Beginners to Advertising Online: Types of Online Advertising
Although there are many different types (and subtypes) of online ads, we can divide them into two main categories.
Display ads
Display ads: Square or rectangular image-based advertisements that are shown above or beside site content.
Ad banners: advertisements that appear on screen while the user is browsing and have to be manually closed.
Interstitial marketing advertisements: That appear while a page is loading and demand that the visitor wait a brief period of time before clicking away from them.
Ads in rich media: Ads include interactive components, such as text boxes, swipe/scroll capabilities, multiple choice options, or 360-degree rotating pictures, in addition to CTA buttons.
Video ads: Standard video commercials, as on television—only digital video platforms allow viewers to skip some ads after a few seconds.
Although display ads have become a standard part of web browsing, individuals often react adversely to them, if not deliberately shun them because of their harsh form of promotion. However, they frequently result in more immediate purchases when they are effective, well-executed, and presented to the correct audience.
Native Ads
Native ads are commercials that are made to fit naturally into a digital feed. The term "native" refers to the way things are intended to seem. These advertisements pay close attention to their target market and attempt to emulate the style of content that the viewer enjoys or seeks out. Because of this, the appearance of native ads can vary based on the platform and the target demographic. The most typical kinds of native advertisements are as follows:
Social media ads: Companies pay for their social media postings to rank better in the algorithm of the platform and show up in the feeds of people who are not followers but who have comparable browsing or purchasing preferences.
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads: Companies pay to have their web pages appear at the top of a general search engine results page for a specific keyword or phrase.
Promoted listings: On a shopping website or app, companies can pay to have their products appear at the top of the search results page.
Businesses can pay to have their goods or content highlighted in related or suggested areas on content or shopping websites (such as Amazon's "Sponsored products connected to this item" section).
Recommended Listing: Businesses can pay to have their goods or content highlighted in related or suggested areas on content or shopping websites (such as Amazon's "Sponsored products connected to this item" section).
Influencer relationships: Companies collaborate to produce branded content for social media influencers who have large followings from their target audience.
Sponsored Content: Material that has been sponsored by a company may include podcasts, video channels, or individual pieces of content. The advertisement may simply inform the viewer that the material is "provided by" a certain brand or it may include the content creator reciting extensive ad copy.
Product placement: Businesses pay to have their products featured without direct advertisement in videos or video games.
Because native advertisements are less intrusive than display advertisements, audiences tend to like them (though by law they are still labelled as ads or sponsored content). However, that nuance may also lead to a slower rate of conversion.
Digital Advertising in 4 Steps:
Let's explore the digital advertising process from beginning to end now that we understand what it is, how it functions, and the various possibilities available.
1. Strategy
Your campaign concept needs to be supported by research if you want your internet advertisements to be successful. After clearly stating the issue you're attempting to address, make a connection between it and the target audience.
Is a landing page, for instance, not getting enough traffic? These pages' visitors' demographics are revealed by tools like Google Analytics, which provides you with a growth objective. Have your prior advertisements been ignored? You can find out what topics people are interested in and what questions they have using keyword research and search tools like Google Trends. These are questions your campaign can address. Do you find it difficult to stand out from the crowd? You may learn what works for your competitors by examining their current marketing tactics, and you can learn what components of their services are lacking by reading client reviews of their products.
In terms of the ad's real premise, combine your research with your creativity. Your digital advertisement should be narrative-driven. Because most viewers dislike ads and actively avoid them, those that feel more like entertainment or share real stories do better. This typically entails figuring out your clients' problems and showing how your company can fix them.
The next step is to create a written brief to outline your campaign strategy and all the necessary steps to carry it out. You must take into consideration the following:
• Title and details of the campaign
• Objects and measures of success
• Target market Distribution methods
• Budget for content materials
Regardless of whether higher-ups demand one before approving a campaign, it is always advisable to develop one so that everyone engaged is on the same page.
2. Budgeting:
The next step is to decide how to implement all of your lofty goals from the strategy phase. Allocating finances and creating budgets are not exact sciences. It depends on your own financial objectives and the markets you are targeting. Pay close attention to these three primary issues:
People. Who needs to be involved in the campaign depends on the medium. You might need to set aside money for a team to produce the video ad. You will need to allocate money for a copywriter, graphic designer, and developer if the advertisement is design-based. Make a list of the internal talent that is required in addition to any contractors or freelancers.
Distribution. where you may find your advertising. Remember that each platform has a unique pricing structure. An auction-like bidding system is used in social media advertising to sell ad space. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising channels charge you based on the quantity of click-throughs, usually in sponsored search. Your ad expenditure rises in direct proportion to the duration of each advertisement.
Schedule. The extent of your campaign, in terms of strategy and execution, is described by your schedule. Consider the schedules and pay of the individuals who worked on the advertisement's creation as well as the duration for which it will be visible on the platforms you have chosen.
Keep all of your budgeting notes close at hand until the campaign is over because they will be useful when analysing how well it performed. Success is based on how your ad expenditure stacks up against your return on investment (ROI), or whether you got more out of your ad than you invested.
3. Production:
You should have a strong structure in place to direct you through production after your strategy, budget, and schedule are in place. You already created an overall campaign paper, but now you need to send additional, more detailed briefs to the appropriate partners for each facet of your advertising campaign.
A copywriter, for instance, requires a brief that details word count, targeted keywords, messaging objectives, etc. A designer needs a creative brief that details the canvas size, advertising colour requirements, target audience, design references, and other details.
Although there are many options for hiring contractors, a creative platform like 99designs is fantastic for finding talent fast and easily when looking for graphic designers. You have access to a large worldwide pool of qualified designers and creatives through the platform, making it simpler for you to find the appropriate fit for your requirements and price range. Not to mention the benefits of having a safe project area for secure communications, flexible billing, and payments.
Once you've established a relationship with the talent and assigned the proper tasks, collaborate with the creatives to keep projects on schedule. Provide frequent feedback to make sure the campaign is developing as you had hoped. In order to implement their suggestions before it's too late, we advise testing the commercial on a sample of viewers. Make sure to frequently review and modify your timetable as problems develop, if required.
4. Distribution
Now that you’ve done everything you can possibly do to prepare for and produce your ad, it’s finally time to unleash it into the digital sphere. Each channel has a different process for distributing the ad, but it should be as simple as following the platform’s instructions and uploading your content.
As we previously indicated, testing your advertisement before distribution is a good idea, but even this does not ensure that viewers will react as you anticipate. New issues could appear after your ad is up and visible to everyone online. But the best part about digital advertising is that you can rapidly evaluate the results and make adjustments in the middle of a campaign.
The majority of platforms include internal analytics tools with common metrics like the quantity of impressions, number of clicks, and percentage of views (for videos). You may see from UTM codes what percentage of website traffic is related to specific adverts. You may determine which version of your advertisement performs the best by comparing it to two others using A/B tests on two separate market segments. Digital advertisements are constantly running, so you can change any of the content whenever you need to.
Dailing Up your Online Advertising
Although digital advertising is intended to supplement your overall organic marketing efforts, it may also act on its own to increase sales, raise brand awareness, and establish a more direct connection with your audience. That's assuming you have strong marketing materials to support it.
Although the variety of digital advertising strategies could appear overwhelming, we hope that our beginner's guide has provided you with a firm basis from which to work. A skilled designer is necessary to make your advertisements come to life online if you're ready to advance your digital advertising.
