Online Advertising has become a daily part of Internet life. It refers to the art of using the Internet as a medium to deliver marketing messages to an identified and targeted audience. Its purpose is to help marketers educate, inform, persuade and remind their target audience about their products and services. Thus, it’s important for marketers to understand what their objectives are, who their consumers are and which channels to use.
Some examples of Online Advertising include Search Engine Marketing and Paid Social Media Ads. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of Online Advertising as well as touch on some strategies that marketers/businesses can use to effectively reach out to their target audiences.
What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of Online Advertising?
Online Advertising comes with various benefits thanks to the increasing amount of time consumers spend on the Internet. Yet, marketers are facing several obstacles. One major advantage of Online Advertising is its cost effectiveness. It offers plenty of advantages over traditional advertising media which allow business owners to deliver relevant, personalised and timely content to their consumers at a fraction of the cost. Even with a low budget, business owners can access a fairly wide audience and stretch their marketing dollars further.
Unlike traditional advertising media, Online Advertising can be closely monitored allowing marketers to track how users interact with their brands and to learn what interests both current and potential consumers. Online analytic tools are particularly useful in letting marketers know about their ad’s effectiveness so as to tweak future ads for better outcomes. With the limitless opportunities, it can also provide priceless data on what an ideal consumer looks like – allowing marketers to further target their advertising to their most lucrative audiences.
Because Online Advertising is so inexpensive, it is easily ignored which is one of the major disadvantages. Many Internet users actively block online ads through browser extensions or simply ignore them, resulting in declining ad-clicks. To make matters worse, people often do not trust online ads due to a number of them involving scams and viruses. Since Internet users are in control of which advertising messages they want to click and respond to, online ads have a much higher chance of being ignored than traditional advertising.
Mistakes can be costly when it comes to Online Advertising. It can get complicated and it requires a great deal of knowledge and skill to be successful. Hence, it is uncommon for businesses to make mistakes. Just by simply choosing the wrong keywords or targeting ineffectively, marketers can spend a fortune without turning a single lead into a sale. It’s essential to keep up-to-date with Online Advertising to better understand what works and what doesn’t in order to minimise mistakes.
Online Advertising Strategies Businesses Can Apply
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
This is a form of Online Advertising in which marketers accumulate costs when Internet users click their ads. Marketers bid on the perceived value of a click in relation to the keywords, platforms and audience type in which it originates. It is used for all types of campaign goals including generating leads, increasing sales and promoting brand awareness.
It is all about relevance where users are searching for specific products, services, and information at any given time. Through both targeting settings and account structure, marketers can run successful PPC campaigns as long as relevance is paramount.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM is the practice of marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages. Keywords are the foundation of SEM. As users enter keywords (as part of search queries) into search engines to find what they’re looking for, it should come as little surprise that keywords form the basis of SEM as an advertising strategy. Its greatest strength is that it offers advertisers the opportunity to put their ads in front of motivated customers who are ready to buy at the precise moment they’re ready to make a purchase. This is why SEM is so effective and an amazingly powerful way to grow one’s business as no other advertising medium can do this.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
SMM is the process of creating tailored content for each social media platform to drive engagement and promote one’s business. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising. With paid social media advertising, it’s a highly cost-effective way to expand your reach which helps to drive engagements, clicks, and views. It enables you to select the budget, schedule, and target audience with a high degree of flexibility. If you play your cards right, you can get your content and offers in front of a huge audience at a very low cost.
Leverage the right ads to achieve your goals
As with any other form of marketing, setting goals and objectives are critical in the success of online advertising. It is best to start with research in order to gain the most from what Online Advertising has to offer. It is essential for marketers to evaluate both the advantages and disadvantages before jumping into an online campaign. Finally, when done properly, Online Advertising offers a plethora of benefits which can help a brand reach and connect with its broader consumer base. Ready to create amazing ads that won’t have people clicking the ‘x’?
Get in touch at hello@alto.sg for a consultation.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]