There is a lot more to marketing online than just creating a website and hoping people will find you. How many bike shops are there on the internet that sell the brands you stock? How many are in your city alone? Creating a shop website is a great way to market your brand and boost sales, especially if matched to a social media marketing campaign, but unless you are strategic about it the most probable outcome is that very few people will ever find your website.
There are many different impressions available to you online. One thing is certain though, impressions are the result of people finding you and without them your online business will be just like so many others - unseen and forgotten.
What are online impressions?
Online impressions are anytime your business details are shown on a webpage. They range in complexity from a basic banner add on your local newspaper website through to targeted impressions and retargeting campaigns.
Targeted impressions
Targeted impressions are where you can set parameters as to who you want to view your details or advertisement. As a local bike shop, your targeted market would ideally be:
- Consumers local to your business
- Consumers interested in cycling
- Consumers searching for products you stock
By running targeted campaigns you get better quality leads and don’t waste impression dollars on people who are not interested in what you have to offer. This form of marketing is generally very cost effective but can be complicated to get it right.
Retargeting
Retargeting is where your advertisement shows up on various participating websites after a consumer has visited your website. This works by Google tracking your visitors then showing your ads to those visitors when they look at other webpages that allow retargeting campaigns. You would have experienced this yourself. One day you are looking at the BMW website then for the next 30 days there seems to be BMW advertisements everywhere you go on the web.
Retargeting is a great way to reinforce your brands or product but it relies on your site already having traffic. This means it is generally best paired with another marketing campaign that drives consumers to your site. For the average local bike shop this form of marketing is generally out of reach.
How are online impressions charged?
Impressions are generally charged by a CPM (cost per mille) or CPC (cost per click)
'Cost Per Thousand - CPM'
The price of 1,000 advertisement impressions on one webpage. If a website publisher charges $2 CPM, that means an advertiser must pay $2 for every 1,000 impressions of its ad. The "M" in CPM represents the roman numeral for 1,000. CPM is the most common method for pricing web ads. However, an advertisement's success cannot be measured by CTR (click through rate) alone, because an ad that is viewed but not clicked on may still have an impact.Source - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cpm.asp
CPM pricing varies based on the website and traffic potential. But as a general rule $6 - $12 CPM is the average you could expect to pay.
Not all CPM campaigns are equal!
If I were to advertise my BMW car yard sale through an online business publication (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/#) I would get lots of impressions but only a small % would be potential customers. If i advertised on a BMW fan page (http://www.bimmerpost.com/) and targeted the advertisement to visitors within 500 miles of my location. The advertisement will not yield as many impressions but it would reach a more targeted market.
What are your options as a local bike store?
So, what are my options? In reading all this it starts to sound like a 'too hard basket' sort of thing! Unfortunately it is foolish and potentially a waste of time and money to create an online presence without paying attention to the importance of impressions. Fortunately BikeRoar offers a targeted solution that:
- Does not require you to generate your own advertising material
- Does not require you to have a functioning website to direct customers to
- Provides an online listing of your business
- Targets online visitors looking at brands and products you stock local to you.
- Potential of 10,000+ uncapped impressions per month for $10 per month
It is as simple as filling in your store details and selecting the brands you stock. When an online visitor local to you views a product from a brand you stock you store details will appear in the buy locally now section.
For more information contact us info@bikeroar.com
