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Advertising has changed... in some ways

In the olden days, advertising pioneers like Claude Hopkins put coupons in newspaper adverts. People cut out the coupons and brought them into the shop. This form of advertising meant the advertisers knew what was working, and what wasn't. This concept changed advertising.

Fast forward to today and we know how many people saw the ad, how many people clicked on the ad, and how many people took action.

Half the money spent on advertising is wasted [now we know which half] –John Wanamaker & Mike Eastwood

Why advertise online?

Simply put, you can get more traffic, faster – at a cost.

Traditional SEO (search engine optimisation) is a great way to get quality traffic from search engines e.g. Google. However, this takes time and effort. Advertising, or paid traffic, is a much faster way to get traffic to your website. Online advertising is like renting and content marketing is like owning your own home.

Types of Online Advertising

There are four main types of advertising online:

Search Advertising

The most successful online advertising has been search advertising – this is what made Google into a bazillion dollar business. It works well because if someone is searching for something in a search engine e.g. Google then the results are going to be an ideal place to advertise. The best type of advertising is educational content because people usually are hitting the search engine looking for an answer. Some search terms are more focused on purchasing decisions e.g. price comparisons and you should adjust your adverts accordingly.

Display Advertising

Maybe you know them as banner ads. This is one of the least effective forms of digital advertising and this is reflected in the price. Usually you pay a low Cost Per Thousand (CPM) views. This is becoming less and less effective because of "banner blindness" where people ignore the ads. Also the rise of ad blocking software means these ads are being seen by less people.

Retargeting

The most effective form of display advertising is retargeting. When a visitor interacts on your website you can then target display advertising on other sites they visit. Retargeting works best when you retarget visitors that have begun a purchase process e.g. if the abandon a shopping cart without completing the transaction. Because you're only showing ads to people that have shown interest the cost is low and the conversion rate is higher than less targeted display advertising.

Social Media Advertising

The new kid on the block is social media advertising. You can pay to have your content injected into someone's social media feed for a fee. This has been an extremely effective method for inflating the value of social media companies and to reach your target market. Social media advertising works best when you promote the type of content your target market looks for when they are relaxing – in other words people don't usually go to social media to shop. 

How we can help you

Here’s how we can help you with your advertising:

Get in touch if you'd like help with your online advertising. 

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