The Benefits of Online Advertising—Staking a Claim on the Digital Frontier

In the past, businesses that wanted to advertise their products or services had to do so through traditional channels such as print, television, or radio.

While these methods could be effective, they were also costly and time-consuming. Today, thanks to the rise of the internet, businesses can reach a much larger audience with much less effort by advertising online. 

Most businesses know this, too. It is a $356 billion industry, after all.

Let’s take a deeper look a some of the benefits of online advertising. 

Massive Reach

Traditional adverts, being ones in print, billboards, radio, and TV, are limited to a particular place or a specific time.

Ads on radio and TV run in slots, which people often ignore unless they’re stuck in traffic. On the other hand, a billboard may be available 24/7, but any passerby will have seconds as they pass to look at it and might even ignore it altogether.

Among the most excellent internet advertising advantages is that it doesn’t suffer from either limitation. They can be displayed 24/7 wherever a potential customer may be looking online, anywhere in the world. 

If a customer scrolls past it, they will encounter it a few more times at least.

With how addicted people are to their smartphones, the odds of them paying attention to your ad are great.

Target Specific Customers 

Digital advertising also allows businesses to target specific users.

Through targeted advertising, companies can deliver ads directly to consumers who are most likely interested in their products or services. 

Therefore, web advertising allows businesses to focus their marketing efforts on consumers who are more likely to make a purchase, which can lead to increased sales, higher profit margins, and reduced spending.

Monitor Performance Metrics

Traditional advertising is often a guessing game.

Companies invest large sums of money in the hopes that their ad will reach the right people and persuade them to buy their products. However, there’s no way to monitor performance. 

Online advertising is different. Thanks to sophisticated tracking technologies, advertisers can see exactly how their ads perform through various metrics.

They can tell how many people have seen the ad, where they saw it, and what they did after viewing it. 

You don’t have to be one of the web marketing pros to use this granular data to figure out what's working and what isn't and adjust your campaigns on the fly. 

On that note...

Quicker Optimization

One of the critical advantages of online advertising is that adverts can be changed and deployed faster than traditional forms of advertising.

For example, if, after looking at its metrics, a company wants to change its message or target a different audience, it can do so quickly and easily by updating its website or creating new internet based ads.

In contrast, changing traditional advertising forms, such as print or broadcast ads, can be much more time-consuming and expensive. Remember, TV and radio networks are pretty rigid, print adverts can’t be retracted once they’re out there, and billboards take forever to change. 

A neat tool is landing pages, which allow you to create new ads in minutes. The best landing page builders are structured for quick-fire marketing. Plus, they include A/B testing and other forms of feedback.

Funnel Entry

A significant benefit, and in our opinion an understated one, is how digital adverts are a direct portal to the products and services a business sells.

When users click on internet based advertisements, they are pushed into a sales funnel and taken directly to a product page or sign-up link. 

In contrast, traditional advertising methods such as television and print media are usually far from the actual point of sale, making it more difficult for potential customers to take action. 

Digital advertising, therefore, reduces friction in the purchasing process and can strike while a lead is hot. 

Remarketing

Because online advertising integrates with a business’ tech stack, it can be used to follow up on what customers have previously bought and offer them more.

For instance, if someone buys a book from an online retailer, the retailer can show ads for similar books to that customer.

This internet advertising advantage provides an effective way to upsell and cross-sell to customers, as it ensures that they see more products they are likely to find interesting. 

Remarketing also offers a higher chance of sales because a customer who has already bought is more likely to buy again than someone unfamiliar with the business.

Cost-Effective

When grouped, all of these internet advertising advantages are cost-effective. They give a business a massive reach, the ability to target specific people, gather feedback and adjust to it, speed up optimization, and get customers to points of sale quickly. 

This means it’s far and away the most cost-effective way to advertise, but there’s just one caveat—the risk of ad fraud.

Online advertising is done through ad networks, but individual sites that host ads can use bots and other unscrupulous practices to drain advertising budgets while offering no benefit to businesses. 

Luckily there are steps you can take to guard against this. 

Conclusion

The benefits of online advertising have revolutionized the way businesses reach potential customers. 

It provides a quick and efficient way to deploy ads and vast amounts of valuable data to optimize campaigns. Additionally, it’s a highly effective way of driving sales and generating leads.

If you aren’t advertising online, there’s never been a better time to jump in.