Paid advertising is a great way to reach new customers and boost sales/leads, but it’s important to understand how paid ads work in order to get the best results. There are many misconceptions about paid advertising which leads to unrealistic expectations for advertising campaigns. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the top 4 misconceptions business owners have about paid advertising and why they should avoid these mistakes.

1. Paid Advertising Is A One-Time Investment

Many business owners think that if they invest in paid advertising for a short time, their investment will pay off for good. However, this isn’t the case. Paid advertising is an ongoing process that requires continuous investment for a business to see consistent results. Investing in paid advertising for 2 weeks doesn’t help determine the value of advertising to your business. It’s important for business owners to understand that it takes time and effort to create effective campaigns that will generate leads and convert them into customers. This is why I recommend investing at least three months into any paid advertising trial, at a spend you’re most comfortable with.

2. Paid Advertising Directly Controls Customer Behavior

Another common misconception about paid advertising is that it directly controls customer behavior. While it can influence customer behavior, there is no guarantee that customers will take the desired action when exposed to an ad. Businesses need to ensure that their landing page experience, content strategy, and marketing funnel is well-constructed enough for visitors to act. For this reason, I always recommend ensuring your landing page experience is at or above consumer expectations before investing in advertising campaigns.

3. Paid Advertising Is All A Business Needs to Flourish

Some business owners think simply using paid advertising is enough. Paid is not a substitute for having a unique value proposition nor is it a way to magically lap your competitors. While paid advertising can help bring attention to your business or service, it cannot create a unique value proposition if one doesn’t already exist. Also, investing in paid advertising is no longer an option for businesses who want to grow and scale. It should be an expectation. It’s important for businesses to focus on developing their own unique value proposition before investing in any type of marketing or advertising efforts. Prior to working with a client I try to make sure the client is able to highlight what makes their business different from competitors so the audience is able to find the most value in the brand.

4. Paid Advertising Is A Substitute For All Other Marketing

Finally, some business owners believe that paid advertising can replace all other forms of digital marketing—this simply isn’t true! While paid ads are incredibly effective at driving traffic and generating leads, they don’t directly impact every other form of marketing like organic search, Direct, Referral, and Social. Paid has a minor impact on these channels, but every business owner should know paid cannot substitute all other channels. During my discovery call, I make sure the client is aware of this, by discussing their top “non-paid” marketing channels.

As you can see, there are many misconceptions about paid advertising which can lead businesses down the wrong path when it comes to getting the best possible results from their campaigns. Paid advertising has benefits, but it’s important to not fall into pitfalls by having an inaccurate perspective on how it works and what results you should expect from it! 

If you have more questions about how you should or should not look at paid advertising, feel free to reach out to me here.