Online Marketing Boulder, Colorado

So, you’ve got a great business with a wonderful unique selling proposition. Now how do you target the right people and attract them to your business? Obviously, you will want to focus your marketing efforts on where your customers are going to be found. It doesn’t matter whether you are a local Boulder, Colorado business or not; you need to market your business in order to make it grow.

If you are familiar with Boulder, Colorado, you will know that people here march to the beat of their own drum. That goes for businesses as well. Boulder isn’t a normal place and neither are the businesses that make the community thrive. That is why attracting the right audience is so essential to your business. You need an online marketing approach that speaks to your audience.

Online Marketing

As everyone in Boulder is constantly online, for most businesses the best approach is through online marketing platforms like AdWords & Facebook Ads. This is because the majority of internet users search through Google, and a very high portion of overall internet usage can be attributed to time spent on Facebook. So, no matter who your target customer is, a significant portion of them are using these fantastic products.

AdWords vs Facebook

Clients have asked me which one of these platforms they should advertise on. Honestly, there is no one answer. I think both are wonderful, but for some clients, I have seen one work better over the other. A lot of this has to do with the targeting, optimization, and messaging. So let’s break down the advantages of both of these.

Benefits To Using AdWords

AdWords has the ability to target and reach people through Google Search, the Google Display Network (and partner sites), and the Google Shopping Network. The targeting options can be extremely in-depth and allow you to target and optimize for the right audience. AdWords is really a beast so I won’t even get into all of the amazing targeting options (which include being able to set bid adjustments).

• Google Search – allows you to use “keywords” to target people that are searching the Google ‘search engine. This is fantastic for initiating engagement like a website click, a phone call, or even a text message conversation. For if your business is Ted’s Boulder Plumbing Co. then you could bid on keywords like “plumber in boulder.”

• Google Display Network – allows you to advertise across Google Properties (like YouTube & Gmail), and millions of partner sites & mobile apps. This is a great online marketing medium for brand awareness and remarketing.

• Google Shopping – product shopping engine that Google uses in Google Shopping as well as Google Search results. The search results use the product description instead of keywords to help determine which searches trigger the ad to appear.

Benefits To Using Facebook Ads

Facebook allows you to use a myriad of ads to people on Facebook and Instagram. Along with AdWords, Facebook Ads has its own unique targeting abilities. You can target by so many different interests and affinities as well as demographic information that it is really insane. Some of the targeting options allow you build audiences to show your ad that includes, excludes, or combines lists based on the following:

• Interests – target people with hobbies, entertainment choices, etc.
• Demographics – location, age, gender, language.

• Connections Audience – people that have performed an action in connection with your page.

• Custom Audiences – customer or lead phone numbers or email list that allow you to target these people.

• Lookalike Audiences – allows you to build audiences that are similar to a custom audience or connection audience. Facebook will find people that have shown tendencies on many interlacing levels to be like the audiences you choose.

I recommend using both online marketing platforms if possible. Either way you go, you will need to track, analyze, and optimize in order to be successful on the web.