While advertising can be overwhelming, it becomes easier when you take steps to figure out what’s working.

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is, “How can I increase my campaign traffic?” It can be difficult for media buyers who are new to native advertising to navigate how it works and scale at the same time, especially since it’s not always instant success. Despite the challenges, native advertising is a great way to reach new audiences.

For this post, we talked to some of the media buyers using Maximus about how they successfully drive traffic to their campaigns. Here are the strategies they shared.

1. Increase volume expectations

Increasing your volume expectations (or click pacing) controls the spend of your budget over time. Raising the desired click pacing gives your campaign a higher CPC, meaning that it will appear to more people in a shorter amount of time. This increases the likelihood of a higher rate of clicks and impressions. Doing this also allows you to determine which images and headlines are performing best and how the campaign is performing overall.

2. Try new creatives

Your creatives are important — they’re the first thing your audience will see in the funnel, so it’s important to make them eye catching and engaging. When writing a headline, try something catchy such as a question or a listicle. Make sure your description is relevant and clear. Use high-quality images related to your headline and product.

Finally, try new things with your creatives. Testing different headlines, images, and copy is the best way to find out what your audience finds most engaging.

3. Raise your budget

“You have to spend money to make money” is a common phrase, and in this case it’s true. Investing in your ads is critical to success because it allows you to expand when necessary. If you start with a small budget, you might see sales. If you have a product that sells particularly well on weekends, though, you may be limiting your conversions because of your budget. Setting a higher spend per day doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll go through your full budget every single day. It does mean you’ll have extra padding for the days where you see more sales, and could even earn you more sales because you’ll reach more people.

4. Raise your cost per click

Another way to drive traffic to your campaign is to increase your cost per click. A higher CPC means your advertisement will rank higher on a page and earn more impressions. You may have already pinpointed creatives or keywords that are working well for you and reliably lead to conversions. Raising your CPC bid on the strongest keywords and creatives means you’ll rank better and will likely lead to more sales.

5. Cut out what doesn’t work

Testing creatives is one of the most important things you can do to drive traffic to your campaigns. The flip side of that is cutting out what doesn’t work. If an image or headline is underperforming, it should be pulled from your rotation. This will ensure you aren’t losing money on creatives that don’t work as well. It will also help further define what does and doesn’t work. This also applies to demographics that aren’t working for you. Once you have a better understanding of what resonates with your audience and who that audience is, you can focus on creating more content like it.

6. Expand your targeting

You probably already know who your core audience is. However, consider who you’re really targeting. Your product might sell well for white males in the 18–34 age range who are interested in fitness and sports, but that’s also just a basic, banal personality that doesn’t really get at the person behind the demographic. Instead, use network targeting capabilities to test new target audiences. New target audiences mean wider reach for you and your brand.

7. Broaden your demographic

This goes hand in hand with expanding targeting. When you start thinking about broadening your demographic, consider who is using your product and how they’re using it. Your “white males in the 18–34 age range who are interested in fitness and sports” audience might be working for you, which is great! But also consider how other demographics might use your product — many women, student athletes, and seniors who are active in their communities might also enjoy the product at hand. Take some time to find out who is buying your product and how they’re using, which will allow you to expand your demographics and advertise to a wider audience.

While starting on native can be overwhelming at first, it becomes easier when you take steps to figure out what is working for both you and your campaigns.