The 7 Most Popular Types of Advertising
Online advertising takes many forms. Some are more expensive than others, while certain types of advert are designed for specific demographics. There’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to online advertising, and businesses must make a nuanced choice. Here’s a rundown of the most popular types.
#1 Social media
Social media adverts generally take two forms. This could be paid or organic depending on the need of the business. They pay a social media company like Facebook or Instagram for a sponsored post. This comes with targeting information so you can handpick your audience. The post is then displayed across selected news feeds for a specified period of time. Alternatively, you might opt to work with an influencer. These accounts have a lot of followers (sometimes millions) and will endorse your product or service for a fee.
#2 SEO
One of the oldest advertising forms in the book, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It means using methods like keywords and good linking to make your site rank higher in search results, generating traffic. SaaS content marketing is some of the best. SaaS companies leverage a combination of SEO and content to drive traffic to their products, an example that any business can follow.
#3 Guest blogging
Guest blogging simply means posting a blog on another person’s website/blog. It might seem simplistic, but guest posts are powerful. More so than any other type of advertising, they allow you to talk about your product in depth. Blogs also tend to have trusting audiences who are more accepting of product recommendations, even if they have come from an external blogger.
#4 Email marketing
Another old form of marketing, emails never go out of fashion. Compiling a contact list opens up the world of email marketing and gives you an audience to sell to. Not everybody will open an obviously marketing-based email, but those who do are often highly engaged. You can also offer value via email, perhaps using discount codes or limited-time deals.
#5 PPC
Pay-Per-Click advertising is associated with Google and Amazon. It can sound daunting, but it’s actually quite straightforward. You’ll take out an advert, set a budget, and then only pay when somebody clicks on the ad. Of course, target information, including the ages, locations, and interests of your audience all come into play. PPC can sometimes be costly, but you can save a lot of money by targeting the right audience.
#6 Geo-targeted
Geo-targeting is best for businesses operating within a local area. As the name suggests, you’ll be showing adverts to people from a specific area, perhaps a town or city. This works wonders for small businesses, but even larger companies can benefit. Target areas can even be as large as a whole country, but that’s more costly.
#7 Mobile advertising
Mobile advertising combines the best points of all the previously listed types but compresses them into a mobile format. It might sound simple, but creating a fully optimized mobile advertising campaign is hard work. Adverts are designed to be easily consumable and attention-grabbing. Mobile users tend to browse on the move, so adverts are designed and delivered accordingly.