While there are ardent discussions about whether online advertising is better than traditional advertising, it has certainly emerged as the more cost-effective and targeted one among the two.
53.9% of the total media ad spend by companies is toward digital ads in 2022. With companies increasingly looking to ace digital advertising, the real question is about what kind of online advertising they should be focussing on.
If you are looking to leverage the power of online advertising, given below are the most effective forms of advertising online that will help you attract customers and grow organically.
The 4 Most Effective Forms of Advertising Online
Online advertising is a form of marketing and Advertising which uses the internet as a medium to promote products and services to an audience. It has many different names such as online marketing, internet advertising, and digital advertising and it is fundamentally different from traditional advertising.
It puts the user experience front and center and promotes products and services to users in a considerably targeted manner. When choosing what forms of online advertising to opt for as a company, take into consideration your target audience and what platforms it engages with the most.
You can experiment around with the content depending on the reception you receive, but the goal should be to push the users down the sales funnel. We have detailed below some of the most effective forms of online advertising that can help you captivate your audience.
1. Video advertising
In 2022, videos online make up more than 82% of the traffic on the internet. The prominence of videos in online marketing is constantly on the rise. Videos offer higher engagement than the static photo and text posts.
Social media platforms are veering more towards video content, such as Instagram introducing reels and short video content. TikTok — a completely video-based platform — recently became the most downloaded app in the world.
So, it’s no wonder more and more companies are opting for video marketing strategies or including videos in their marketing strategies. The idea is to capture the audience’s attention with enticing visuals and make them take the next step.
Here are the many benefits of video advertising:
- They catch the attention of users more easily than non-video content as they are flashy and offer more instantly.
- They are engaging content that customers often prefer. Videos hold the user’s attention and engage with them in a meaningful way.
- Video content grows revenue 49% faster compared to non-video content. This is the result of the cumulative shift toward video content when it comes to digital marketing.
- Social media platforms are increasingly becoming more video-friendly, making it easier to utilize them better.
- The format is excellent for educating and engagingly informing customers. It is also quick that will not take much of the consumer’s time.
a) How to include video advertising in your marketing strategy
The easiest and most direct way to include video content into your marketing strategy is to create video ads. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to have many technical skills to create video ads.
Platforms such as Creatopy help online creators make visual ads within minutes. They streamline the process by having templates and layouts ready and all you have to do is put your unique content in.
Another way to include videos in your marketing efforts is by including them in other types of digital marketing. Include videos in the articles you write, or the social media posts you create. Having the video lumped in there helps break the monotony.
It also has the added advantage of increasing the time a user spends on your page. The longer people stay on your web pages, the higher they rank on Google, improving your ranking and boosting your SEO in the process.
2. Native advertising
Native advertising refers to the form of advertising where the ads that appear on the page match the look, feel, and content of the page in such a way that the user will feel that they belong there as opposed to being an unrelated ad on a page they are perusing.
For example, a person reading an article about remedies for hair loss may see an ad about a hair oil that promises prompt hair growth. They are more likely to interact with this ad.
Native advertising is a very targeted form of advertising that aims to engage users organically and authentically. An average person interacts with more than 4,000 ads daily. Such relentless and vapid bombardment has subconsciously trained the customers’ minds to skip ads altogether.
Native advertising offers a unique way to slip past the customer’s mental barrier against advertisements and connect with them authentically. Users don’t see them as ads, but rather as solutions to their problems.
Here are some key benefits of native advertising:
- Successfully capture the audience’s attention by being relevant and useful to their search.
- Helps you target your ads better, increasing your chance of engagement.
- Offers increased engagement as users are more likely to interact with them.
- Helps build trust with your audience.
- Increases your click-through rates, helping your campaigns derive more positive results.
a) How to do native advertising
There are quite a lot of ways to include native advertising in your marketing efforts. One of the most common ways to do it is to slip your ads into the browsing feeds of the users. Every user’s feed is going to be unique based on what they interact with, and the ads can differ based on that.
You can also advertise on search engines. The ads will be based on what the user is actively searching for. They can also appear as recommendation widgets. These widgets can appear on feeds, social media, and search engines.
Promoted listings can be used for shopping portals. They are the sponsored products that appear along with genuine results when a user searches for a product on a shopping portal. Lastly, you can place your ads on related websites where they look like they belong.
3. Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the pioneers of digital marketing and continues to be one of the most effective forms of it. Its popularity among marketers is owed to its outstanding ROI coupled with its ease of use.
Every dollar spent on email marketing brings in $36 in return. More than 64% of small businesses use it to reach customers. You don’t need much more than an email address to be leveraging the power of emails to draw customers.
That said, if you can afford to use an email marketing service such as MailChimp, MailerLite, or Sendinblue, it will make it easier to send bulk emails and organize your emails better. Here are some of the benefits of email marketing:
- They are personalized in nature, making it easier for you to connect with your audience authentically.
- They allow you to collect data and feedback directly from the consumer.
- They are directly sent to the customer’s inbox, making it more likely for them to interact with your promotional message.
- They give you an option to provide more value to your customers.
- They are opportunities for you to have one-on-one conversations with your audience and build strong, long-lasting bonds with them. It directly helps increase brand loyalty.
a) How to do email marketing
The key to email-based advertising is personalization. This is why you should not miss out on sending emails on a customer’s birthday. Even if you don’t have an offer for them, simply sending a thoughtful message will make your patrons see that you value your association with them.
Other kinds of emails include ones that remind customers of the cart they abandoned on your website, and ones that inform them about sales, discounts, deals, and coupons they may find valuable.
4. Geofencing advertising
An advanced and highly targeted form of advertising sees companies advertise to customers based on their location. In geofencing advertising, the ads are only shown to the target audience that falls within a certain geographical radius.
It is an ideal option to engage local customers and boost your sales. It also allows you to offer a high degree of personalization for your customers. You can also collect valuable data that helps you fine-tune your ads in the future.
With over 30% of the global population using location-based services and 80% of those people wanting location-based alerts from businesses, geofencing advertising offers a great option for targeted advertising.
Conclusion
Online advertising is the go-to option for companies in the digital era. It is cost-effective, targeted, and allows room to find your footing.
With a plethora of options available in terms of online advertising, you should pick ones that suit your products as well as the target audience.
Choose options that are effective and leave room for improvising as you go along. Keep tracking your progress to know which tactics work better and implement more of them.
Let us know in the comments what you think are the most effective forms of advertising online and how one can improve their existing marketing strategy.
