Staying Ahead with Digital Marketing

Any marketer working today knows that digital advertising is one of, if not the, most critical components of a modern media mix. It’s taken some advertisers a while to adjust from their traditional media strategies of buying broadcast television, radio, and print to incorporate digital. Part of the reason for this is that unlike those advertising channels, digital is a broad term whose makeup is always changing. New social media platforms are always emerging, and the large ones constantly change their interfaces and policies. Usually, this gives marketers more opportunity to reach a more of their target audience, but it can be overwhelming for those not tapped in. As we move into the 2020s, here are biggest areas to be aware of, and how to use them effectively.

PPC Search Engine Ads

If you are working on developing a new SEO strategy 2020, there are many factors to evaluate and incorporate. If we’re looking specifically at building advertising buys, however, PPC search engine ads should be something you consider closely. PPC (or “pay-per-click”) ads appear at the top of search engine pages and are designated as ads. You are charged, as the name suggests, every time someone clicks through one. While it’s important not to lose focus of the importance of organically improving your SEO rankings, the combination of doing that backed up with ad dollars invested in PPC should yield great results.

Programmatic Buying and Retargeting

Programmatic buying is perhaps the most appealing feature of digital advertising. Simply put, programmatic buying refers to the ability buyers have to pinpoint their audience by demographic information such as age, gender, interests, household income, and geographic location. Digital advertising channels have these built into their ad buying interfaces, so when a schedule is placed, the ads are served to people in these specified demos.

It’s important to emphasize how revolutionary this kind of micro-targeting is. Think about traditional broadcast or radio, which rely on the reporting of ratings services such as Nielsen and Arbitron for advertisers to post their buys. While it’s important to still buy traditional media, realize that it’s difficult to pinpoint demos with them even with a well-thought-out advertising strategy and schedule.

Another tool that goes hand in hand with programmatic buying is retargeting, where a banner ad “follows” a customer across sites and apps by using cookies, keeping it top of mind. Let’s say you’ve searched amazon for a pair of shoes or visited a car dealership’s website to research a vehicle. You may pull up a weather app on your smartphone days later to see an ad for that product. It’s easy to see how useful and effective that very specific type of digital marketing can be.

Paid Social Media Ads

Not long ago, the thought of placing ads on social media seemed silly. Now, it’s silly for any business to ignore their power. Like SEO, you should always try to engage your audience and customers organically with a thoughtful organic social media strategy. But, also like SEO, you should use ad dollars to broaden your reach. The trick is to choose the right platform for your business and industry. Many retailers or restaurants that offer time sensitive discounts or specials favor Twitter, while brands with longer-term advertising campaigns may favor Facebook. The demographics of your target audience are important to consider, as well. Brands looking for younger customers may invest in Instagram stories or Snapchat.

Once you’ve identified the platform, you will be able to specify your target demo and schedule with great precision. The mistake many marketers make, however, is failing to track ad performances and adjust their strategy if necessary. All major platforms offer detailed analytics. Use them!

Digital marketing allows businesses of nearly any size to expand their presence and speak directly to their desired audience, regardless of their budget. Use these guidelines to help build your strategy effectively and keep up with the times!