HubSpot Digital Advertising Certification Overview
The following is a brief summary of the HubSpot Digital Advertising Certification located within the HubSpot Academy (https://academy.hubspot.com/courses?page=1). In total, the Digital Advertising course consists of 11 lessons, lasting 4 hours. You can also “speed up” the videos to view at 125% speed. The course provides supplemental material. In particular, they offer a Digital Advertising Workbook that is linked to other resources (i.e. corresponding blog posts, buyer persona generator, etc.). It includes 10 practical exercises and 4 pages of advertising related glossary words and definitions.
To save you some time and energy – I have provided a list of interesting useful statistics and observations regarding the course. Below this material, I have provided a list of all the videos and have highlighted specific videos that I have found to provide more specific, meaningful content. In general, the titles are quite descriptive and will give you an overview of the material covered. Overall, the videos are strong – however, the lessons that are not highlighted include more general information related to digital advertising. Please be aware that if you assign specific videos to students, they must first open an account in HubSpot Academy and then find the Digital Advertising course. You are unable to link directly to any of the course material. The course concludes with a 60 question multiple choice exam. You need to get 45 questions right to pass the exam.
As a whole, the course provides a good overview. Yet, to adequately cover the topic in class – more time and information needs to be allocated to Google Paid Search, keywords and ad creation (both display and search), and ad networks. Furthermore, instructors should make an effort to expose students to the actual Google platform, along with the various social media advertising related pages.
Course Objectives:
- Understand the relationship between digital advertising and the buyer’s journey
- Apply targeting strategies to digital advertising
- Create ad copy and design creative imagery.
- Develop paid search advertising
- Understand programmatic advertising
- Evaluate the performance of digital advertising campaigns
Statistics/Observations/Notes:
- Focus on Inbound Marketing/Buyer Persona
- Ads are one of out 4 posts users see on Instagram.
- Average organic reach of post on Facebook is “as low as” 2 percent.
- “95% of traffic goes to the sites on the first page of Google”
- Journey Based Advertising (Awareness, Consideration, Decision)
- Reasons to Believe (RTB) = value proposition/positioning
- Set budget on “profitable areas of opportunity”
- “The highest level of efficiency”
- “The greatest ability to increase volume”
- 70, 20, 10 budget split (70% based on historical performance to primary KPI; 20% new social channel/conversion rate optimization; 10% big/experimental ideas)
- Pixel based retargeting and list based retargeting – retargeting and remarketing. Retargeting – new audiences and visitors /remarketing – existing and previous customers
- Questions to Ask Yourself when you write an ad: How does this ad align with my customer’s values; What are the principles of my business? What makes my offer unique? How does this ad help my audience?
- Best Practices for Simplifying Language: Avoid Jargon and Acronyms; Reduce Verb Phrases; Reduce Wordy Phrases to Single Words; Avoid Vague Nouns
- In media res –put the consumer into the middle of messaging/the problem (no – Hey Bob)
- Tools: Hemingway Editor; Grammarly
- Use Amazon reviews to create ads
- 3 Primary Ad purposes: Concept ads drive awareness (video, big ideas); Content Ads drive engagement and lead generation (helpful resources, awareness and consideration) native advertising, educational value; Commerce ads drive sales (shopping, offers, etc.)
- Ad Creative Best Practices: Use contrast to make your design stand out (Color Wheel); Follow the rule of thirds; Use seasonality to theme your designs
- Tools: Adobe Creative Cloud; Envato; Canva
- 8.5 billion dollars spent on social media advertising
- 3.5 Billion Google Searches a day; 70% of total searches a day done on Google
- “Advertisers make $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads”
- Use at least 3 Google Ad Extensions in paid search ads
- “On average each type of extension drives a clickthrough rate uplift of 10-20%”
- 5 possible UTM Parameters: Source; Medium; Campaign; Term and Content
- Tracking Pixel discussion; Google Tag Manager; First/Third Party Cookie
Video Course Overview
Setting the Foundation for Digital Advertising Strategy
Ads are Content (4 minutes)
How Organic and Paid Work Together (6 minutes)
Getting Started with the Journey-Based Advertising
Unpacking the Evolution of the Modern Ad (3 minutes)
**What is Journey-Based Advertising? (8 minutes)**
Awareness Stage – Identify their problem; build trust
Consideration Stage – How to solve problem (i.e., your product); remarketing; branded content
Decision Stage – Content Offers, Trials, Sales
Adapting Journey-Based Advertising for Search and Social (6 minutes)
Specific examples of content that corresponds with each stage
How to Strategize and Plan Your Paid Media Campaigns
Understanding Your Target Audience (6 minutes)
General overview of buyer persona/developing buyer persona
**Identifying Your Goals and Objectives (4 minutes)**
Strong overview of the strategic role of paid media in achieving business objectives
**Determining Your Paid Media Budget (5 minutes)**
Good general advice in terms of approaching how much your should spend
70, 20, 10 budget split (70% based on historical performance to primary KPI; 20% new social channel/conversion rate optimization; 10% big/experimental ideas)
Manual Bidding vs. Automated Biding (5 minutes)
How to Optimize your Paid Media (6 minutes)
How to Use Targeted Advertising
What are Ad Targeting Strategies (2 minutes)
Understanding Demographic Targeting (3 minutes)
**Understanding Behavioral Targeting (7 minutes)**
Pixel based retargeting and list based retargeting – retargeting and remarketing. Retargeting – new audiences and visitors /remarketing – existing and previous customers
Understanding Contextual Targeting (3 minutes)
Mastering the Art of Ad Copy, Creative and Conversion
**Communicating the Value of Your Offer Through Copywriting (9 minutes)**
Questions to Ask Yourself when you write an ad: How does this ad align with my customer’s values; What are the principles of my business? What makes my offer unique? How does this ad help my audience?
Best Practices for Simplifying Language: Avoid Jargon and Acronyms; Reduce Verb Phrases; Reduce Wordy Phrases to Single Words; Avoid Vague Nouns
In media res – through consumer into the middle (no – Hey Bob)
Tools: Hemingway Editor; Grammarly; use Amazon reviews to help you write ads
**Designing Your Ad Creative (9 minutes)**
3 Primary Ad purposes: Concept ads drive awareness (video, big ideas); Content Ads drive engagement and lead generation (helpful resources, awareness and consideration) native advertising, educational value; Commerce ads drive sales (shopping, offers, etc.)
Ad Creative Best Practices: Use contrast to make your design stand out (Color Wheel); Follow the rule of thirds; Use seasonality to theme your designs
Tools: Adobe Creative Cloud; Envato; Canva
Optimizing Your Conversion Path (7 minutes)
Introduction to Social Media Advertising
The Advantages of Social Media Advertising (3 minutes)
8.5 billion dollars spent on social media advertising
Exploring the Social Media Advertising Platforms (12 minutes)
How to Create Remarkable Digital Ads for Social Media (4 minutes)
Introduction to Paid Search Advertising
The Advantages of Paid Search Advertising (2 minutes)
- Billion Google Searches a day; 70% of total searches a day done on Google
“Advertisers make $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads”
Exploring Keywords Research and Match Type (7 minutes)
How to Create Remarkable Digital Ads for Paid Search (5 minutes)
Organizing your Account Structure (2 minutes)
Advanced Google Ads Strategies
The Ins and Outs of Google Ads Extensions (8 minutes)
Diving Deeper into the Google Auction (4 minutes)
What is Programmatic Advertising and How Does it Work?
The Advantages of Programmatic Advertising (2 minutes)
Programmatic Advertising Explained (5 minutes)
Exploring the Programmatic Advertising Channels (5 minutes)
How to Monitor and Report on Ad Performance
**Understanding Ad Tracking (11 minutes)**
5 possible UTM Parameters: Source; Medium; Campaign; Term and Content
Tracking Pixel discussion; Google Tag Manager; First/Third Party Cookie
Running Experiments to Improve Ad Performance (5 minutes)
Exploring Attribution Reporting (6 minutes)
Calculating Return on Ad Spend (8 minutes)
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Caroline Munoz 