How Much Should I Spend on Digital Advertising?

Posted by Amber Tobe on February 7, 2024 at 10:39 AM     Digital Advertising
How Much Should I Spend on Digital Advertising?

Whether launching a new business or wanting to grow, digital advertising is a great way to reach a brand-new audience. Hear our tips for understanding the right platforms and how to get started with budgeting for ads.

How Do I Know What to Spend on Digital Advertising? 

Many factors come into play when it comes to determining a budget.

Start with what you need to achieve. Is it brand awareness? Traffic? Lead generation? This will help determine the platform ads should serve on — search engines or social media. 

The cost per click can then be determined based on the platform, which contributes to the overall budget recommendation. In general, brand awareness tends to be less costly than lead generation. 

Regarding platforms, Facebook, for example, tends to be cheaper than Instagram and LinkedIn, but you’ll need to utilize the platform that fits your target audience.

Related: What to expect with a digital advertising program from Marketing Essentials >>

What Can I Expect to Pay Per Click for Digital Ads?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to deciding a budget for ad spend. Starting with your industry, we can determine the average cost per click for your service or product. 

Facebook, for example, has an industry-wide average cost per click of $0.72, but for B2B companies, the average is $2.52.

For Google, the industry-wide average for search ads is $2.69, but for the B2B industry, it is $3.33.

As you can see, depending on the platform and industry, the cost per click will vary and will play into what your overall budget will need to be.

How Do I Get My Ads in Front of the Right Audience? 

Are they actively or passively searching for your service? This will help you decide if you should utilize search engines, social platforms — or a mix of both. 

Display or social media ads are great for passive users and tend to be less expensive as they are more brand awareness and traffic-based goals. 

Active searches tend to be more lead generation focused, which is good on search engines or as traffic and lead ads on social media. Factoring in the industry and platform used, we can determine a budget after calculating what the average cost per click is going to be.

What Factors Influence the Costs of Advertising Online?

Search volume and competition are two variables that can affect ad costs, so your budget will have to adjust to compensate for these. 

While completing keyword research based on the desired location, we can forecast how much a click will cost and how many monthly searches there are for the target keywords. 

As an agency, we focus on three main buckets to help determine the budget from there: local campaigns, regional campaigns, and national campaigns. As the campaign location scales larger, the budget must increase to ensure reach.

Get Expert Support with Your Digital Ads

Digital ads are a great way to boost your business, but they can be complicated to set up and manage. With a team of 30+ marketing and sales experts, Marketing Essentials can help you create a budget, map out a strategic plan, and manage your ads to give your business the edge you need. Contact us today to learn more.