When it comes to advertising, traditional print or TV advertisements are no longer as effective as they once were. With an estimated 3.5 billion internet users in 2016, a number that continues to grow each year, online marketing has successfully displaced older forms of paid promotion.
In this regard, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing is a popular strategy many marketers now resort to.
Here, companies place advertisements on search engines and websites in order to increase their reach to online customers most relevant to their business. In these types of campaigns, advertisers generally pay each time one of their ads are clicked. While search ads are some of the most popular variants, PPC also includes display ads and a newer form of shopping ads.
Given the importance of such strategies to practically every marketer, our blog this week dives into the basics of these forms of advertising. Continue reading for more!
Search Ads
Easily the most popular form of online marketing, search ads are those advertisements strategically placed among search engine results.
Say you were to type ‘best hotels in Australia’ on Google or Yahoo. While organic results are shown on the first page, one of the first things you’re likely to see is an ad taking you to a particular hotel or accommodation service. In the marketing world, these are what we fondly refer to as search ads.
When it comes to designing a successful ad campaign, careful thought, creativity, and strategy is always a winning combination. Keyword usage is also crucial, given that these are one of the most important factors triggering the ads into being displayed on a search network.
For marketers who have perfected their search ad campaigns – producing well-designed and optimised ads alongside sleek landing pages – Google automatically reduces cost-per-click.
These are, therefore, a very cost-effective form of online marketing if the basics are perfected.
While Google is the most popular platform for this type of advertising – owning 71% of the search market share – Yahoo still remains a popular destination for many marketers.
Display Ads
Display ads are another form of paid advertising, usually appearing as web banners on various websites. Taking the form of various graphics combinations, videos, and text, these are usually reserved for product-based e-commerce companies.
Published either through site placement advertising, contextual advertising or re-marketing, these ads are generally successful for companies whose products or services are capable of inspiring quick conversions.
Site placement allows advertisers to actively choose the websites they wish to place their ads on, while contextual advertising and re-marketing are usually undertaken by third-party ad platforms. Among these, the Google Display Network and the Facebook Audience Network are two of the most popular.
In terms of contextual marketing, ads are automatically placed on websites with similar content. This could, for example, include display ads promoting hotel deals on travel websites. Re-marketing, on the other hand, serves to redirect a user, who hasn’t converted, to a product or site they’ve already viewed or visited.
Shopping Ads
For retailers that wish to promote online and in-store inventory, google shopping ads are another form of online marketing. This form of PPC is largely effective in enabling companies to identify leads that are more likely to convert.
Based on two primary platforms, the Google Merchant Center and AdWords, shopping ads are a new way in which stores targeting in-store customers and online buyers, can push their products on the internet.
The Merchant Centre is where companies enter their product data and the latter where the ads themselves are created. Google then runs these ads on the web, where potential customers can view promoted products. These generally show viewers a photo of the product, its title, price, relevant store name, and other related information.
Key takeaways
For advertisers who wish to keep their online marketing fresh and relevant, PPC advertising is one of the most effective tactics available.
As demonstrated above, companies must choose between search ads, display ads, and Google shopping ads with great care and deliberation. This is done after considering the product or service they specialise in and what their objective for each campaign is.
By choosing a winning strategy, marketers can not just look forward to the promotion of their products or services on the internet, but also marketing efforts targeted to the most relevant of online customers.
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