The question hovers before the eyes of marketers and their beloved brands – how can we lower advertising costs? A very reasonable and necessary inquiry. Advertising costs are sailing past the clouds. The pressure to clamp down on prices is tremendous.
For the cost-conscious, options are plentiful. The digital universe, for example, offers the tried and true method of lowering cost per acquisition or CPA. Cost per acquisition measures the total expense of converting digital visitors into paying customers. The metric may focus on device, channels, region, campaign, and even the browser of use.
Think of cost per acquisition as a journey. The trip begins with first contact – perhaps a brand’s listing in search engine results. The process then continues along a path that includes a series of strategic touch points. These can be a landing page, product page, informative video, contact, form, email message, social media interaction, follow-up website visit, and finally to the ultimate destination – the purchase page. What’s important to note is that each of these vital touch points carries some sort of advertising cost. Generally, the more points of contact, the greater the budgetary impact.
Fortunately, digital resources such as Google Adwords can help minimize acquisition expenditures — without requiring a reduction in the number of touch points. In effect, the resources help create greater efficiencies in the digital acquisition process.
Consider, for instance, the various Adwords options. This resource allows marketers to scan a variety of metrics such as city, Adgroup, and Ad network. Now what if you discover any of these contact categories is underperforming? … Put it on Pause.
Google Adwords allows marketers to pause any network, city, or other dimension that doesn’t live up to expectations. By limiting activity to the highest performers, marketers can improve the overall efficiency and ROI of their digital campaigns.
If you have questions or comments about minimizing cost per acquisition rates, or about any other brand-related topic, feel free to send them our way.