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Although anyone who’s online is exposed to web advertising constantly, many of us are pretty unfamiliar with the type of digital ads that are available, including how they’re placed and how they work. Here’s an overview of the major types of web advertising.
First, let’s point out the obvious: for digital advertising to work at all, your website has to be top-notch, because your ads will take viewers directly to it. If your website is not mobile-friendly, user-friendly, and well-designed, you should focus your marketing efforts and budget on that first.
But if your website is representing you well, a digital advertising campaign may be worth considering. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of digital advertising generally. Advantages include:
Disadvantages of digital ads include:
You know those entries that come up at the very top of search engine results pages, marked “ad”? Those are pay-per-click ads. This type of advertising is sold through Google’s Adwords, and it is essentially exactly what it sounds like – you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it.
The advantages: Pay-per-click ads are extremely targeted, in that your ad is only shown to people who search on a keyword or phrase that’s relevant to your business — in other words, your ad goes out only to people who want what you’re selling! It’s also affordable, and easy to structure to limit your ad by geography.
The disadvantages: Although this can be a great tool to reach people who are looking for what you offer, pay-per-click is seldom enough to carry a campaign on its own. It’s less appropriate for general awareness campaigns.
You can buy digital ads on Google that appear on more than two million websites collectively known as the Google Display Network. Such ads can be formatted as text, images, or even videos. They can be targeted by:
Many times, campaigns are structured using two or more targeting methods.
In addition, you can sometimes buy digital ads from specific websites that host their own advertising. These can include but are not limited to:
Have you noticed that whenever you shop for an item online (say, a replacement carafe for your coffeemaker), ads for that item start following you all over the web? It can feel a little Big Brother-ish, but this works in a totally impersonal manner – when you shop on a website, a small bit of code called a “cookie” attaches itself to your browser. When you are browsing elsewhere on the web, this “cookie” cues Google about your browsing history, and cues which ad to show you. (This same technology helps websites “remember” you.)
Remarketing campaigns can be set for a specific browsing time period, targeting anyone who visited your website within the past two weeks or months, for example.
The advantages: Remarketing, as the name implies, helps sell to people who have already indicated an interest in your product or service by browsing your site.
The disadvantages: Remarketing campaigns can’t tell when you already made your purchase or decision. So, for example, those ads for coffee carafes may continue to stalk you long after you bought the replacement. Also, many Internet users block “cookies,” which prevents this kind of advertising from working.
The explosion of mobile phone use has revolutionized digital promotion of all kinds. In the world of advertising, mobile means that is now possible to target ads to users based on where they are at that point in time. The geotargeted area can be as big as a city, or as small as a sports stadium, and you can set specific times for the ads to run. These banner ads are placed on all kinds of apps, including weather apps and games, for example.
Advantages: This form of advertising targets people during a specific time at a specific place.
Disadvantages: Mobile ads are generally priced by impression, rather than by click. Also, geotargeted banner ads do not include apps that have their own, native advertising — which includes many of the most popular mobile apps, including social media, news apps, and Google maps.
Do you need help with a digital marketing campaign? Call Prime Design Solutions for a free consultation at (814) 248-3180.
It’s now possible to buy digital ads on virtually all social media platforms — from promoted tweets to sponsored stories. Here are the high points:
Advantages: Social networks gather an enormous amount of user information, and you can use this information to more effectively target your audience – by specific or general interests that are self-reported, age, income level, geography, and even gender.
Custom targeting is also possible on some platforms – for example, Facebook remarketing is a good option for some businesses (it works similarly to Google remarketing — your developer places a pixel generated by Facebook into your website’s coding. The pixel then tracks the browsers of people who visit the site. When those people later visit Facebook, your ads will appear in their Facebook feed).
Also, a major advantage of social media advertising is that it’s a great place to reach people on mobile, and many of the same features of geotargeting are available here.
Disadvantages: For social media ads to be effective, the platform must be a good promotional tool for your business in the first place – so, for example, most business-to-business companies are not particularly well-suited to advertising on Facebook, simply because people on Facebook are not in a business frame of mind.
Digital advertising is the most targeted advertising form available when used correctly, and can be a useful tool in implementing your marketing strategy.
By Shelley Johansson, a former staff member Visit Shelley on Google+.Check out INNOVATIVE TOMATO, our sister company that specializes in digital advertising, mobile app development, and video & motion graphics.