Online Advertising Strategy

The internet has evolved into an information platform with interactivity as a key feature. User input and data about consumer behavior have become large drivers in the way marketing is done today. Two strengths of internet advertising are customization and accurate targeting. Advertising efforts within specific industries benefit from the use of digital tools that tap into data about customers. Legal services, for instance, can utilize Pay Per Click (PPC) online advertising with sophisticated features that target only users seeking assistance from an attorney (as seen at Rocket Pilots). Achieving overall success in online advertising requires an understanding of these kinds of tools and techniques.

Examples of what can be considered online advertising include a company’s website, paid advertising on other websites and any other content that refers to the company. The hyperlinked nature of online information enables instant access from one form of content to another. Reaching customers with a meaningful value proposition involves an understanding of this environment and how disparate pieces are connected digitally. Some of the different types of online advertising include search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) advertising, and social media advertising. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engines emerged as an answer to the need for some sensible method by which to access the rapidly expanding amounts of online information. Users input a word or group of words, called search terms, and the search engine returns a list of results curated from other online content that match or relate to the search terms. By necessity, the list of results must be presented in some order. That order is determined by an algorithm or algorithms managed by the search engine’s creator. Over time, these tools have become a hub for commercial activity on the internet. Customers seeking specific products or services use search engines to locate potential vendors and suppliers.

The term search engine optimization (SEO) describes the efforts made by content creators to improve the rankings of their content within the search engine results listing. In practice, SEO involves an understanding of the structure of online content, specific sections of computer code within the content and how search engines evaluate the content. Effective use of SEO will improve the performance of any well-designed marketing and advertising effort by enlarging the audience to which the content is exposed.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

This online advertising method, as the name implies, only charges advertisers a fee when their ad is clicked on by a user. There are several variations of this method involving different levels of complexity and expense. One of the most common types is known as a paid search ad. This type of PPC ad appears alongside other search results in a search engine results page. The mechanism behind this process is a real-time auction conducted by the search engine’s owners. Advertisers bid on key search terms or words known as keywords that will cause an ad to be displayed. The auction is an automated set of algorithms determining which ads are displayed for specific keywords according to bids placed by advertisers.

Social Media Advertising

Advertisements on social media are perhaps the most complex of all available online advertising methods. This is partly because of the degree of detail in the data that these platforms collect about users. Demographic information and lifestyle data are used to define market segments and give advertisers the ability to present ads to very specific groups of consumers. Exploring this advertising avenue in one popular social media platform reveals five dimensions of control that include: Location, Demographics, Interests, Behavior, and Connections. This number of combinations and permutations provide advertisers with an ample toolbox for designing and implementing a cohesive strategy.

The age of internet marketing and advertising is flourishing with opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs. Successful organizations will devote resources to better understand and use digital advertising tools as they evolve and grow. It is rapidly becoming apparent that in order to remain competitive, today’s businesses must engage customers in this virtual marketplace.