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Paid traffic is a form of advertising where the manager opts for advertising in search engines and specific social media applications and other platforms to capture prospects at the bottom of the funnel. Some of the most popular apps are:

  • Google Ads;
  • Facebook Ads;
  • YouTube Ads;
  • Instagram Ads;
  • LinkedIn Ads; among others.

It helps to understand the concept, the notion of organic traffic, which refers to a “free” way of driving leads to the purchase decision. It also contributes to understanding the notion of a sales funnel.
In the sales funnel , prospects must be positioned at the bottom of the funnel, that is, at the most appropriate time to purchase a product or service.

How does paid traffic work?

While organic traffic has the objective of capturing leads , educating the consumer and leading them to the purchase decision spontaneously, paid traffic reaches those prospects who are at the bottom of the funnel.
In this resource, the main professional is the traffic manager who selects the best settings, through tests and expertise, to reach the ideal audience, at the most appropriate time and with the best conditions.

So, the company sets aside financial resources to invest in advertisements and get clicks on links on landing pages of products and services in a given time and for a specific audience.
The return depends not only on taking prospects to your channels, but mainly on having a good product and persuasion to convert visits into sales. Basically, the main steps involve the following actions.

Define your persona

The persona is the ideal version of the main semi-fictional character that represents your client’s best characteristics. Having this information in advance is essential to advertise to the correct audience.

Choose the main platform

Based on your persona knowledge, you find the best or set of best channels to advertise. For example, it may be that for a company, Facebook is the best place to advertise, while for others, the ideal is to merge Google and YouTube.
Again, this is a job for digital marketing specialists and traffic managers who have this better understanding and are able to define the best paths.

Find the most appropriate configuration

Several factors impact the best ad format. Sometimes running ads late at night can be more effective than picking a certain morning.
Likewise, choosing between paying for impressions or for clicks can also impact ad optimization. Other characteristics such as age, gender and geolocation may also be important according to the company’s intentions.

monitor the results

This step is key to any paid traffic strategy. Even if you analyze trends, study your audience’s profile and find an ideal setting, ad reach has a certain volatility.
Through testing and monitoring, the manager should be monitoring the performance of ads in real time, excluding unsuccessful actions and optimizing successful practices.

Evaluate the cost benefit of the strategy

Finding the best value for money is the last step. In many cases, it may be that the ad converts a lot, but does not generate profitability. Therefore, the manager must achieve a low-cost, high-return scenario for it to be worthwhile.

Is paid traffic just for selling?

Contrary to what many think, this functionality is not exclusive to generating sales. Paid traffic is very useful when the company needs to increase the audience on a specific website or post.
That is, it is a faster way to move the site and increase the possibility of conversion. Therefore, in most cases, the ideal is to combine paid traffic strategies with organic traffic to optimize investments in digital marketing.

It is often said that the consumer considers ads “boring”. However, the truth is that this feature has always generated much more results than organic traffic. What really counts is the interest of the user, which is not always at the last stage, however, when it is at that moment, the ad tends to be the best form of conversion.

What are the main types of paid traffic?

There is a very interesting range of possibilities for running paid advertisements. Understand now how the main ad formats work.

Banner

Also known as Display, this ad format is very simple and straightforward. Through an image or photo that is developed to demonstrate the quality of a product or service, this type of advertising draws the user’s attention to a specific area of ​​the screen.
When the user clicks on the banner, he is automatically directed to the path chosen by the advertiser. Now follow some of the most common banner formats:

  • static: most common format where the ad remains in a certain place on the page available at any time for visitor access;
  • interactive: with this format, you can merge some different images. It’s a better possibility to get the user’s attention;
  • floating: in this case, the banner “floats during navigation” always remaining in front of the content. In other words, it is an intensive way of attracting the visitor’s attention.
  • Flashes: finally, the banner can be created in flash format. In this case, it diversifies according to the content accessed.

Native

Social media has also turned out to be a great way to generate ads. With due care, it is possible to reach a qualified public willing to buy.
We say this because most of the time access to a social network is for entertainment purposes, however, it is possible to identify users who are more likely to make a purchase decision.
Ads on social media tend to be cheaper than on search engines like Google. Typically, ads appear at a certain frequency in a user’s newsfeed. Understand now some of the main ways to advertise through these channels:

  • posts: you can identify a successful post and leverage it to drive more brand awareness or more sales;
  • creative: in this case, the manager can use creativity to advertise through attractive videos, fun texts, interesting images, etc;
  • institutional: content such as institutional content is useful for publicizing the brand in general and can boost engagement on social networks;

videos

Marketing videos are also great for advertising. Developing interesting and relevant images exploring ideas, entertainment, products and services virtues are essential to increase the user’s purchase intention.

On YouTube, for example, just 5 seconds can be enough to get the user’s attention and generate relevant visits. You have certainly heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.
This reflects very well in the online universe. Conversion in video ads tends to be higher in relation to text formats due to the possibility of being more didactic, persuasive and closer to the customer’s attention.

Mobile

The mobile-first culture, or priority for the smartphone environment, further optimizes the conversion of your ads. Due to the ease of mobile devices, internet access by these means is greater than in notebooks, PCs and other larger devices.
So, when we refer to a responsive ad format, we are warning about the need for ads to be adaptable to mobile navigation.
In this environment, it is also possible to prioritize ads in successful applications. Many channels are primarily on cell phones and gain an absurd audience, very useful for generating ads.

How to optimize your ads?

You may have already noticed that generating ads is essential for a digital marketing strategy, however, this practice tends to generate costs for a company.
At this point, it’s vital to get this strategy to work correctly. Understand now why some practices are important to improve the conversion of your ads.

Plan the investment

The ideal is for you to determine an amount to invest. Especially for those who are starting, it is completely normal not to have so much return. The mechanisms themselves, such as Google, go through a period of study.
So, it is not effective to advertise and expect responses on the same day and time. When uploading ads, wait a certain amount of time and set some goals to identify the success of the strategies.
It is common for campaigns to revolve around 1% to 5% conversion. But it is always necessary to analyze case by case to identify whether the return is within the expected range. Then make financial projections and set incremental goals for the success of your ads.

make campaigns

You can also explore campaigns to gain user attention. A certain theme can be important to stimulate the desire for interaction and the possibility of purchase.
Campaigns must be for a certain period of time, like a week or a month, for example. Therefore, we emphasize that one-day ads will not always generate significant results.

Do remarketing

Remarketing is a very interesting strategy to boost ad results. This is because this strategy is based on the principle of prior interest.
That is, if a user, for example, recently visited your site and entered a landing page, this reveals an interest that has faded for whatever reason. Then you can explore remarketing campaigns offering:

  • special discounts for the purchase;
  • attractive benefits;
  • bonus; among other possibilities
work with experts

The study and knowledge about paid traffic is fundamental, however, relying on experienced people to carry out this work avoids unnecessary costs.
These professionals have already gone through situations that required a more critical and accurate look at the success of advertising campaigns. So, it’s essential to delegate this task to people who are empowered to make the ads work.

Use digital solutions

Digital solutions are as relevant as traffic managers. Today, data is crucial for understanding consumer behavior and identifying opportunities.
Through corporate applications, you generate reports, identify trends, analyze performances and find the best ad formats.
Still on this point, it is possible to count on the integration of these solutions with important applications such as CRM that help the manager to identify the real situation of prospects in sales funnels.