If you are an online retailer, you face a lot of competition. We’re not just referring to direct competitors. We’re talking about the incredible volume of businesses selling on the Internet. There are more than 9.1million online retailers in the world and 2.5 million of them are in the USA. With so many retailers competing for visits, page views, clicks, and conversion it can be hard to cut through the clutter.
You need an online marketing strategy that reaches far and wide across the Internet to attract customers wherever and whenever they are online. To accomplish that goal, you need a multi-prong attack. Here are seven forms of online advertising your brand should be using now.
1. Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) focuses on using search engines like Google and Bing to market your website. The goal of this advertising method is to get your business website on top of the search results. This is important because there are 3.5 billion searches on Google per day. So, appearing at the top of search results that are relevant to your product or service improves you odds of attracting qualified customers to your website.
Another reason to use SEM is that it also increases your overall SEO score. This helps your natural organic search rate increase regardless of the topic of search. It’s a great way to appear higher on the SERP.
2. Display Marketing
Display marketing is among the easiest and simplest ways to advertise your business on the Internet. It can also be among the least expensive, making it a popular choice for many businesses that want to advertise their services on the web.
Display marketing typically includes banner ads, landing page ads, and pop-up ads on a wide range of websites. This gets your message to a broad audience, but when positioned alongside third-party content on the host website, there is no guarantee it will get noticed. You’ll need to create a great ad to attract clicks.
A good headline and strong offer are a good start. But just as important is using engaging visuals and colors in the ad. The right choice of colors can make an ad stand out by drawing the attention of readers away from the host website’s content to your own.
3. PPC Advertising
If you’re looking for a cost-efficient way to advertise your business, pay-per-click advertising is the best choice. As the name suggests, you only need to pay for each click that your ad gets. This ensures that you get your money’s worth when going for this type of advertisement.
With PPC, you set a budget upfront in your selected ad platform to limit your expenditure then sit back while your ads generate clicks and visits to your website. It’s a great way to keep expense slow for start-ups and big businesses alike. It also helps with your ROI since the majority of people who click your ads will have a genuine interest in your products or services.
4. Social Media Marketing
If you want your ads to get lots of engagements, consider posting them on social media platforms. Most of the Internet’s population goes online to check their social profiles on a daily basis. This means that any advertisement on the platform is sure to get noticed.
Ads on social media platforms typically appear as promoted posts or sponsored stories. This format enables users of the platforms to differentiate between paid content and posts from other people. Ad content can also appear in sidebar areas as paid promotions.
What’s great about social advertising is that it allows you to engage with your audience. Social platforms have comment sections and sharing features to increase engagement. These will help you gain the loyalty of potential customers even before they do business with you.
5. Influencer Marketing
Another great way to advertise is to have other people talking about your business. This is what people call Influencer marketing. It is the ultimate word-of-mouth, and it can help you significantly extend your reach. This is because you will be hiring people to talk about your business to their own followers.
When using Influencers, it is important to choose one who knows a lot about your services and field of expertise. Doing this ensures that their audience will also find interest in your business. You wouldn’t want to hire a fashion Influencer if your main service revolves around technology, after all.
6. Remarketing
Remarketing is a great way for you to advertise to people who already visited your website. This advertising technique involves using cookie-tracking to follow visitors to your site after they depart, staying with them as they visit other websites. Remarketing displays your ads on those sites, providing a reminder to return to your website.
It’s a great way to get competitive shoppers to come back if they didn’t convert on their original visit. It is also an effective advertising tactic for reminding customers about services or goods that are repeatable.
7. Video Marketing
Internet videos are among the most engaging media today. This is because people find it more convenient to watch a video than read a lot of text. They don’t want to strain their eyes to know about the service they may or may not find interest in.
As simple as it may seem, one of the keys to success in video marketing is to create an engaging intro. Once you get the viewer’s attention, they’re usually hooked until the end of the video.
Speaking of the end of the video, let’s talk about length. Try keeping your video short. About two minutes is the sweet spot. People tend to abandon when they discover that a video is more than five minutes in length. Formats like Instagram Reels or TikTok videos are great for delivering a quick message to your consumers.
Know the Different Types of Online Advertising Today
The various types of online advertising each bring an advantage to the table. If your budgeted is limited, identify the one that works best for you and use it in your marketing campaign. Otherwise, take advantage of as many of these ad forms to increase your business’s reach and maximize your ROI.
Does your company need assistance with online advertising and marketing? How about working with Influencers? We can help you develop a multi-channel marketing strategy including one or more of the ad formats described here. We can also find and connect you with the perfect Influencer to represent your brand. Contact us to get a Free online marketing and social media strategy session.
