worth considering for your Digital Toolkit, is Reddit. Reddit is a network of communities where users can express their interests, hobbies and passions - there is a community suited to everyone! As you can imagine, that would mean it is a very, very useful platform for marketers targeting customers where they are most passionate and engaged. This can help brands meet business objectives in sectors where Reddit audiences are also high-intent audiences, i.e. app users, technology and IT, content and gaming, retail, education, and more.
We’ve left the most important to last. With Universal Analytics sunsetting in July 2023, if you don’t implement GA4 now, the changes in Google Privacy coming into the New Year will severely affect your access to data and Digital Marketing success. See our latest blog about the key changes to consider here, and our advice to all is to make the changes now to ensure you don't see a drop in insights into the New Year.
So there you have it, some advice for a Digital Toolkit that is fit for purpose into 2023 and beyond. For advice on Digital Advertising, on driving brand awareness and digital growth in the New Year, make sure to reach out to our expert team and discuss strategies to beat the competition. Ranked in the Top 3% of Agencies in the UK by Google, we have the right team to ensure you have the guidance you need.
