Picking the most effective advertising channel is critical to help increase brand awareness, boost sales, and strengthen customer relationships.
With Google and social media platforms being two of the most popular advertising avenues for brands, which one should brands prioritize?
Aperitif Agency Founder Joe Romeo shares with DesignRush when brands should choose Google over social media ads and vice versa.
Having extensive experience in the industry, he provides practical advice on how to:
- Select the right ad channel
- Optimize ad copy
- Build genuine connections with local communities
Who Is Joe Romeo?
Joe founded Aperitif Agency to focus on helping clients hit their revenue goals. He has been a digital marketing consultant for over 10 years, spending time in both agency land and working in-house for brands such as Airwallex and Whispir. Experiencing both worlds has enabled him to hone his craft to bring the best and latest optimization techniques to businesses across Australia and the U.K.
Today, consumers are constantly bombarded with information from brands, advertisers, and content creators, making it challenging for marketing messages to stand out.
Hence, given Joe’s experience in the industry, I asked him what makes an advertisement sticky.
“It’s critical that you understand your customer’s pain points and can solve them in your messaging in an easily digestible way. You only have a few seconds to capture attention and solve this problem or highlight your value proposition.
So, to be sticky, the ad needs to be succinct, to the point, and memorable. You’re aiming for recall at the time of purchase from the category, not an immediate reaction,” he explains.
Nailing Your Brand Messaging
Joe highlights that it all starts with an ideal customer profile (ICP) when creating the right message.
“Marketing in its essence is brands being an intermediary between consumer problems and solutions. Having a deep understanding of what these problems are for your audience will enable you to ‘speak their language,'” he adds.
Previously, in an interview with DesignRush, Black Chateau CEO Desiree Duffy explained the role of ICPs in business. Watch the clip below to learn more:
Joe says that Aperitif Agency usually runs a technique when creating brand messaging: asking the “three whys” after completing the first draft.
“This usually gets us to the core of the problem and we then tailor the message to ensure we’re addressing the root cause,” he concludes.
He shares that he loves the classic campaign by the Economist that simply reads “Lose the ability to slip out of meetings unnoticed” on its classic crimson backdrop.
“This is a great example of a campaign that leans into their value proposition of knowledge = power and respect in the boardroom, which is pretty amazing for a company that sells magazines. They’re linking their product to an outcome through one line of copy,” he notes.
Selecting the Most Effective Ad Channels
Every business has its own unique goals, and choosing the most appropriate platform to advertise on will vary. But one key to successfully pinpointing what suits your company is conversion tracking.
“There’s not really such a thing as a bad digital platform, but there are bad fits between brands and platforms. Having the cleanest conversion tracking upfront is paramount, although with changes in tracking this is becoming more and more difficult.
We tend to start with bottom-of-funnel, high-intent channels like search as a foundation, and then expand into mid, upper funnel channels once experiments prove fruitful,” Joe explains.
He advises brands to find the right balance between their marketing mix without spreading themselves too thin and going deeper on channels that are working rather than being present on many platforms without substantial impact.
For example, Amazon pay per click is a powerful bottom-of-funnel channel for brands targeting high-intent shoppers.
Starting with conversion-driven platforms and expanding strategically ensures ad spend is focused on the most effective channels.
He adds that poor measurement and optimization towards the wrong metrics are the top mistakes brands make in digital advertising.
“I see so many brands optimizing towards clicks for conversion-focused campaigns or setting up maximum conversion campaigns that are optimizing towards page views.
You want to train your machines to drive towards actions that matter for your bottom line, otherwise, you’re wasting valuable ad dollars on low-value actions,” he points out.
Best Practices for Optimizing Ad Copy
Joe suggests that brands should leverage first-party data to build their segments and continuously monitor these segments to identify when adjustments are needed.
Brands should also be flexible and ready to tweak their messaging to stay relevant and effective when differentiating from competitors.
“In terms of audience targeting, we tend to keep audiences as broad as possible initially (but still relevant) to ensure we maintain efficiency, as efficiency declines with narrower audiences.
We then let machine learning find converting users within that audience. If the segment is big enough, we then branch that out and treat it as a standalone segment,” he adds.
Which is more effective and persuasive for your business: content marketing or advertising? Watch our clip below to find out:
Joe thinks it's important to keep testing different segments to find what works, as well as have a backup plan for when that segment isn't performing anymore, because it will happen eventually.
Joe shares the best practices for optimizing PPC ad copy to improve click-through and conversion rates:
- Including keywords in the ad copy: Users click on relevant search results that match their query and are naturally drawn to this
- Highlighting key/unique selling points: Aspects that separate your brand from your competitors, like free shipping, a five-year warranty, or the enormous amount of five-star reviews you have
- Adding limited-time offers: The fear of missing out (FOMO) will always be a great driver of action
Integrating conversion rate optimization (CRO), the process of maximizing the potential of current leads and website traffic to foster long-term growth, may also be a good strategy to implement for your business.
Google vs. Social Media Ads
So, how do you know whether to advertise on Google or on popular social media platforms?
“When you have a product or service that is established in the market or is in a well-known problem space, Google is the way to go as it has a much higher purchase intent — you’re getting in front of customers who are actively looking for the products/services you offer,” Joe says.
He also highlights that Google ads work well for anything time-sensitive (e.g. emergency locksmiths, dentists, etc.) and for products that aren’t necessarily sexy, which are relative to things you’d impulse buy from your social feed.
“For social media platforms, I find that products/services that are relatively new to the market and don’t have strong salience are better suited to this channel.
Social media advertising tends to be more of a ‘push channel’ where you’re going out to market with something useful in its own right, particularly if you understand who might be interested in what you sell. An example would be a new baby product or a marketing conference that you’re selling tickets to,” he explains.
He adds that social media also works well for products that satisfy aesthetics or vanity and lean into trends, as you can capture that essence a lot better than through search.
Customers are increasingly demanding brands to be more human and putting their trust in brands that embody authenticity. Joe shared with me how small brands can leverage this trend to enhance their brand reputation and win loyalty among local audiences.
“There are many organizations and groups in your direct neighborhood that need help. Leaning into local community matters, charities and organization groups show your customer base that you’re conscious of social and environmental issues while also helping groups that may not always be in the headlines.
Your support can usually stretch much further locally so you can make a difference,” he advises.
I agree that supporting local causes can often have a more noticeable impact.
Small brands can make a significant difference locally, where their efforts are more visible and appreciated by the community.
Whether you choose to advertise your business on Google or on social media, locally or on a much larger scale, it always helps to prioritize authenticity to build brand affinity, which ultimately leads to conversions.
Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang
