Paid acquisition strategies (SEA) that work
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2024 5:25 am
SEA or Search Engine Advertising originally consisted of advertising on search engines. Today, this term extends to any paid acquisition strategy such as Ads on social networks, but also collaborations with influencers. Appreciated for its rapid results, SEA is above all a launch strategy that compensates for the slow start of long-term approaches such as SEO for example. The whole difficulty of SEA lies in choosing the platforms on which to invest: Google, LinkedIn or YouTube? To help you sort it out, this article offers a complete list of the main SEA levers and their characteristics. But to begin, it is important to review some fundamentals of acquisition strategies.
SEA or Search Engine Advertising originally consisted of advertising on search engines . Today, this term extends to any paid acquisition strategy such as Ads on social networks, but also collaborations with influencers. Appreciated for its rapid results , SEA is above all a launch strategy that compensates for the slow start of long-term approaches such as SEO for example. The whole difficulty of SEA lies in choosing the platforms on which to invest: Google, LinkedIn or YouTube? To help you sort it out, this article offers a complete list of the main SEA levers and their characteristics. But to begin, it is important to review some fundamentals of acquisition strategies.
Acquisition Strategies: What Do You Need to Know Before You Get Started?
So let's start by reviewing the basics! There's no point in investing a single euro before making sure you follow these few rules.
rules-SEA
Know your targets inside out
If you don't know exactly who your communication is aimed at, you risk throwing your money out the window. So study your persona carefully before launching any action. Ask yourself what their intentions are when they carry out their research: do they want to find out more, compare offers, find reviews, buy? SEA is mainly aimed at targets with a high degree of maturity, i.e. people who are well advanced in the purchasing process.
Choose the right keywords
The keywords used by Internet users reflect their level of maturity : you must therefore choose them carefully and monitor their performance closely. A person who types in "what is an accountant for" is looking to understand this profession. This query is not very interesting for an accountant who wants to attract new clients. Conversely, the keyword "accounting firm Lyon" is much more effective: it clearly indicates that the user wants to get in touch with an accountant located near their company.
Work on your landing pages
Investing in the right keywords won’t do any good if your landing pages convert poorly. To create landing pages that work , make sure to:
Choose an aesthetic and professional design
Optimize CTAs
Abuse good copywriting practices to obtain a clear and attractive value proposition as well as persuasive arguments based on identity and emotions
Measure your actions
To evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and thus botim database refine it further, consider setting up a tagging plan . This step consists of defining the key indicators to follow, then centralizing all the data using a tracking tool , such as Google Tag Manager for example. You will thus be able to determine the keywords that bring you the most traffic, but above all those that convert the best.
Which levers should you use for your SEA and why?
Here are now 5 major levers that you can activate in your SEA strategy.
top-5-sea
1. Google Ads: classic paid acquisition
Google Ads is an advertising service that consists of positioning your website on certain keywords in order to appear at the top of the Google results page. This strategy is one of the most widespread, because it offers very high visibility . It can suit most companies, but it should be noted that the cost per click of keywords in certain sectors of activity is extremely high. If this is your case, make sure you have the means to overtake your competitors before launching your campaign. For the most modest budgets, it may be interesting to consider other levers such as social networks for example.
Google Ads has many advantages, such as the great precision with which you can select keywords or, on the contrary, discard them . The platform also provides access to a multitude of data that allows you to measure the performance of campaigns and therefore improve them.
2. Display: traditional online advertising
Display ads are the digital versions of those in the paper press. The ads generally take the form of an image or video on which the Internet user can click in order to be directed to a merchant site. They are managed by advertising agencies, the best known of which are Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Displays are often used to work on visibility and awareness , but it is possible to pursue a conversion objective. The main advantage of this strategy is the ability to precisely target leads and therefore publishers, according to specific demographic, geographic and interest criteria. Display ads are also suitable for companies that do retargeting .
3. Social networks: how to choose?
Today, your SEA strategy can no longer do without social networks. Your target is necessarily there, but you still need to know on which ones! Advertising on this type of platform has the following advantages.
The formats are varied : text, photo, video, carousel, etc.
Targeting is extremely advanced : the networks have a lot of data on their users and make it available to you to reach your prospects with great efficiency.
SEA or Search Engine Advertising originally consisted of advertising on search engines . Today, this term extends to any paid acquisition strategy such as Ads on social networks, but also collaborations with influencers. Appreciated for its rapid results , SEA is above all a launch strategy that compensates for the slow start of long-term approaches such as SEO for example. The whole difficulty of SEA lies in choosing the platforms on which to invest: Google, LinkedIn or YouTube? To help you sort it out, this article offers a complete list of the main SEA levers and their characteristics. But to begin, it is important to review some fundamentals of acquisition strategies.
Acquisition Strategies: What Do You Need to Know Before You Get Started?
So let's start by reviewing the basics! There's no point in investing a single euro before making sure you follow these few rules.
rules-SEA
Know your targets inside out
If you don't know exactly who your communication is aimed at, you risk throwing your money out the window. So study your persona carefully before launching any action. Ask yourself what their intentions are when they carry out their research: do they want to find out more, compare offers, find reviews, buy? SEA is mainly aimed at targets with a high degree of maturity, i.e. people who are well advanced in the purchasing process.
Choose the right keywords
The keywords used by Internet users reflect their level of maturity : you must therefore choose them carefully and monitor their performance closely. A person who types in "what is an accountant for" is looking to understand this profession. This query is not very interesting for an accountant who wants to attract new clients. Conversely, the keyword "accounting firm Lyon" is much more effective: it clearly indicates that the user wants to get in touch with an accountant located near their company.
Work on your landing pages
Investing in the right keywords won’t do any good if your landing pages convert poorly. To create landing pages that work , make sure to:
Choose an aesthetic and professional design
Optimize CTAs
Abuse good copywriting practices to obtain a clear and attractive value proposition as well as persuasive arguments based on identity and emotions
Measure your actions
To evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and thus botim database refine it further, consider setting up a tagging plan . This step consists of defining the key indicators to follow, then centralizing all the data using a tracking tool , such as Google Tag Manager for example. You will thus be able to determine the keywords that bring you the most traffic, but above all those that convert the best.
Which levers should you use for your SEA and why?
Here are now 5 major levers that you can activate in your SEA strategy.
top-5-sea
1. Google Ads: classic paid acquisition
Google Ads is an advertising service that consists of positioning your website on certain keywords in order to appear at the top of the Google results page. This strategy is one of the most widespread, because it offers very high visibility . It can suit most companies, but it should be noted that the cost per click of keywords in certain sectors of activity is extremely high. If this is your case, make sure you have the means to overtake your competitors before launching your campaign. For the most modest budgets, it may be interesting to consider other levers such as social networks for example.
Google Ads has many advantages, such as the great precision with which you can select keywords or, on the contrary, discard them . The platform also provides access to a multitude of data that allows you to measure the performance of campaigns and therefore improve them.
2. Display: traditional online advertising
Display ads are the digital versions of those in the paper press. The ads generally take the form of an image or video on which the Internet user can click in order to be directed to a merchant site. They are managed by advertising agencies, the best known of which are Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Displays are often used to work on visibility and awareness , but it is possible to pursue a conversion objective. The main advantage of this strategy is the ability to precisely target leads and therefore publishers, according to specific demographic, geographic and interest criteria. Display ads are also suitable for companies that do retargeting .
3. Social networks: how to choose?
Today, your SEA strategy can no longer do without social networks. Your target is necessarily there, but you still need to know on which ones! Advertising on this type of platform has the following advantages.
The formats are varied : text, photo, video, carousel, etc.
Targeting is extremely advanced : the networks have a lot of data on their users and make it available to you to reach your prospects with great efficiency.