Paid ads are wonderful. Whether it’s social media ads, search engine ads, YouTube ads, or even billboards and flyers – paid ads are a proven way to reach out to a LOT of people very effectively. That is, until they fail.
Yep. You heard that right. Paid ads do fail and fail more frequently than you thought. So, if you’re here because your campaign failed and you don’t know what exactly went wrong, or to find out how you can make sure yours doesn’t fail, you’re in the right place. Let’s take a look at the top 5 reasons paid ads fail.
1. Not knowing your audience
The number one reason most paid ads fail are missed target audiences. If you have no idea who exactly your target customer is, then you’re just shooting in the dark.
The mistake most marketers make is guessing. Guessing might get you results sometimes, but most of the time your ad is going to crash and burn. This is because you can’t simply go: “I think this age/demographic group will relate to this product!” – that’s a surefire way to fail.
Instead, put in some effort. Don’t think of it as a tedious process that you have to go through. In fact, defining target markets can be fun. Make sure you approach each and every aspect of your product and the market so that your market is defined.
2. Inconsistent messaging
Your message is important. Make sure the messaging in your ad aligns perfectly with your products and services. Misinformation or inconsistent messages across your ads are a surefire way to lose customer interest and credibility.
Advertise only what you can offer, and make sure to recheck all your keywords, ad copy, designs, and landing pages to make sure they’re consistent throughout.
Another example of inconsistency in your ads is when you have targeted a certain audience, but your message (even though it should be relevant to them) is presented in such a way that it doesn’t hit it’s mark.
If you’re targeting young adults, then you need to speak their language. Using professional business terminology will not get you any clicks the same way as businessmen will not react to ads containing a lot of slang.
3. Your ad design is bland and boring
Your audience is perfect and so is your message. So what went wrong? Your design of course! Think about it. Are customers more likely to click on the same old designs you’ve been using since the last two years? Or even worse: something you threw together in half an hour using Powerpoint?
Or is a potential customer more likely to click on a design that’s bound to catch their eye with a perfect combination of high quality images, bold colors and professional design? It’s obviously the latter!
And this is where expertise comes in. At Sunan Designs our experts carefully follow (and lead!) design trends and incorporate these into stunning ads that are bound to captivate your audience.
4. Misleading CTAs
Another method bound to lose your audience are Call to Actions (CTAs) that do not work as they’re intended to. If your Facebook ad button says Book Now!, it shouldn’t lead to your home-page. Or worse, the About section of your website (this happens automatically if you do not pay attention and update the target link).
If a customer clicks Book Now, they expect to be taken to the bookings page, and if it takes them anywhere else, it’s more than likely that they’ll just get fed-up and move on.
5. Not experimenting enough
You can’t just choose one format, message, and engagement campaign and go with it. Make sure to always A/B test your ads – run two parallel campaigns with different demographics to find out which one performs the best.
You can then use this knowledge to make better, more informed choices with your next ad campaign and can focus your resources on the leads that really matter!
Let us know which of these common mistakes you’ve been guilty of making, or any others that you feel led to your paid ads failing. As always, if you need any help with any of these processes, or would simply like your ads to have awesome graphics that hit the mark, then reach out today! Our expert designers will be more than happy to help!
