How artists can lower the costs of their ads
Simple actions artists can take to reduce their CPC, CPM, CPA.
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Let’s dive into today’s topic:
How artists can lower the costs of their ads
Artists can achieve more with their advertising budgets by implementing simple optimisations.
Why it matters
Most artists who advertise on programmatic platforms like Meta Ads do so with modest budgets, typically in the range of a few hundred euros. They often employ automated bidding strategies to maximise their results within this budget. However, such strategies come with the risk of higher costs per action (e.g. clicks, reach). It’s valuable to understand what influences these costs.
How it works
Advertising campaigns operate under pricing models such as CPC (Cost Per Click), CPM (Cost Per Mille), and CPA (Cost Per Action). While this may seem like advanced marketing, it’s essentially a straightforward calculation. For example: CPC is calculated by dividing the total ad spend by the number of clicks. If a €100,00 campaign generates 1.000 clicks, the CPC is €0,10.
These pricing models serve as performance indicators. Campaigns with a CPC of €0,10 outperform those with a CPC of €0,80. Therefore, when optimising campaigns, the goal is to spend less to achieve the desired outcome.
Here are some actions artists can take to reduce their CPC, CPM, CPA, and more:
Ad creative: Start with the ad’s video or image. Does it generate enough attention to make people stop scrolling? Look at metrics like the number of over-3-second video views or the relevance score.
Placements: Optimise the ad’s creative for all placements. It’s best to create specific edits for various dimensions, such as 1:1, 4:5, and 9:16.
Audience: While advertising platforms offer hyper-specific targeting options, costs tend to rise with smaller target audiences. Broadening the target audience rather than narrowing it down can often reduce a campaign's CPC. Let the algorithm find people who show interest in the ad.
Campaign settings: Some artists overcomplicate their campaigns with A/B tests and multiple ad sets. For those with limited budgets, simplicity is key.
Landing page: Lower-quality campaigns are more expensive. An often overlooked quality indicator is the landing page’s performance. Indicators are the website’s load time and it’s mobile optimisation.
Time of year: Ads are more expensive around Black Friday and Christmas when more brands are competing for ad space.
Yes, but..
Many marketing blogs overlook the fact that artists typically operate with relatively low media budgets. I recommend artists keep their campaigns basic and put 95% of their focus into the ad’s creative.
Take action now
Artists with active campaigns on platforms like Meta, Google, or TikTok can educate themselves about their campaign's performance indicators and identify at least one action to reduce campaign costs effectively.
Further reading / Go deeper
Four steps to strategically improve artist campaigns on Meta (The Fanbase Builder)
7 Simple Ways to Lower Your Facebook Cost Per Click (Hootsuite)
9 Expert Strategies For Decreasing Your CPA On TikTok (Mention)
What is a Good CPC for TikTok Ads & How to Lower it (NestScale)
How to improve social media ads with mockups (The Fanbase Builder)
See how other artists run their ads on TikTok (The Fanbase Builder)