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Why You Should Consider Online Advertising Campaigns for Your Business

Online ads can send direct traffic to your website or landing page and filter out unqualified visitors with an excellent return on investment (ROI). An online advertisement is an effective tool in your arsenal for attracting users that need your products or services.

You can place digital advertising in many different settings depending on your industry and the demographic you are targeting. With the proper application of search engine optimization (SEO), you will be able to connect with people who need what you're selling.

There isn't any one-size-fits-all template for online advertising campaigns. Ads come in different formats, sizes, and styles. Depending on which online channel you place your ads, you will learn which type of ad works best.

Internet ads require forethought and planning. You need a marketing strategy, an understanding of how ads on websites work, and A/B testing to get the best results. The best results come from online ads placed strategically to lure your best customers.

What's an online ad?

An online ad is an advertisement that is placed on an internet channel using text, graphics, audio, or video to appeal to a select group of potential customers. Online ads use SEO and other techniques to accomplish a conversion.

Channels include any internet property like search engines, social media channels, websites, streaming services, etc. Conversions can be anything from clicking on an ad, landing on a webpage, and entering contact information in exchange for free-content to clicking on an ad, landing on a product page, and buying the product.

What are the benefits of online advertising?

There are excellent reasons to engage in online advertising. Here are some of them.

1. Wide audience for a low cost

The internet has opened up a global market for businesses. You can literally advertise to anyone with a computer connection, and sell products and services to customers around the world. This is especially true if you are selling services, like SaaS, streaming, and podcasts.

Traditional advertising, radio, newspaper, and television, are all expensive. To reach a large market, businesses can do market research, then create an ad for traditional channels. However, there isn't any way to learn accurately how the ad affects the audience, or if they buy from you because they've seen your ad.

Online advertising has changed all that. The cost of placing an ad is cheaper than traditional advertising. It's relatively easy to A/B test ads. And, you can make changes to your ad without any downtime.

2. Higher visibility

With online ads, you can place your ads on websites with a high volume of traffic, like search engines, that give you high visibility. You determine who can see your ad by the sites you choose and where the ad is placed on the page. You can design ads to only be shown to people searching for a specific term or keyword.

The internet doesn't have business hours because anyone can access it 24 hours a day. This opens up your visibility to people who are online at any time of day and who live in different time zones.

3. Easy to set up

Ads on websites are easy to set up. You can use a professional marketing company to handle setting up your online ads. But, you don't have to be an advertising professional to set them up. If you are an entrepreneur or have a small budget, you can set up your own ads.

There are a lot of easy-to-access instructions that tell you how to create and place ads on websites. You can start with Google ads.

4. Easy to assess the results

One of the best features of internet ads is that you can measure your ROI easily. You can track real-time results for online ads that can be broken down into several categories. For instance, you can track:

  • Which ad is clicked
  • Where the ad was clicked
  • Ratio of ads clicked/shown
  • Type of ad
  • Which pages users visited on your website
  • How long visitors stay on your site
  • Where visitors go when leaving
  • Number and percentage of conversions
  • Which channels gain better ROI

When you set up your ad placement, you have a lot of parameters that you can track and measure. Multi-channel ad campaigns can help you determine where and how to access your target demographic.

Types of online advertising

1. Paid search advertising

Search engines, like Google ads, offer a range of ad placements for paid search ads.

You can advertise locally or in general search, and have your ads appear on the search engine results pages (SERPs). You can also have ads appear on maps pages, image search, and video search. There are numerous types of paid search ads.

2. Social media ads

Social media is highly popular, and people spend a lot of time on social media platforms. Placing ads on social media, like Facebook ads, helps you access your target audience where they like to spend time. You can create social media ad campaigns to target people in specific categories.

Each social media site attracts different demographics, although they can overlap. Knowing your target personas can help you market on social media. Most social media sites allow you to test different targeted ads so that you can get the best results.

3. YouTube ads

YouTube is both a search engine and a platform for videos. In fact, YouTube is one of the top search engines online.

As internet technology develops, it opens up new possibilities for online advertising. On YouTube, you can see this in action. Ads aren't only clickable in text or image form. Videos can have clickable links embedded so viewers can click while they are watching the video.

You can add clickable links to your video ads, or you can place text or image ads before or after your videos, or have ads on the video page.

4. Email ads

Although email is one of the oldest forms of internet communication, it is still a great way to market.

Emails can be directed to a list of people who opt-in, giving you permission to email them. Mailchimp can help you design an email that advertises your service, using their templates and marketing library.

Your industry and target audience determines the type of emails you send. Many businesses have had good results from drip email sets and using emails as part of a marketing funnel.

5. Banner ads

Banner ads are the ads you see at the top or bottom of a webpage. They can consist of text, image, or video only or a combination of them. Video is eye-catching and something users are familiar with through streaming and social media sites.

Banner ads are also used on mobile responsive websites and apps. Depending on the size of your device, banner ads can move around to show up where they fit best for that size screen.

6. Retargeting ads

Retargeting ads are another effective type of ad. These are ads that you see if you abandon a shopping cart on a website.

They remind you that you left the order unfinished. Another use is offering a related item after you purchase a product. They can give a visitor incentives to add on to their order, try a new product, or sign up for a mailing list.

The idea is to send an ad to someone who's leaving or left a website. They invite shoppers to return and make a purchase.

7. Multigenerational ads

Multigen ads are focused on connecting with different generations through targeted marketing for each generation.

The primary focus is to market to older consumers by offering them the freedom to act any age and to try new things.

Much of this type of online ad is implemented by segmenting groups by age, channel, and online activity. Multigen ads move away from stereotypes and towards real people.

How to choose the right online ad for your business

It's important to choose the right type of ads for your company. What factors should you consider when choosing your online ad?

  • Budget
  • Demographic
  • Persona
  • Channel
  • Media
  • Placement

Budget

Establishing a budget will keep you on track when buying your ad.

Demographic

Who is your target audience? Where can you find them?

Persona

It's helpful to narrow down your audience into personas, so you know what will appeal to them.

Channel

Which channels are used by your audience? Test your ads so you know which ad is effective on each channel.

Media

Use a combination of media for the best results. Decide if your ad has text, images, graphics, or video.

Placement

What is the best placement for your ad? Determine where the ad will be on the page and which dimensions work best.

Make online marketing easier

Mailchimp can help make online marketing easier. Using Mailchimp's marketing library and templates, you can create effective ads for all of your channels.

Discover how online ads can help your business, drive traffic to your landing page, and attract new customers. Learn more about display advertising here.

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