This article will give you a whole new perspective on digital advertising. Marketing your business in this fast-moving world can be very difficult. With improvements to technology, people are always in a hurry. It’s tough to get your advertisements in the right places where the right people can see them. It can be even more difficult to even keep their attention when people are often on the go.

The way around this is through advertising on the internet. It follows them wherever they go, and with the right tactics, they will even come to you. These online advertising tactics are also called digital advertising. Digital advertising will get your business out there, build awareness, generate leads, and get you sales.

What is Digital Advertising?

Simply put, digital advertising is any sort of advertisement done on an online medium or channel. Digital advertising is an aspect of digital marketing, also known as online marketing, that deals specifically with your online ads. There are many kinds of digital advertisements. Many digital advertising methods are paid, but there are some organic methods that are free. The types of digital advertisements you should use depends on the channels you will be going through and where your target market is most often. We have gathered a simple list of some of the most common types of digital advertising.

Search Ads

Search engine advertising and search engine optimization is all about utilizing the various searches people do on different search engines. It is a great method of digital advertising as most everybody uses a search engine to navigate the internet. By using search advertising, you can get your ads in front of people searching for things related to your ads. People will get onto Google, Bing, Yahoo! or other search engines and they can see your ads along with their related search results. This can be done both organically or through putting up paid ads. When you create ads for search, your success is determined by targeting certain keywords, searches, or terms. It can be very effective as it gets your ads in front of people interested in related topics.

Display Ads

Display advertising is the visual counterpart to search. It’s a form of advertising that most often utilizes images and text. Banner ads, pop-ups, and landing pages are all forms of display ads. While search ads are all about the words and search engines, display ads are about visuals and proper site placement. Display ads can be put up just about anywhere. These advertisements can really grab people’s attention in a way that text alone cannot. These are done through paid services provided by the particular site you choose to do it through.

Native Ads

Native advertising is all about matching the site’s content. This means that your ad should be very related to the topics of the website you are posting through. Though it is very similar to display, native advertising is different because it is more strategic and targeted. The main difference is your ads are paid and promote products or services. These ads are more relevant to the target audience and are more difficult to discern from the website content they are advertised with. They can also be videos or articles.

Social Ads

Social advertising is any advertising done on social media. Many people use at least one type of social media site. These sites include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkdIn, and more. Each of these channels can be a great way to offer up your advertisements to your target market. The sort of social media site you use is important since your particular target audience may use one social media platform more than others. Social is also great because it lends itself well to many content types. You can post images, text, or video ads. Each different social media channel offers its own paid services and management tools.

Video Ads

Video ads are pretty straightforward. They are ads done online through the medium of video. They are like display ads, in that they utilize visuals to grab attention and imagery to say more with less words, but they have the added advantage of changing and moving. This helps to grab people’s attention even more. They can appear on sites like Youtube, Hulu, or Facebook, where many viewers will watch video content, or they can be used to fill the roles of display or native ads. Videos can be a great tool for advertising as their potential for creativity is great. The main drawbacks are keeping your videos short and interesting enough to hold people’s attention.

Email Ads

Email ads are the last on our list. This digital advertising type is done by emailing lists of potential customers that have already shown interest by opting into an email list or providing their information. As these lists of potential customers grow, you can then gear email advertisements towards certain types of your customers. The email ads can include promotions, discounts, articles, and other kinds of content. The idea is to draw potential customers in and keep previous customers interested.

Why should you use digital advertising?

Digital advertising is very beneficial in today’s world. Your business will benefit from the use of digital advertising for many reasons. Some of the biggest reasons would be convenience, adding value, and the results of digital advertising are quite measurable.

Convenience

Digital advertising is becoming more and more convenient for both the business and the target audience. Many customers find ways not to have to go out. They will shop online, stream movies, or even fill that social void through skimming social media. To counter this, marketers have had to become resourceful with advertising online. By using digital advertising correctly, it is the perfect way to get your advertisements in front of people on the go and in their homes. It is also very convenient for businesses to extend their reach in an affordable way to customers they would not be available to otherwise.

Add Value

Early online advertisements were not always the most tactful. They often came in the form of pop-ups, gimmicky, or tacky ads. Most everyone found them obnoxious. We have come a long way from there now. By adding value to these advertisements, they are not obnoxious and by targeting them towards the correct audience, they are even helpful. This approach has been great for putting the correct ads in front of the customers with the most potential. Digital advertising will maximize your effectiveness at getting your ads in front of your desired target audience as you present ads with discernable value.

Measurable results

One of the biggest struggles with advertising offline is the lack of data. Even when data can be collected, it is a somewhat difficult process. With digital advertising being online, there are a lot of measurable metrics. Data is collected by the different paid services and management tools used throughout the entire process. All these different measurable stats are made available for improving efficiency and monitoring the success of your efforts.

Your business has a lot to gain from using digital advertising. The main idea with digital advertising is to get your ads in front of people using the places they visit most on the internet. Paid or organic, this is done by knowing your target audience’s interests and adapting to that. Many people get nervous about using paid digital advertising, but there are some major benefits to be gained. Going along with all the benefits of digital marketing that were mentioned earlier, your advertisements will have an added edge. When used effectively, paid digital advertising can accomplish things that organic advertising cannot. It can also accomplish things quicker. We at Forge recommend you use digital advertising for your business as soon as you can if you aren’t already.