What is Digital Advertising?
Digital advertising is digital marketing that uses digital technology to communicate a message. Digital marketing has been rapidly growing over the years with digital media being efficient, cost-effective, and interactive. Now digital advertising has become a way for companies to market their brand/products through digital platforms such as social media, websites, and digital billboards.
Digital marketing is far more personalized and effective for its users. As tools using AI, browser history and digital footprints become more available to digital advertisers, digital marketing has become a channel for both large and small companies to reach consumers.
Companies are spending their ad spend dollars mainly on digital mediums such as digital billboards, mobile devices, and social media. Data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows that digital advertising spending is increasing every year with digital’s share of total ad spend increasing from 17% in 2010 to 32.8% in 2017.
Why use digital advertising?
The numbers don’t lie, this is why companies make sure to include digital:
- has a higher return on investment compared to other digital mediums, with digital advertising giving digital advertisers “23x the returns of TV.”
- can be used across multiple devices and screen sizes.
- ads are less likely to distract users from their main task/goal when browsing online. [Informative]
- not limited to a specific demographic or age group, making digital advertising more inclusive than other digital mediums such as social media.
- ads are interactive and can be used to collect data on users.
What are the different types of digital advertising?
There are many digital advertising mediums digital advertisers can use. They include digital billboards, mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), and social media among others. Here are just some of the most popular assets companies are using today and the benefits of each.
Search Engine Marketing (SEO & Blogs)
SEO is an example of digital advertising with digital “billboards” that digital advertisers can use to advertise their brand/products. Search Engine Marketing has been growing for digital advertisers as it allows them to have a “voice” on search engines such as Google and Bing through content marketing, digital billboards, and pay-per-click campaigns.
Blogging is another digital advertising platform that digital advertisers utilize to advertise their brand/products. Blogging has been growing for digital advertisers as it allows them to reach a wider demographic and target audience with topics that appeal to users’ interests. This is because a company can vastly improve its search impressions by creating content that matches what Google users are searching for. Google then rewards a company that has spent time curating content that is engaging readers with higher rankings.
Social Media Ads
Have been a digital advertising staple for digital advertisers. Social media ads allow digital advertisers to promote their brand/products through ad campaigns on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This is a digital advertising medium that digital advertisers can use to target a specific demographic or age group, making it very effective for reaching consumers at an affordable cost.
AD Networks are digital “billboard” websites that digital advertisers can utilize to advertise their brand/products. These digital billboards are often used in digital advertising campaigns by small businesses and digital agencies. Ad Networks can be particularly useful for digital marketers looking to increase sales through organic search traffic, with ad networks allowing digital advertisers to promote ads on multiple publishers at once. This digital advertising strategy allows digital advertisers to target new audiences and track sales conversions.
Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat are all digital mediums digital marketers can use as digital assets for digital ad campaigns. These social media platforms provide digital advertisers access to the largest online market of users – a pool of over three billion users! Digital advertisers can use digital ads on social media platforms to promote their brand/products by targeting specific demographics or age groups through ad campaigns. Ultimately social media is a great way to reach a wide audience with engaging content that drives traffic to your website to nurture customer relationships or reach new clientele.
Google PPC Ads
PPC or pay-per-click digital advertising allows digital advertisers to only pay when users “click” on an ad. This digital advertising platform can be effective because digital advertisers are able to control which search terms their ads are displayed under. For example, digital advertisers may choose to run a campaign for the term “blue widgets” while excluding the term “red widgets.” This digital advertising strategy allows digital advertisers to control their budget, increase traffic to their website and reach customers at an affordable cost.
Google Adwords specifically is a digital advertising network digital marketers can use to promote their brand/products through PPC ad campaigns. Digital marketers can run multiple ads with different text that direct users to different landing pages to maximize the number of conversions they acquire. The great thing about PPC campaigns is the early base hits! Companies and our clients can generally expect their first leads within a few days of beginning a campaign!
Display Ads
A digital advertising platform digital marketers can use to promote their brand/products through banners and popups. These digital ads allow digital advertisers to target a specific demographic or age group, making display ads an especially effective digital advertising strategy for small businesses who might not have access to other digital ad platforms. Display ads can be used in digital advertising campaigns by digital marketers to promote their brand/products and increase website traffic.
Display ads consist of digital billboards that digital marketers can use to target specific audiences through banners and popups on publisher websites. Digital advertisers and digital marketers often use display ads as a way to reach new audiences and increase website traffic through digital ads.
Local SEO
Is similar to how old-school yellow pages and large banners on the side of the road just a few decades ago! Through google my business accounts and optimized business pages google’s algorithm detects a person’s local area and optimizes their search query as so.
Trust me you have seen this before if you own a sandwich shop and someone down the street wants a turkey sandwich, we all know google won’t waste time displaying the, “best” shop even one city over.
However, what you may not know is it takes some effort and fine-tuning to ensure your business is setting up google for success in displaying your business to the right customers at the right time.
Digital Advertising Challenges
It is important digital marketers know the digital ad campaigns they run have a direct impact on their digital presence in the industry. Here are a few examples of how digital advertising can negatively affect a brand:
1. Unqualified leads – The digital ad you ran brought zero customers to your website, zero conversions, and zero sales! It is important digital marketers know digital ad campaigns can harm the digital presence of their brand through unqualified leads.
2. Tarnished reputation – What if a digital ad you ran for your company unintentionally offended some potential customers? Digital marketers must ensure digital ads they run don’t tarnish a company’s reputation with any particular demographic or age group. More importantly, the marketing team uses an agreed-upon brand voice that
3. SEO damage – What if a digital marketer runs a digital ad campaign that hurts the digital presence of their brand on search engines? Digital marketers must ensure digital ads they run don’t impact any digital marketing strategies running at the same time and furthermore stay informed on SEO best practices that satisfy google’s ever algorithm.
4. Bad business advice. While our tools and world have changed so much the ways people do business are very much the same. Provide a good product or experience and you are rewarded with business. When it comes to your digital presence this is the same thing. Run a great ad, but provide a confusing website experience that is slow, and outdated. Find someone that is passionate about the customer’s journey.
3 Focuses for Today’s Digital Marketer
Explain Reach vs. Impressions: Why they both matter.
Reach and impressions are digital advertising metrics digital marketers should be aware of because digital ad campaigns use a combination of the two to measure a digital advertiser’s performance. Reach measures digital ads that have been displayed on publisher websites, while impressions measure the number of times digital ads have been displayed on publisher websites.
Why do both reach and impressions matter? Because digital marketers know digital advertising campaigns that generate impressions but fail to capture a digital advertiser’s target audience results in wasted ad spend and lost opportunities. Similarly, digital marketers who generate reach without increasing digital advertiser’s website traffic experience the poor performance as well.
Cost Per Acquisition(CPA) vs. Cost Per Click (CPC): Why they both matter.
Marketers should understand digital ad metrics such as CPA and CPC because digital advertising campaigns use a combination of the two to measure their digital advertiser’s performance.
Why do both cost per acquisition and cost per click matter? Because digital marketers know digital advertising campaigns that generate CPA but fail to capture digital advertiser’s target audience results in wasted ad spend and lost opportunities. Similarly, digital marketers who generate CPC without increasing digital advertiser’s website traffic experience poor performance as well.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Digital marketers should understand digital advertising metrics such as CTR because digital advertising campaigns use a combination of the two to measure their digital advertiser’s performance.
Digital marketers should maximize digital ad campaigns that target digital advertisers who have purchase intent because digital ads can generate CTRs from 10 percent up to 50 percent. Digital marketers should not spend digital ad dollars on digital ads that only obtain a CTR of less than 10 percent because digital ads will result in wasted ad spend.
Have a Strong Call to Action
Digital marketers should set digital ads with a strong call to action so digital advertisers know exactly what they need to do next. Digital advertisers should not run digital ad campaigns with vague and non-actionable digital ad copy such as “check out our list of services” because digital advertisers will likely receive low CTRs.
Today digital ads are everywhere. They are on our phones, tvs, and computers. These digital ads make us click whether we want to or not. Digital advertising starts with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media marketing, digital video ads then finally display banner ads. On average over 70% of google users can positively identify an ad! This is the #1 reason your ad copy should be obvious! Don’t provide general information, use phrases like “find out more.” Assume the click is a sale! Tell this potential googler what sets you apart, give them a deal or a value proposition and ask for the sale!
Need an Expert to Take a Look?
Hunting for a new digital marketing partner, or just want someone to give you an idea of where you are? At Lane Digital Marketing we are here for any project big or small with one goal in mind! Get more business and spend less doing it! We aren’t talking about cheap or affordable we make digital marketing valuable. Successful campaigns that reduce ad spend and optimize effectiveness. We serve the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX metroplex and beyond with expertise in automotive, technology, restaurants, boutiques, health and wellness, urgent care facilities & emergency rooms, and product launches. How can we help you get started?