While browsing through Instagram stories, you may have seen a sponsored post after every three to four stories. Have you noticed how some of your favorite celebrities plug a product on their social media platforms?
These are nothing but subtle online marketing strategies. Frequently, you may not even realize that you are looking at an ad. The online advertising landscape has changed significantly in the past decade, driven by the large-scale adoption of social media and new digital marketing trends.
Ads are more relevant, contextual, and targeted than what we have seen in the past. Content is king, and online ads are just another form of content. Each year, brands deploy innovative online marketing techniques to ensure they carve a place in their industry.
Today, new targeting capabilities, digital platforms, and ad types spurt from unexpected corners. Online advertising is evolving, and it is evolving rapidly.
This article will explore the various online marketing strategies used by companies worldwide. Why do these online marketing strategies work? How are they different? Without further ado, let’s find out.
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What is online advertising?
Online advertising is a marketing strategy used by companies to promote their products and services on the internet. There are many ways to advertise online. Social media, paid media, search engine optimization (SEO), and email marketing fall under the online advertising umbrella.
But why are companies prioritizing online advertising over traditional marketing strategies?
Here are a few reasons:
- Online advertising is cost-effective
- Online advertising strategies enable brands to reach a wider and more relevant audience
- They can track all key parameters of online advertising in real-time
- Online advertising strategies can be personalized based on the target audience
The adoption of online advertising has increased due to all these reasons. Companies of all shapes and forms are turning to online marketing to increase sales, boost website traffic, capture new leads, improve conversions, and enhance brand awareness.
However, brands need to identify the form of online advertising they require to achieve their goals. Here are some of the best online advertising strategies you can choose from.
1. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Today, almost all companies have a website. While some are well-designed, others cannot impress. However, apart from aesthetics, it is very critical to ensure the website is SEO-optimized.
A website has all the ingredients to become an important marketing tool only if your audience finds it. This is where SEO can help. When businesses decide to invest in SEO, they rank better on search engines such as Bing and Google. In addition, the most relevant pages of your website appear in the results.
SEO involves identifying the most suitable keywords for different pages of your website. The process begins with keyword research which is performed using different tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and more. Companies identify what their audience is looking for on the internet and the different keywords their competitors are targeting.
Creating insightful and original content around your primary keywords and earning backlinks from authoritative sites are just a few ways to improve your website’s SEO. A thorough and research-driven SEO strategy helps businesses improve rankings, and website traffic, and generate more leads and conversions. Therefore SEO is one of the best online advertising strategies.
The ultimate aim of SEO is to ensure your website appears on the first page of results.
2. Social media marketing
Social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook offer significant opportunities to reach wider audiences. Did you know around 4.62 billion people in the world use social media? With more than half of the world’s population on social media, it is a good time for companies to use social media marketing.
Because of the sheer number of social media users, social media marketing has become one of the most effective online advertising strategies today.
Companies can run ads to promote their products, and services, and establish a strong digital presence. There are many benefits associated with social media marketing. Social media platforms allow businesses to choose their target audience based on demographics including gender, age, location, and more. It helps companies reach potential consumers and stay connected with their existing customers.
What makes social media marketing so appealing? It’s affordability. Nearly 50% of B2B marketers believe say that social media is an affordable advertising alternative compared to traditional methods. Hence, if you are looking for an effective, yet online advertising strategy, social media is a safe bet.
3. Content marketing
Content marketing is one of the best online advertising strategies if you want to advertise your business indirectly. With content marketing, you are talking to your audience by creating insightful, unique, and interesting content. The type of content can range from blogs, infographics, videos, podcasts, and more.
The best part about content marketing is that it is effective for companies across all industries. This is because creating original content is one of the best ways to build your brand’s authority and connect with your audience. When existing and potential customers find your content interesting, it builds trust and improves your company’s reputation. It also invokes a sense of confidence that you are a leader in your field.
To ensure your content marketing efforts reap rewards, create a publishing schedule and adhere to it. Here is an interesting stat to back up the previous sentence. Businesses that publish 16 times or more in a month receive four times more traffic than businesses that do not follow this practice.
Although it is a time-consuming activity, content marketing is important to scale your businesses in the current digital landscape. While creating written content has its share of benefits, there are other ways to catch your audience’s attention. For example, infographics.
Visual content combined with written content is a perfect way to engage your audience for a longer time. Besides, images, infographics, and social media creatives are easier to share across social media channels.
Content marketing is regarded as one of the best online advertising strategies because it can complement other advertising and marketing efforts including paid media, social media marketing, SEO, and more.
4. Email marketing
Email marketing is probably one of the oldest forms of digital marketing which is still relevant in the current day and age. “Old is gold”, and we couldn’t agree more while speaking about email marketing.
With email, you can directly reach your target audience at an individual level. It offers you an avenue to create tailored content for every customer based on their interests and past behavior.
Email marketing services and applications help companies craft beautiful email marketing campaigns. You can create newsletters, promote a specific product for a specific segment of your audience, and also track the key parameters of your email campaigns by using email marketing services.
Businesses have the potential to earn an ROI of $44 with email marketing.
5. Pay-per-click advertising
Pay-per-click, or PPC, is an online advertising strategy that enables you to incorporate advertisements for targeted keywords in search engine results. PPC allows you to pay for placement for your selected keywords. On the other hand, SEO focuses on achieving rankings through content and optimization.
Google Ads is an ideal way to start if you’re new to PPC because it enables you to run advertisements in Google search results.
With PPC, you select your target keywords and then bid against all other advertisers to ensure that your advertisements appear in the search results for those keywords. If your bid is among the highest, your ad will be displayed above organic search results, and you’ll be charged the amount of your bid if someone clicks.
6. Influencer marketing
With the rise of social media influencers over the past few years, influencer marketing has taken off. You need an influencer marketing plan since this kind of advertising is significantly more efficient than what it may originally appear to be.
Influencers may be incorporated into your marketing efforts besides working with them to promote your company, products, or services on their social platforms. The influencer may appear in your advertisements, for instance.
You may even see influencer marketing as a single client endorsing your product to thousands, or even millions, of friends rather than simply thinking of it as likes or shares on social media. How many other channels provide access to so many relevant users that will believe in your products or services?
Final thoughts
Now that we have discussed some of the best online advertising strategies, it is important to implement them. Online marketing is cost-effective and helps businesses deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.
Despite these advantages, many companies are afraid to incorporate these online advertising strategies into their market plan. In the current landscape, businesses are likely to lose more than they stand to gain if they neglect the online marketing route.
We hope you enjoyed reading about some of the most effective online advertising strategies. Do you deploy any of these strategies to grow your business? You can leave a comment below and share your thoughts on online advertising.
Keep browsing to find the latest news and articles related to online advertising on iTMunch!
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Feature Image Source: Photo by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash
Image 1 Source: Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash
Image 2 Source: Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
Image 3 Source: Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash
Sources:
[1] C. Dave (2022) “Global social media statistics research summary 2022” SmartInsights [online] Available from: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/ [accessed August 2022]
[2] (2022) “Content Marketing Services for Traffic, Rankings, & Sales” WebFX [online] Available from: https://www.webfx.com/content-marketing/services/ [accessed August 2022]
[3] C. Emily (2021) “9 Tips for Improving Your Email Marketing ROI” WebFX [online] Available from: https://www.webfx.com/blog/marketing/9-tips-improving-email-marketing-roi/ [accessed August 2022]
