The world is changing. Every industry is facing significant development, and digital advertising is no exception. The mindset and behavior of customers are changing. They no longer consume media like they used to and have all the information just a click away.

This has created many challenges and opportunities for digital marketers to use the latest and cutting-edge technologies to connect with the audience. Now advertising is no longer limited to traditional channels. It’s become Digital Advertising.

Like traditional advertising, digital advertising has different forms, concepts, and techniques. However, the primary goal behind digital advertising remains the same. Either way, they have their importance, use case, advantages, and disadvantages, which make them different from traditional advertising.

But what exactly do I mean by digital advertising? I’ll tell you everything you need about digital advertising in this article. By the end of this article, you will gain clarity on almost all digital advertising concepts.

What Is Digital Advertising?

Digital Advertising is a form of advertising that uses the internet and digital platforms to connect with potential customers. Companies use it to promote their products or services to a specific audience people cost-effectively.

Digital Advertising has grown rapidly in recent years due to the popularity of internet usage across all demographics and the proliferation of powerful tracking and logging tools marketers use.

These include algorithms utilizing advanced AI techniques like machine learning that can help target users based on their past behaviors and interactions with other advertisers’ products.

You can achieve a lot of business goals through a marketing funnel. It starts from;

• Building brand awareness
• Increasing engagement with customers 
• Launching your product 
• Increasing your sales 

The field of digital advertising has a lot of potential. Every business needs to focus on it. Because just think for a second every person is holding a smartphone nowadays. There is a huge possibility that these people might fall under the umbrella of your target audience. If you want to increase global reach and expand your business internationally, digital advertising is necessary.

Is Digital Advertising Really Important For Businesses?

You will be completely surprised to know that an average American can access more than 10 connected devices in their home. With digital marketing, you can meet new audiences without moving the physical location of your shop. 

But you may believe that your business is irrelevant to the online model. So is it important for me to run online advertisements? Wrong! Because in this age, every business is becoming digital.

Everything is becoming online, from coaching to sewing, book authors to marketing. If your business isn’t online, it’s just one step away from failure because all your competitors are already utilizing digital advertisement and gaining a lot of advantages from these strategies. 

You have to understand the way people think and make purchases. People make decisions about purchasing products all the time. They might be scrolling through their mobile phones or eating food while making this decision. With digital ads, you can attract more audience while searching for relevant products, or they might see your product while reading an article on the website. 

But there is a huge possibility that they may not purchase from you now. In this scenario, you can reach them in different contexts. This will be like a subtle reminder for them; this way, you will convince them to purchase.

Related: Facts About Digital Marketing

Is Online Advertising The Same As Traditional Advertising?

If we compare traditional marketing with digital advertising, digital advertising is a relatively new field. In traditional marketing, different advertising channels, such as magazines, posters, billboards, and mail, are also used to yield good results.

But it’s not just the paper that’s changed!

In digital advertising, everything is changing. The way ads are created, and most importantly, the way people perceive these ads. In early times the advertisements were about selling the products using imagery only. 

Different offline means of promotion are also involved, such as ads on posters, television, matches, etc. 

But as the shift from traditional to digital advertising really necessary?

Traditional marketing is an old concept that has helped businesses grow and expand for years. Advertising first started in the mid-19th century. It was just some slogans with pictures on the paper. You might have noticed tons of ads in newspapers. These ads are also a form of advertisement. After that, traditional advertisements initiated the concept of selling spaces for ads. 

Digital Advertising is a relatively new concept. These ads are basically new and still growing. With it, a person can engage with the owner directly, and building trust is easy. Digital ads are extremely good for you especially if your business is in its initial stages or a startup. 

With digital ads, you won’t target everyone, as you might have noticed that in traditional ads, an ad is displayed on the television during a specific time. You have little control over who sees your ad as a business owner. That means there is no guarantee you will get ROI on the ad. But that’s not the case with digital ads. 

Because in digital ads, you can create your ad for a specific target audience. You can create a hyper-targeted ad for a specific target audience. Moreover, in digital ads, you can get real-time progress of your digital marketing campaign. 

But some businesses use both strategies. They use traditional and digital advertisements in harmony to increase the results.

	Traditional Advertising	Digital Advertising
Reach	Mostly local or regional	Worldwide
Expenses	Expensive, production and distribution costs are high	Inexpensive, low production and distribution costs
Flexibility	Less flexible, changes can be time-consuming and expensive	Highly flexible, changes can be made in real-time
Measurability	Difficult to track and measure	Easy to track and measure with analytics tools
Types	Print, radio, billboards, television, marketing, etc.	Search engine marketing, social media marketing, email campaigns, etc.

History Of Digital Advertising

The internet has completely revolutionized the digital advertising world. In the early 90s, businesses didn’t invest in digital advertising. But over the years, its usage has spiked. Here is a brief history of how digital evolution started.

• In 1994, hotwired.com initiated a new thing which was a basis for digital advertising. They released the first banner for ads on the website.
• In the same user, HTTP cookies were introduced, which helped publishers understand and track user behavior in a better way.
• After two years, in 1996, a special framework for web ads was provided with the name of Flash.
• Next year, pop-up ads were introduced and used all over the internet.
• In 1998, Google launched the search engine concept and monetized the company in 2000. That’s when concepts like SEO and PPC advertisements were also brought into the marketing.
• In 2000, mobile advertisements started.
• In the 2000s, Facebook also introduced its ads model, which is hyper-targeted and based on user interests. And after this, the trend of targeted ads just kept growing.

Many other social media platforms stepped into the market in the late 2000s and at the start of 2010. Some gained incredible popularity, such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, IoT, and Real-Time bidding, which changed the digital advertisements scenario.

Now it’s more focused on bidding and micro-targeting. This industry is still growing, and innovations and new mediums for digital ads are becoming more common.

Advantages Of Digital Advertisements

Even Forbes has accepted the importance of implementing digital ads for your business. If you are still second-guessing about using digital ads for your business, check out this list of benefits that will clear your doubts.

You Don’t Need To Break The Bank

You may have seen a lot of articles suggesting that digital ads are expensive. But on the flip side, when you look at the advantages of these ads and the ROI you get from these campaigns, you will think these headlines aren’t true.

Digital advertising is not costly. And yes, you can do it without breaking the bank. You can start with at least 5 dollars daily for your Facebook ad. It can increase to thousands or even more, depending on your ad campaign budget.

Investing in your business’s digital ad strategy is the best way to do it. Then analyze its performance, test it, and increase your ad budget to increase ROI.

You Will Get High-quality Leads

These ads are hyper-targeted and personalized according to your target audience. But you might wonder how that is possible.

That’s because the data is collected from your social media channels and different platforms. Based on that, you can easily reach those people who will be most interested in your product or offer.

You can create almost 5 ads targeted toward 5 completely different customers, but they are your target audience. Every customer will see an ad based on its relevancy.

More relevant ads = Increase in high-quality leads

You Can Easily Use It

If you are thinking about starting digital ads for your business with a limited budget, then your biggest concern must be what is the level of difficulty of digital advertising. As a beginner, can you do it?

The truth is that most digital ad formats are easy to execute. With just a little effort and study, you can understand it. So, in short, digital ads are not too difficult, and even as a beginner, you can learn the basics and run ad campaigns for your business.

It Is A Goldmine For Small Businesses

Many digital marketing strategies require a huge marketing budget. So if you aren’t a 6-figure business owner, you can’t make a budget for executing them. This is another challenge for startups to grow with a limited budget.

But that’s not the case with digital ads because you don’t need any high budget to get exceptional results.

You only need the right strategies, and your business will skyrocket with digital ads. You can win against the biggest companies, and the next part is that there is no need to spend a fortune on your digital ad campaign.

It Gives Incredibly Quick Results

Many online marketing strategies require weeks or even months to show significant results. Such as search engine optimization, you have to do keyword research and create content; overall, it’s a time-consuming process but worth it.

Other than that, branding and content marketing also requires more investment. But you won’t see immediate results.

But you might wonder what’s so special about digital ads. Why do they show fast results?

It’s simple. When you run an ad campaign, your ad appears in front of your target audience. Among these people, it is a huge possibility that most will act on the CTA and buy a product or book an appointment with you.

Once people like your services, they provide positive reviews. And these positive reviews will further compel other visitors to get your services. It will create a chain of never-ending clients. So digital advertisements are a must if you want to build a clientele.

Types Of Digital Advertising

By now, you must be clear about digital advertisements and why your business needs them. Now let’s look at some common types of digital advertisements that can be implemented for your business. There are mainly six types of digital advertising such as;

1. PPC

It is also known as Pay Per Click. These ads only appear whenever a person clicks on your ad. It is extremely suitable for small businesses that have a limited budget. The cost for this can be as low as $3, and the price is on the basis of different factors such as;

• Competitiveness of advertising space
• How relevant is your ad
• Your industry
• When will the ad display

Suppose your ad is more relevant to the system. Then you will get ad space for an even lower price.

But you might wonder how that is even possible. And what’s the reason behind it?

The reason is simple! Whenever a user clicks on an ad, platforms make more money. So that’s the major reason why the relevancy of your ad is important.

2. CPM

If you want to create a lasting impression on your audience, consider CPM, the Cost per 1,000 Impressions for digital ads. So what are the criteria for paying?

Every Time your ad shows up in front of someone else, you have to pay. If you want to create an impression that they still think about your ad, consider using CPM. 

But there is another important thing you should remember: if your ad starts getting abnormally high clicks, then the advertising platform starts losing money. If it prolongs, they may review your ad and decrease its visibility, so you switch back to the PPC model.

3. Search Advertising

Do you know where half of the search queries start? Yes, the biggest search engine!

Google.

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are also used in search advertising. Your audience is searching for a specific product or offer. In most cases, an ad can give them the last push they need to purchase.

With search advertising, you can effectively achieve your business sales goals. The ads on search engine can be easily differentiated from organic search results due to the AD favicon which appears with the ad.

4. Email marketing

Emails are one of the oldest channels of the Internet age. But even in 2023, it’s still in trend. According to Statista, this channel is facing progress. Every year it grows between 2% to 3%.

What can be the reason behind this?

Just one! It is the preference of people.

According to a survey by Adestra, almost 73% of millennials prefer communicating with companies and agencies through email. And the good news is that almost 99% of individuals check their emails daily, making it a better platform for digital advertising.

To ace your email advertising strategy, you need to work on these four important elements

• Get qualified leads
• Engage with people
• Ask your target audience to subscribe to your emails.
• Find a suitable automation tool.

Send informative, educational, and promotional content to your audience. Use these digital platforms as forms of marketing to make your email marketing campaigns yield high results.

5. Display Remarketing Advertising

People are extremely busy. They want to make a purchase, but they often forget about it. One minute they are scrolling through your website to avail of your services. But the next minute, they get a text from the boss, which distracts them, and they completely forget about your business.

And if they are not repeated customers, then it’s likely they won’t come back. With remarketing, you can remind the person to come back and visit your website again.

For example, a brand targeting its e-commerce store visitors runs remarketing ads to remind them through ads to complete the transaction and look at the latest products or their abandoned carts.

The website places “cookies” that act as a tracker in your browser. So next time you see a website giving you cookies, that’s what it means!

But it’s not harmful, and most people like how websites optimize their experience using these cookies. Google also uses cookies, and with its help, it provides you with better search results.

6. Social Media Advertising

According to Sprout Social, a person spends almost 2.5 hours daily on social media. But what’s surprising is that this number is exceeding every year.

Because social media is where people connect with others and refresh themselves, it’s their best leisure activity.

But many people use Facebook and other online platforms to find products and services, which allows businesses who want to increase their online presence and revenue.

You can connect directly with your audience by publishing digital ads on social media. Social media ads include boosting posts or displaying ads on social media.

Some other types of digital ads used by many marketing professionals are as follows.

• Display ads: These online ads use texts, visual elements, videos, and animations. They either appear on websites, mobile apps, or mobile devices. On websites, they appear in between or alongside the content.
• Online video advertising: The video format is used where the video content appears on the streaming video. It can appear before, between, or after the video. It is usually streamed on video channels such as Facebook Watch and youtube.
• Streaming media advertising: It is a special type of video ad known as over-the-top. It appears on the streaming content but is delivered on the internet without cable or satellite.
• Mobile advertisements: These consist of banner ads and in-app ads. People spend a lot of time on digital devices, so mobile marketing is becoming an interesting way to grab the audience’s attention.
• Audio advertising: Through these ads, you can reach your target audience on audio platforms like Spotify or Pandora. You can encourage customers to take the next step by delivering high-quality and memorable advertising messages.

Digital Advertising Step-by-step Guide

Your knowledge of digital advertisements will be incomplete if you don’t know how it works. Let’s understand the digital advertising process from beginning to end.

Step 1: Make A Strategy For Your Advertising Campaign

Your ad campaign will be boring without a concept. Make a unique and creative concept behind your ad to attract more audience. But how can you get started if you don’t know about it? Simply follow these steps.

• Identify the problem your business is solving.
• Engage with your audience.
• Let them know you have an effective solution for their problem.

Let me give an example so you can understand this concept much better. Suppose your landing page is not getting a lot of visitors. You should use tools like Google Analytics to find out the demographics of your target audience.

Use keyword research tools like SEMrush, and Google Trends to find a suitable question your audience might be asking. Make your campaign interactive and answer the question of your audience. Find out what’s the problem and don’t sit back until you solve it.

As for the idea of your ad, tell your audience an interesting story. The audience loves hearing interactive, engaging stories that make people emotional.

But what about my ad? I want to sell a product!

Even while selling a product, talk about your audience’s pain points. Tell them how your product is everything they need which can change your customer life. In short, understand your audience’s pain points and let them know how you can solve their problems.

After creating visuals and ad copy, it’s time to move to the next step, which is your plan’s documentation. I’m giving you a list of what you should know for your ad campaign.

• Title of campaign
• Goals and metrics of your campaign
• Who is your target audience?
• Which distribution channels are best for the ad?
• What is the textual content of the ad creative?

If you think you don’t need to document this because it’s not obligatory, rethink because this data can provide a foundation for upcoming successful ad campaigns.

Step 2: Make A Proper Budget For Your Campaign

Now you have brainstormed and have a list of amazing ideas that have the potential to make your business successful. It’s time to make all these ideas real.

There is no hard and fast rule for budgeting. It depends on mainly two things which are your revenue goals and the marketplace where you want to increase your online presence. But I highly recommend paying attention to these three main areas for budgeting.

People

Your ad format determines which person needs to be on the team. Such as, if you are deciding to go for video ads, then a video production team is important. Meanwhile, if the digital ad is design-based, you need a designer who can create mesmerizing designs for your ad. You can also hire freelancers, which will further reduce your cost.

Distribution

You must have noticed that every social media platform is different. Some offer auction-like bidding systems; if you win, you will get advertising space. Remember that every digital channel has its pricing models. There are channels like PPC where you will only pay based on click-throughs.

Another factor affecting your budget is the time your ad appears on the online channel. So before moving to the next step, always ensure the platform you are choosing has a large number of your target audience and fits under your budget.

Schedule

It includes the scope of your ad campaign. Your ad can be either in the execution or planning stage. It’s important to focus on this aspect. Check the timetables and salaries of your employees. Moreover, track your ad progress.

Step 3: Create A Document For Production

Now that you have clarity about your digital ad, you should have a framework to guide you and your team throughout the production stage. You already have the overall document campaigns we created initially. But now you need a more specific and detailed document to deliver to marketers handling the campaign.

Let me make it simple for you with an example. For example, a graphic designer wants a brief for the ad copy. It should include visual ad copy, specific colors, size and canvas, target audience, specific references, inspirations, etc.

Step 4: Successfully Launch Your Campaign

Now you’ve completed all the basic steps of digital ads. It’s time that you let everyone know about your digital ad. Remember that every platform has different instructions for ads. But there is no rocket science behind it. All you need to do is follow their websites’ specific rules and guidelines, and you won’t face any penalty.

I highly recommend you test your ad before uploading it. But what’s next? Is your job here done?

No, because this is the most crucial step. You have to track your ad campaign progress and see how your ad is performing. You can also do A/B tests, which allow you to test your ads on two segments of your target audience.

If you follow this strategy, you will see significant results in your online ad campaign.

Best Tips & Practices For Digital Advertisements

Digital advertisements can be confusing. As a beginner, you might not know the best way to execute it. Follow these tips to get the best results from digital advertisements.

• Focus On Personalization: Digital advertising is a highly precise marketing strategy. So with this strategy, personalization is extremely important because you will be able to reach your target audience easily and engage with them on a deeper level.
• You Need To Check The Progress: Track the performance of your ads. You can track these metrics in real-time, which isn’t possible in traditional forms. Always check your ad campaign update and analyze its performance. Closely observe what’s working and what is not.
• Make Your Ads High-quality: In digital ads, you can customize everything about your ads. Everything should be according to your target audience, whether it’s your digital ad copy or the visuals. The most effective way to increase success in digital ad campaigns is by testing different ads and optimizing them.
• Be Authentic About Your Offers: Digital ads are becoming more sophisticated. Moreover, the audience response to these ads is also changing. Online audiences are becoming smart, and copy that’s not compelling will not get you the desired results. So in every aspect, be authentic about your brand messaging and offers. That’s a crucial part of engaging with your potential customers. You must check your progress by measuring brand awareness.

Digital Advertising Is Your Business’s Best Friend

When you start implementing digital marketing in your business, you will be happy to see the results. It generated faster and long-term results than no other strategy could generate. Every business that wants to increase its revenue and grow should try it. Plenty of tools and strategies to increase your online visibility with digital advertisements.

If you are ready to implement digital advertising for your business but need some help, we have a perfect solution. Partner with EchoFish, because we have helped many businesses like yours experience significant success and growth in record time with digital advertisement strategies.

We ensure that your investment goes in the right direction and you get the best ROI. So what are you waiting for let us do all the digital marketing efforts for you? Your business success is just one call away. Contact us right now.