Digital advertising refers to all kinds of communication made by a company to advertise and promote its brand, product, or service using the various platforms and digital channels. It usually happens in web browsers, social media pages, blogs, apps, or any other form of contact through the Internet. It is also known as online advertising. Digital marketing benefits businesses of all sizes by giving access to the mass market at an affordable price. It allows truly personalized marketing. Digital advertising is more universal and flexible, enabling you to tell your brand story on the channels that your buyers often visit.
Impact of Covid on Digital Advertising
The impact of the pandemic was often clearly seen across all sectors. The essential services industries were operating uninterrupted to fulfil the surge in demand, different sectors like retail, entertainment and hospitality were struggling. For marketers, however, the pandemic has opened a lot of opportunities.
Consumer behaviour is evolving because the world adjusts to a brand new traditional, wherever social distancing, work from home and virtual conferences are the new normal. Demand for at-home digital media has grown considerably.
OTT platforms and digital media have already been attracting new customers.
Time spent on smartphones has increased significantly from three hours twenty-two minutes pre-covid to three hours fifty-four minutes in April 2020 and stable to three hours thirty-seven minutes with the primary stage of unlocking. Video streaming has increased into ninety-six per cent of India’s metros and mini-metros and ninety-seven per cent of its tier-one and tier-two cities. Mobile payment has reached seventy-three per cent of the metros and min-metros and seventy-five per cent of the tier-one and tier-two cities.
According to recent data by BARC, the ad spends on news and social media platforms, music, streaming TV, and games has increased during these times.
Some Facts and Figures
- Social Media has been the most actively used mode for digital advertising. Different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, have contributed to a huge volume of user engagement in the past years. The users on these platforms are growing continuously adding to the degree and intensity of the reach of social media.
- Social media usage jumped to 280 minutes per day, with 75% of people spending more time on apps like WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook.
- According to the Hammerkopf Consumer Snapshot Survey Over-the-top (OTT) media consumption too saw a spike, with the prime time being 7 pm.
Why is Digital Advertising important
- Digital Ads can help you reach the right people with the right message
- Digital Ads can help you see measurable results
- The customers are constantly on the internet
- The availability of customer intent data enables personalization and seamless conversation
- With the advancements in digital advertising, marketers can now target the exact audience that’s most likely to buy your product.
Types of Digital Advertising
- Display Ads
Display advertising is the most basic form of digital ads and is primarily comprised of images and text. These usually will show up as banners, landing pages, pop ups, or flash ads on websites and mostly on blogs. Display ads are quite affordable.
- Native Advertising
Native advertising is more strategic and intentional when it comes to placement and audience targeting when compared to Display Ads. They have sponsored listings that are integrated and camouflaged into the feed. Native advertising is based on audience online habits and history and will show ads that may be relevant to them. There are four sub-types of native advertising:
I. in-feed
II. Search ads
III. promoted listings
IV. recommendation widgets
l Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) is based on keywords that users are already looking for. Even though search engines can show thousands of results, 90% of users will end their search on the first page. That’s why it’s crucial to use SEM and strategize to make sure your listing shows up on the first couple of pages.
There are two sub-types:
I. search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engines show results based on relevance, so by optimizing a website for specific keywords, businesses have a higher chance of showing up on the first page.
II. pay per click (PPC)
PPC ads pop up as the first and/or last several results on the first page.
- Paid Search Advertising
Paid search advertisements appear at the top of the search result for relevant terms on search engines like Google. A paid search ad is a text advertisement, usually consisting of a headline, description, and a link to the destination URL. They are triggered by search queries, so they are usually more relevant to the intentions of the person viewing the advertisement
- Video Advertising
Video advertising includes all forms of online advertising that include videos, especially those featured at the beginning or in the middle of video streaming content on platforms like YouTube. Video advertising is becoming an increasingly popular medium for advertisers to reach customers with engaging messages
- Social Media Advertising
Social Media Advertising is when a business pays to promote content on a social platform. The most common social media platforms for advertising are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. The key benefit of social media advertising is that content promoted on social can be liked, shared, and commented on by audiences.
- Email Marketing
Email marketing is an easy way to effectively reach a target audience who is already interested in the brand. Once an email list is collected, email campaigns can be sent to customers for a variety of reasons. They can be about promotions or discounts.
- Content Marketing
Content marketing uses storytelling and information sharing to increase brand awareness. It can be blog posts, resources like white papers and e-books, digital video, podcasts. The goal is to have the reader take an action towards becoming a customer
- Mobile Marketing
It is this focused on reaching your target audience on their smartphone or tablet. Mobile marketing reaches people through text messages, social media, websites, email and mobile applications. Marketers can tailor offers or special content to a geographic location or time.
Advantages of Digital Advertising
- Global reach
A website allows you to find new markets and trade globally for a small investment.
- Lower Costs
A properly planned and well-targeted digital marketing campaign can reach the right customers at a lower cost
- Easy to measure
The success of a digital campaign can easily be ascertained. With a digital campaign, you can know almost immediately how an ad is performing.
- Targeting
Marketing over digital platforms allows for targeted campaigning where ads are presented to customers based on their preferences. This helps to increase the likelihood of sales as well as further cut down on the cost of marketing.
- Segmentation
Segmentation is the process in which large customer groups are further broken down into smaller groups of customers according to a particular classification. Segmentation increases the chances of sales, as well as cut down on cost. For segmentation to work effectively, adequate information must be collected from subscribers.
- Personalization
If your customer database is linked to your website, then when someone visits the site, you can greet them with targeted offers. The more they buy from you, the more you can refine your customer profile and market effectively to them.
- Provides Flexibility Across Channels
With digital advertising, a piece of content can be shared across a variety of platforms.