Don’t have time for the full article, here’s a quick summary.

• Even with all the changes over the past year, digital advertising can still zero in on your target market.
• Digital advertising and digital marketing are not the same thing.
• Diversification is critical to your digital advertising success.
• PRO Tip: make sure your digital ecosystem is fully integrated before you start spending your hard earned cash on advertising.

Read on for the full story…

While there are many tools and tactics that make up your digital ecosystem, one of the biggest hitters is digital advertising. In today’s online world, digital advertising has expanded beyond banner ads with basic targeting, it’s now possible to zero in on your ideal audience based on demographics, behaviours, age, lifestyle, even their stage in the sales funnel, and engagement patterns.

These insights can then be analysed and used across your display, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO), social media, native ads, pay-per-click, retargeting, affiliate, mobile marketing, and more.

Often mistakenly called digital marketing, digital advertising is more specific, one part of your overarching marketing strategy, but a critical one. It must be driven by data, be across your entire digital ecosystem, and delivered in a way this is actionable. No jargon, just qualified facts and a clear direction forward. Without a digital advertising strategy, you are just throwing good money after bad.

Creating directing and customer value led advertising will drive your business towards new opportunities for growth and ultimately create stronger loyalty. More than just data, design and delivery, your digital advertising campaigns need to be dynamic and sustainable, guided towards brand awareness, credibility, improved presence and the delivery of sales. They also need to work seamlessly and collaboratively with your organic efforts, maintaining a consistent theme for best results.

Diversification is critical, we are not suggesting you “advertise everywhere”, more along the lines of ensuring that you spread your advertising budget across the best platforms for your business, the online locations where your clients spend their time.

While exciting new platforms arrive and take prominence (e.g. TikTok, SnapChat), the three largest sources for traffic, organic and paid, are still Google (Search, YouTube), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), and Microsoft (Search, LinkedIn). They are a great place to start when considering your advertising strategy, cross referenced with your customer and competitor analysis, along with your budgets, there are some great and cost effective options to start growing awareness of your brand, while your organic efforts like SEO, website and social, support you in the background as back up.