Since people are spending more time online, it makes sense for businesses to advertise there, too.
From social media to website adverts, there are lots of options to choose from. We’ve put together a handy guide on how you can choose what’s best for your business whatever your budget – and advice on whether it’s time to look for external support from an advertising agency or freelancer.
#1 Banner advertising
These are the adverts you see on websites, either at the top or down the side of the page. They can be particularly useful if you have a niche audience, because you can target based on their specific characteristics. For example, if you sell hiking boots, you can advertise on a mountain holiday website to ensure your product gets in front of the right people.
It’s also good for ‘retargeting’ campaigns – this is a way of aiming your adverts at people who have already visited your website by showing them the products they were just looking at on your page – but on a different website. Let’s say they were browsing for some plants on your website, then left it to go visit a newspaper website. It would be possible to advertise your plants in the banner space - reminding them to come back.
#2 Product listing advertising
Also known as shopping adverts, these are the advertisements you see on Google or Bing when searching for something specific. For example, if you’re looking for a toaster, you’ll likely see that the top few results have ‘ad’ written next to them. These are product listing advertising (PLAs), which businesses will have paid for to make sure you see them first.
PLAs are costed by ‘pay-per-click', meaning that you only pay for the number of people that click on your adverts and go to your website. These adverts might not only help you bring more people to your website, but can help improve your SEO score too.
#3 Native advertising
Native advertising doesn’t really look like ads and are a great way of advertising your business if you have content like blogs and opinion pieces on a relevant subject, to share with your target audience.
Examples of native ads include recommended content on websites, ‘in feed’ ads or as part of your news feed on social networks. They will feature a small ‘ad’ or ‘sponsored content’ label but not disrupt the browsers’ experience.
#4 Social media paid advertising
Social media platforms are a great place for advertising, as they have so much data to help you target the right people. Say you own a carpentry company, you can use TikTok or Facebook to target people who, based on their social media activity, are most likely interested in home improvements.
Online advertising is a world of its own, and if it’s not in your skillset or you don’t have the time there are lots of freelancers or agencies out there that can help. They can put a plan in place that aligns with your business goals and budgets. Plus, they can speak to advertising companies themselves and handle the process on your behalf, so you can focus on your business.
No matter your budget, most of these options have levels of pricing so, to get started, you can invest as much or little as you like. However, know that the more money you can put behind paid advertisements, the more people you’ll likely reach.
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