Self-service is the future of advertising, and if you aren’t using it now, you soon will be. Let’s be honest; convenience is not a commodity but a necessity in our world. You no longer need to make a trip to the bank to deposit a check, and you can hail a ride at the touch of a button. All these advances in everyday convenience are a result of technology, so it seems only natural these advances would progress into how we advertise.
When I hear the word advertising, I think expensive, and I start to see significant green dollar signs dancing around the room. Advertising seems like something only large companies can do, companies that have massive marketing budgets, and a marketing team big enough to fill a conference room. However, this is a common misconception – any group of any size can reap the benefits of advertising. Here is why your business should use self-service advertising:
1. Cost Control:
Remember those big green dollar signs dancing around the room? Well, the dance is over; self-service cuts down on operating cost for businesses which in turn lowers the cost for you, the end user. Earlier this year Snapchat released it’s own self-service advertising called Snap Ads which cuts out the middleman of a Snapchat sales team or a third-party consultant – both usually come with ongoing fees. Snapchat reaches a select target audience that you may not be able to reach on other social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn.
Facebook Ads are quick to put together and manage. However, like Snapchat Facebook Ads only reach a select target audience that you may not be able to reach on other social platforms.
2. Creative Control
Design and create ads that fit your business needs. Sometimes communicating your approach to a sales or marketing team can be difficult. Why not take the driver’s seat and play around with the tools at your fingertips to create your ad. You don’t have to be an expert or an artist to come up with your creative campaigns; you would be surprised with what you can do with these easy to use platforms. For example, ShopWhere is a self-service platform that allows any person or business to quickly and easily create an ad and then instantly share it providing your business with visibility and your customer’s easy access to your products. But if you do need help or are looking for advice on your campaign, ShopWhere does have a team you can reach out to for direction and expertise. It also offers a mobile platform so you can do this anywhere, anytime and easily edit or change your ads based on performance without being at your desk.
“We have been working on some interesting, yet non-earth shattering simple ways to help businesses be found on the Internet. It does not have to require rocket scientists to be found or massive ongoing marketing budgets. Whether you are a small growing business, or an established one, everyone can find benefits of self-service” says Eric Hecht, Founder and CEO of ShopWhere USA.
3. Maximize Your Budget:
Different platforms offer different pricing structures depending on what you want to do. You may have heard the term “cost per click” advertising, which works as it sounds, once your ad is live on a platform, you get charged a fee every time someone clicks. These fees can range from cents to dollars per click, and although it blasts your ad out to millions of users and will drive activity to your page, it does not guarantee that these clicks turn into customers who are going to buy your product. In some cases, getting the word out is the most important goal of your campaign. But for business on a budget, a platform that charges one standard fee for using the service can be much more cost effective and help you target a specific audience.
Yes, Google AdWords is there to use, but budgets for AdWords although controllable, tend to increase. And AdWords requires ongoing management, and not everyone is mega IT literate to set them up correctly (which is why there is so many marketing companies today that sells doing your AdWords as a service).
4. Save Time
These platforms make it easy for everyone to use, literately anyone can be their advertising team. Using an advertising platform that helps a business get found in a Google search is extremely worthwhile.
Many times, when working with a marketing or sales team, it can be a tedious process and can feel like it takes forever to get to the campaign going live, but self-service advertising eliminates that process by putting you in charge of how quickly it goes.