What is Digital Advertising, and Is it Worth it?
Advertising is a general term that could mean many different things, with print, television, and radio advertising being around for decades. Digital advertising came on the scene with the rise of the internet. Nowadays, digital advertising is more popular and effective than traditional advertising. Before you jump into a digital advertising campaign, let’s answer the questions posed initially. What is digital advertising, and is it worth it?
What is Digital Advertising?
Digital advertising is a type of advertising that uses the internet to promote a business’s products or services to its audience. You might see digital advertising called digital marketing, online advertising, and internet advertising too. There are several types of digital advertising that can have different purposes. Here are the most common types of digital advertising.
Types of Digital Advertising
Social Media Advertising
Social media ads consist of paid advertising on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin. You create and manage these ads through your business’s social media pages. Social media platforms have become quite advanced in their advertisement features. For example, you can easily add videos to your ads, create specific targeting, and customize a schedule for your ad to display.
Display Advertising
Otherwise known as display ads or banner ads, display advertising is the ads you see on websites. You can find them on the top, bottom, sides, and even pop-ups on the webpage. There are different forms of display ads, including full banners, squares, buttons, and skyscrapers.
Search Engine Advertising
Search engine advertising, or search engine marketing (SEM), are ads that are listed at the top of search engines for keywords you choose. For example, if you’re a lawn care business, you might pay for an ad on Google for the search term “lawn care service near me.” When someone searches that keyword phrase, your ad (including the link to your website) will appear at the top of those search results. Search engine ads will be labeled “Ad” on the search result page. This type of digital advertising takes some strategy with keyword research but can be very effective in driving traffic to your website.
Email Advertising
Email advertising promotes your services and products through email campaigns to potential customers. This is an excellent method for getting the word out on promotions and product launches. You gather emails by building an email list through opt-ins on your website. This could be an invitation for website visitors to sign up for news and sale alerts for your business. Consumers are very resistant to spam messages (aren’t we all!), so use a careful strategy when sending email advertisements.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is more of a strategy that uses other types of digital advertising. These advertisements are specifically targeted to the consumer based on their behavior and preferences. The ad is strategically placed in the consumer’s social media newsfeed, search engine results, or through their online shopping experience. For example, if someone shows interest in lawn care service by liking lawn pages on Facebook or Google, searching for tips, or shopping for supplies, an ad for your lawn care business would be relevant. Through native advertising, your ad would be shown to them in various places.
Video Advertising
Video advertising can appear in various forms. For example, you can have video ads as part of your display advertising, social media advertising, and native advertising. Video advertising also consists of video ads before, during, or after a video plays on websites like YouTube, Facebook, and Hulu. Some of these websites allow users to skip the ad after several seconds, so this type of advertising requires creativity to get your message out quickly!
How Much Does Digital Advertising Cost?
The next common question is how much is all of this going to cost? There are several ways you pay for digital advertising. We’ve narrowed it down to the most basic cost methods for digital advertising.
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click): This is the most common cost method for digital advertising where you pay for each time someone clicks on your ad. If your ad is strategically placed and relevant to the audience, your money is well spent because the chances are higher that those ad clicks will lead to sales.
- CPA (Cost-Per-Action): In this cost type, you pay when someone clicks the ad and completes the purchase.
- CPM (Cost-Per-Mille or Cost-Per-Thousand): These ads require payment based on impressions instead of clicks. Meaning you pay when a certain amount of people see the ad.
Is it Worth It?
Digital advertising is definitely worth it when there’s a solid strategy in place. With digital advertising, it’s easier to track ROI and gauge how well (or poorly) a digital ad is performing. Additionally, digital advertising is better at reaching your target audience than traditional advertising, meaning you’re not wasting your advertising budget on groups that aren’t relevant to your product. Digital advertising is a piece of the puzzle. It works beautifully with other marketing techniques to increase brand awareness, provide value, and improve sales.
Choosing a Digital Advertising Partner
With a greater understanding of the digital advertising world, you can go out there and win! The tools are there to do it on your own, but working with an expert digital marketing company can help push those leads into actual sales. At Suite Edge, we specialize in digital advertising and marketing and work with you from strategy and development to execution and support so your business can succeed! So start the conversation now by contacting our team today.
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