There are hundreds of types of digital ads – from YouTube video ads and banner ads on websites, to search engine ads and advertising on social media – and they allow you to target customers based on their profiles and browsing history.
While finding your customers is straightforward, standing out is a lot more difficult in crowded and competitive landscapes.
Types of digital advertising:
Banner Ads
Also known as digital display advertising, these are typically graphic-based ads that appear on websites such as online newspapers and blogs.
Search Engine Ads
These appear on search engine results, such as Google, when the user types in a relevant phrase.
Advertisers ‘bid’ to appear for specific search terms and pay when someone clicks the ad.
Video Ads
These are ads that feature video as its primary component.
Video ads have a strong record of boosting conversions and increasing traffic to a website.
Audio Ads
With the widespread adoption of podcasts as a form of entertainment, the humble audio ad is making a comeback and no longer just to be found on commercial radio.
Paying for advertising
Unlike traditional media, you typically pay the website owner who hosts your digital ad only when a visitor clicks on it.
This makes digital advertising more effective as you only pay for visitors to your website who have the potential to become customers.
Payment types include:
CPA (cost per action)
You pay only when a visitor clicks your ad and then completes an action, such as buying something on your website or signing up to your newsletter.
PPC (pay per click)
The most common form of payment – you only pay when someone clicks on your ad that links through to your website.
CPM (cost per mille)
You pay per thousand people who see your ad, irrespective of whether they click on it.
Less effective but sometimes used for brand advertising.
Our eight-step guide to creating a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign
Using a service like Google Ads means you can target people based on what they’re searching for online.
1. Define your goal
Such as increasing sales or generating newsletter sign-ups.
Without a clear goal your campaign may not be effective.
2. Allocate your budget
Effectively a ‘pot’ of money that you pay to the advertising platform, which is debited every time someone clicks your ad.
It is possible to ‘plan’ your spend using the Google Ads platform so it lasts for the length of your campaign or to set a target amount to spend per month.
3. Choose your keywords
Think about the types of phrases and terms that a customer would type in when looking for a business or product such as yours.
4. Refine your keywords
Use tools such as Google’s Keyword planner tool to see the volume and competition for the keywords you’re targeting.
High volume means lots of people search using these words and low competition means that there are few companies bidding for these keywords.
5. Bid on keywords
Set up a Google Ads account and bid on your keywords.
6. Create your search engine ad
It needs a catchy headline with engaging copy to encourage people to click on the ad.
7. Create a landing page
For your campaign, create a ‘landing page’ on your site – this is the page you want people to go to when they click on your ad.
8. Measure and optimise
Use Google’s reporting tools to monitor the campaign and see if your ad is working well.
Test different ad copy and keywords to see if you can reduce the amount you spend to acquire each customer.
Affiliate Marketing
Use third parties to generate leads and reach more customers for your business than you can on your own.
Affiliate marketing allows you to promote your business and sell your products or services through other websites, blogs or social media profiles – reaching far more customers than you could achieve using just traditional marketing channels.
Sounds great – but there is a cost.
Affiliates take a cut of sales as commission and in exchange carry your advertising, write product reviews, or even sell your products via their website.
There are different types of affiliates, ranging from price comparison and cash-back websites to bloggers and traditional publishers.
Many successful affiliates use their social media profile to promote goods and services to their followers as well.
How affiliate marketing works
- Your affiliate puts your products or services on their site
- Customers buy your product or services via your affiliate’s promotion
- That sale or conversion is tracked and attributed to the affiliate
- Your business pays commission to the affiliate for that sale
One of the good things about affiliate marketing is that the affiliate network does most of the hard work for you and you generally only pay for completed sales.
That means if a customer clicks on a link from an affiliate and finds their way on to your site but doesn’t make a purchase, you don’t have to pay the affiliate a fee, which is different to most digital marketing channels.
This is known as a pay-per-sale model, as opposed to a cost-per-lead (CPL) or cost-per acquisition (CPA).
Get started with affiliate marketing
Contact bloggers and social media influencers aligned to your industry and ask online publishers if they’d be interested in reviewing your products and services in return for a sales commission.
Don’t expect success overnight – an affiliate programme is a long-term investment and running your own programme can be time-consuming.
Choose an affiliate network
Alternatively, opt for an affiliate network such as:
- Shopify
- Awin
- eBay Partner Network
- Amazon Associates
This provides immediate access to publishers who will help sell your products.
Most networks have tracking and reporting tools so you can see how affiliates are performing, along with easy payment systems.
Do your homework before joining
Some large global networks charge a one-off joining fee in addition to a monthly admin fee.
Research their publishers and the type of products they advertise.
Provide promotional content
Make your affiliates’ job easier by providing pre-made promotional content such as ad banners, product images, videos, and website landing pages.
If you haven’t got the time or skills, hire a freelance designer or use an online service such as eGraphix, People Per Hour, Fiverr, or Design Crowd.
Promote your programme
As you’re unlikely to be the only product or service your affiliate is promoting, you’ll need to keep your business at the front of their mind.
Create relationships with your best-performing affiliates and keep them informed of upcoming sales and promotions.
Learn more about affiliate marketing with our guide.
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Chapter ten: Sustainable marketing
Learn more about sustainable marketing and how to avoid accusations of greenwashing.
Next chapterDisclaimer: The Start -Up Loans Company makes reasonable efforts to keep the content of this article up to date, but we do not guarantee or warrant (implied or otherwise) that it is current, accurate or complete. This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind, including legal, financial, tax or other professional advice. You should always seek professional or specialist advice or support before doing anything on the basis of the content of this article.
The Start-Up Loans Company is not liable for any loss or damage (foreseeable or not) that may come from relying on this article, whether as result of our negligence, breach of contract or otherwise. “Loss” includes (but is not limited to) any direct, indirect or consequential loss, loss of income, revenue, benefits, profits, opportunity, anticipated savings, data. We do not exclude liability for any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under English law. Reference to any person, organisation, business or event does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation from The Start-Up Loans Company, its parent company British Business Bank plc, or the UK Government.
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Social Ads
Advertising that’s more like an article or piece of content.
Written to promote your product or service, it shares the same editorial style as the website it appears on.
It targets users using the behaviour, interests, and demographic data shared with and collected by big tech companies such as Amazon, Google, and Meta.