There are billions of people around the globe who use the internet. You cannot bypass digital marketing if you want your business to be up to date and have a wider customer reach and increase in sales. Users look for services and products while using Google or Yahoo, following their favorite influencers on social media, and subscribing to their channels and email newsletters.
As digital technologies evolved in the 90s, internet advertising appeared as a virtual equivalent to traditional marketing like TV, newspaper advertising, billboards, etc. These days companies will spend more money on digital advertising than on traditional ads.
The advantages of advertising online can be felt by large corporations to small businesses.
Opportunities for advertising on the internet appear neverending but you need to learn how to do it correctly so your business thrives.
Advantages of internet advertising.
Most of your customers are already on the internet.
We have a hard time thinking of someone who doesn’t use the internet? The fact that it is so ubiquitous is probably the most compelling reason to start digital advertising. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn give you opportunities to put your products or services in front of potential customers.
Digital advertising allows targeting
Traditional marketing media advertises to everyone without filtering, in digital advertising you can specifically target an audience — people who are most likely to convert into your clients based on their shopping habits and interests. For instance, a car company may use social media ads for advertising to users who are keen on buying a new car, encouraging likes and shares.
It’s cost-effective to advertise online
One of the key benefits of internet advertising is that it is cheaper than other adverting methods.
Even on a tighter budget, brands can reach a wide audience and stretch their marketing budget further for less money and higher reach.
You can spend thousands of dollars on a television ad or a billboard that might not have the optimal reach in people that are interested in what you have to sell. You can instead try internet ads and only pay when people who are interested in your products click on your ad.
You can measure the performance of your digital campaigns
Internet marketing is also a lot easier to measure and keep track of.
Analytics tools can help show what is working for you and what’s not, allowing further targeting of your marketing spend. This will give you a clear view of future campaigns and what you have to tweak to further optimize your process.
They can also provide data on what your ideal customer looks like – allowing you to further target your advertising to your most lucrative audiences.
Fast feedback
Social media websites are used by people to connect with their friends and family all over the world. It can also help you contact your audience on many types of platforms.
Organic engagement like replying to comments on your Bakery’s Instagram page, tweeting about your products or industry, and delivering great customer service are all ways to make people feel good about your brand.
Customer service is one powerful advertising method, and the internet is a very powerful tool to help your business achieve this.
Types of Internet advertising.
The Internet’s opportunities and tools for advertising are vast. Here are some of the most popular and trustworthy types of digital advertising.
Search Engine Marketing
A search bar is the starting point of the journey. Entering a keyword, people focus mainly on the first couple of pages. Search engine marketing is all about getting your web page on top of everybody else, whether in an organic or paid way.
Companies name their price for a particular keyword, while Google analyzes the quality and relevancy of the content.
Social Media Ads
This means advertising on socials like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. Companies tailor their news and promotions to the target audience on social media in two ways:
Organically. If you have a bakery, you can post valuable content like hacks, and recipes to encourage shares and build brand awareness.
Paid. In this case, you can use social media functionality for business by showing promotional posts targeted to your audience based on age, gender, favorite activities, etc.
Display Ads
Since the mid-1990s, display advertising has gained a negative reputation for being annoying media. Unless ads are highly relevant to the user, they are largely ignored or worse, totally invisible via ad-blockers.
Website owners with big traffic to their site want to monetize it, so they sell some of their space with Google AdSense, while the advertisers buy it with Google Ads. Google shows relevant ads based on two pricing approaches: CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per thousand views).
Email Marketing
This is a marketing approach based on communication via email. This type of internet advertising is one of the oldest players on the field and the most adaptive one since email marketers are always searching for innovations such as recently launched interactive amp emails.
You may personalize, and segment, your email campaigns to better target your audience.
Email marketing is the least obtrusive platform for advertising because subscribers willingly opt-in to receive email newsletters and promotions; plus, they can opt-out whenever they like.
Video Ads
As the name suggests, these ads are in a video format and placed on services like YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Vimeo. This is an expensive type of advertising but also an effective one because videos are easier to go viral.
