Online advertising is a way of marketing a product or service digitally and is an alternative to traditional forms of advertising like radio or television adverts or advertising in newspapers or on buses or billboards. Online advertising is also known as digital marketing or online marketing.
Online advertising can be used to sell a specific product or service to potential customers as well as to raise brand awareness and increase online traffic. There are many benefits to online advertising for businesses.
Online advertising is measurable
Online advertising allows you to track everything you’re doing, giving you almost instant and ongoing data about what’s working and what isn’t, from clicks and likes to shares and ROI. This enables you to make informed decisions about your advertising strategy moving forward and make changes where necessary.
Moving your marketing online removes some of the guesswork involved in advertising so you can focus on what is working and change the things that aren’t. It’s also scalable, so if something is working, it can very quickly and easily be scaled to a larger audience for maximum results.
With online advertising, you can see results in real-time and if your efforts aren’t working there are no costly delays waiting for campaigns to end. You can make immediate changes, saving time and money for your business. This makes online marketing more efficient.
Online advertising is cost-effective
There’s no large upfront investment required with online advertising. This low entry barrier makes it ideal for small businesses by levelling the playing field and it allows businesses of all sizes to be creative with their online advertising without taking big risks.
Online marketing is also cost-effective because it’s adaptable to suit your ideal customer and can be targeted to a specific audience.
Online advertising saves time
Successful online advertising campaigns can generate high-quality leads without requiring ongoing input or supervision, leaving you free to deal with your existing customers and get on with business! It also allows you to be timely and responsive to what is or isn’t working for your business rather than feeling tied-in to long campaigns that aren’t yielding results.
Online advertising is flexible
Online marketing offers a wide range of options to suit the needs of your business. This flexible approach to advertising means you can choose to focus on the avenues that are right for you and the specific needs of your business, rather than going along with what works for others. Digital marketing includes:
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO is a way of making sure that your website works well with search engines such as Google. It improves the online visibility of your business and increases the chance of it appearing in front of potential customers as a search result. This then makes customers more likely to click through and visit your website. For more information see our services page on Search Engine Optimisation.
Pay Per Click advertising (PPC)
This is a form of advertising where businesses pay for each click their advert receives, i.e. each time a potential customer visits their site. Adwords or Google Ads is one type of PPC advertising that allows businesses to create adverts that will then appear in Google search results. For more information or to find out how Shine On Digital can help you with PPC, see our Adwords Management page.
Social media marketing
Social media is a fantastic way for businesses to advertise to potential customers, as well as being a great channel for direct interaction and engagement with existing customers. Businesses can run ad campaigns on social media channels or use social media to generate organic leads.
If you need help with your social media marketing strategy or you haven’t got the time to manage your social media alongside running your business, we can help.
Content marketing
This is a way of attracting potential customers by ensuring your website content is high-quality, SEO-friendly and engaging. It includes everything from web copy to blogs. Content marketing is a more organic way of driving traffic than, say, PPC and as such, should be seen as more of a long-term, ongoing investment in your business.
Other digital marketing options you might also want to consider include email marketing, banner advertising, and working with influencers. Many businesses will choose to use several forms of online advertising alongside each other as part of a wider digital marketing strategy. For example, they may decide to focus on improving the visibility of their website through SEO and regular blogging and at the same time, run a PPC or social media marketing campaign.
Find out more
Shine On Digital is a digital marketing agency in Rossendale. We use our 20 years of experience in the field to help clients reap the benefits of online advertising. If you’d like to find out more about what we do or discuss how online advertising could help your business, give us a call on 01706 482017 or get in touch.