Message match in paid online advertising orients your audience and keeps your main message front and center. Don’t overlook this vital advertising technique.

Recently, I was looking for a plumber. I clicked on the following ad (branding obscured for privacy reasons)

Okay, $60 off sounded good. The problem is that when I arrived at the website, I was just on their main homepage. There was no mention of the $60 off deal.

I left and eliminated this plumber as an option.

Soon after I found myself in need of parking at the airport. I found this ad enticing:

The ad clicked through to this landing page:

Perfect. The message on the landing page matches what the ad says. I reserved a space.

These examples demonstrate the concept of message match, which means that the message you communicate in your ad matches — without ambiguity — the message on your landing page.

So, if your ad mentions a discount or deal, you have message match if the first thing people see when they arrive is the same deal and how to redeem it.

This may sound obvious, but many businesses make the same mistake as the plumber. They run an ad with an enticing offer, but link it to their homepage — which just has their general branding content.

This causes disorientation in visitors. They immediately start to wonder where the offer they want to redeem is.

Worse, when they can’t find it they get frustrated. Bait and switch they think. If this happens, you’ve lost the lead.

The solution is simple. Either create a landing page that specifically matches the ad, or include the deal from the ad on your homepage.

This may require some design work, but it’s worth it. If your landing page content doesn’t match your ad, your conversions won’t match up with your goals.

Originally published on 9/23/19