The basic definition of online advertising seems pretty straightforward, but there’s more nuance to it than you might assume. For starters, online ads come in a wide variety, each with its own use cases in specific scenarios. Second, online advertising alone won’t be adequate to increase brand awareness because you can’t force consumers to take any action; however, you can make them view an ad for a certain period, hopefully making a lasting impression. Here’s what else you should know before contacting an advertising agency for professional guidance.
Online advertising defined
Boiled down to its essence, online advertising includes any text, graphics, photos, and videos you show consumers online in a promotional context. Indeed, the purpose of an ad is always to showcase the business, whether it be a limited-time discount or the release of a new product. Web content would be empty, bland, and give little incentive to keep exploring the site without online ads. In fact, we’ve come to expect ads, so when a specific website doesn’t have them, we pause and wonder why the site doesn’t quite feel right.
Advertising is essential for any business, regardless of the industry. Whether you are selling a service like plumbing or a product like cars, without plumbing or vehicle ads, you would be limiting your reach and thereby, reducing web and foot traffic to the business.
Having said that, the benefits of online ads are many, yet one stands out from the others: exposure at scale. If you perform an online ad campaign well, you can reach far more consumers than you would with offline advertising like billboards and TV promotions. And it will come at a better price point, sometimes cents to the dollars compared to traditional ads. The trick is striking a healthy balance between search engine ads and social media ads.
Search engines
Over the last few decades, Google’s ad platform has evolved significantly. Now, you can take advantage of Google’s targeting abilities to show your ads to the consumers you want to attract. Best of all, you can use the same ads on mobile devices as long as you configure your site accordingly. The downside of search engine advertising is that you can get over your head on ad spending if you forget about the campaign, but Google lets you set a budget limit nowadays, so that happens less often. Whether you want to buy text-based ads or something with multi-media magic, search engine ad platforms have all you need in one system.
Social media
Similarly, online ads work well for social media as long as that’s where your target consumers gather. That’s the trick you need to keep in mind because not every industry has a vast social media following. Social media ad spending is a must if you’re advertising new clothing to millennials. If you’re advertising cloud software, however, you can expect a slimmer community because that market prefers to read more in-depth, sophisticated content.
Essentially, that’s the essence of online advertising. You reach your target consumers where they spend online and target them with display ads and clear calls-to-action, culminating in more financial success.
