From Clicks to Conversions: A Business Guide to Media Buying

Many businesses make the mistake of thinking that digital marketing is all about getting people to click on their site. This is why some spend a fortune on advertising but end up with little to show for it on their bottom line—they have measured their success in clicks, not money. However, those who are experienced and effective at buying media know that conversions are what counts. Here is how media buying can work for businesses.

More than Just Buying Ads

Despite what their name might suggest, the role of media buyers extends beyond just buying ad space. The best ones are also well-grounded in digital marketing principles, which they use to ensure that the ads they buy reach the right people with the right message. This requires them to conduct research into the behaviour of target audiences, analyse performance data, and tweak campaigns on the fly.

Then there is also the technical side of media buying. While buyers of the past relied heavily on personal relationships to secure ad spots on TV and in print, today’s experts need to know all about how to secure the space that will get your business seen online. This involves using techniques such as automated bidding, audience segmentation, and even AI.

The Click-to-Conversion Process

A mistake that many businesses new to digital marketing make is putting too much emphasis on their click-through rate, or CTR. This is an important figure, but it only represents how many internet users who see your ad click on it to be forwarded to your website. The trouble is that if they do not buy anything from you when they get there, then you have just wasted money.

Internet marketing experts avoid this by breaking the click-to-conversion process into distinct stages and optimizing your media for each one. This essentially means controlling who sees what and when. The process begins by showing them an ad that engages with them, making them click it. This must then lead them to a carefully designed landing page that matches what they expect when they click. Eventually, they need to be converted into a paying customer or subscriber.

A/B Testing

One of the biggest digital solutions that the internet has provided in the advertising space is the ability to A/B test, saving marketers significant time and money. Even the smallest changes to the text and images on ads can inexplicably have a drastic effect on conversion rates, and rather than waste money running a single unsuccessful campaign for a while, A/B means running variations of the same ad alongside each other.

Data is gathered about which ad people saw and what they did subsequently, allowing marketers to see what is working and what is not. As we have mentioned, this does not necessarily mean the variation gets more clicks. Instead, the metric to focus on is the return on investment or ROI.

AI and Automation

AI is now sufficiently sophisticated that it can play several roles during the media buying process, allowing it to be sped up and achieve a higher ROI than if the following activities had to be done by people. These activities are things such as predicting which audiences have the highest conversion potential, adjusting bids for media space when necessary, and analysing large datasets.  

Instead of a team, your business can now even be helped by a single media buyer, thanks to tools like these. Instead of doing the grunt work themselves, it is possible for a media buyer to provide strategic oversight only, using AI to maximize efficiency.

Conclusion

Anyone can buy an ad, but getting the right price and ensuring that the right people see your ads in the right places takes a lot of skill. However, it is necessary to ensure that your ad campaigns generate that all-important ROI and not just focus on getting as many clicks as possible.