Targeted Online Advertising

Targeted online advertising is one of the most effective methods of advertising today, enabling companies to reach out to customers based on their key demographics, interests, and more. As part of the broader spectrum of online advertising, targeted advertising has to be understood by marketers before it can be effective. But once a reliable campaign strategy has been developed, it can have stunning ROI. First: What is online advertising?

What is online advertising?

Online advertising methods vary: emails, banner ads, paid search ads, and more. How does online targeted advertising work? Targeted advertising algorithms are able to match ads with specific users, thereby improving the odds that users are going to be interested in the product. Types of targeted advertising include display ads and email signature banners, which can be targeted by the specific email domain you and your teammates are emailing.

How does online targeted advertising work?

Online targeted advertising can include display advertising, search engine advertising, and even email advertising. Targeted advertising effectiveness often varies depending on the type of advertising it is. Display ads are banner ads and pop up ads that show up on different sites. Meanwhile, search engine advertising pops up on search engine pages, and email banner advertising shows up in the emails you send everyday out of Outlook or Gmail. One of the benefits of targeted advertising is that it places your brand in front of your intended audience, so they’re already familiar with you before your sales team reaches out.

What is targeted display advertising?

Targeted display advertising uses what is known about a user to display ads most effective. If you’re selling umbrellas, the ads could be targeted towards people who are more likely to be outdoors, and more likely to be in an area with inclement weather. Targeted ads don’t work when information hasn’t been loaded by the customer, or when you don’t know your own customer demographics. The reason why targeted ads are good is because they present a product or service that’s relevant to the intended audience.

Are targeted ads effective?

Targeted ads are exceptionally effective, because they pare down advertising to very niche segments. For instance, instead of advertising to males 15 to 65, you’re suddenly advertising to men who are interested in camping gear, who live within a 20 mile radius, and who make over a certain amount. Advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook even make it possible to use “like kind” audiences, which are people who are very alike your current customers.

Facebook Ads

Facebook is a popular platform and Facebook ads are one of the major strategies for many companies. But while Facebook targeted ads can be effective, there are also some drawbacks and limitations that make it important to also consider other options.

Targeted advertising Facebook is effective because people spend a lot of time on Facebook, because they’re often looking for local information, and because they give a lot of information on Facebook. The benefits of Facebook targeted ads becomes obvious: a restaurant can advertise to clients within their service area who like “Thai food” or “pasta.” The best online advertising methods 2018 and the best online advertising methods 2019 involve the collection of tremendous amounts of data, which Facebook is particularly good at.

But there are also some Facebook advertising ethics involved. Not everyone is aware that a marketer can target people on Facebook who make more than $100,000, for instance. And Facebook has a specific niche and demographic as well. It’s generally used now by older people; kids and teens are more likely to use another social platform. So while Facebook is effective at what it does, broader campaigns (such as B2B marketing, or international campaigns) may not prove to be as effective.

It’s always best for marketers to go broad and for them to advertise in as many locations as they possibly can. Facebook is one venue, but so is Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Depending on a marketer’s key demographics, these may end up being far more effective for them.

History of Advertising

Obviously, the history of advertising is incredibly robust. The first advertisements likely appeared as etched walls thousands of years ago. For as long as there have been merchants, there have been merchants plying their wares. And yet, advertising itself has not changed much. Advertising is always something short, sweet, and meant to capture someone’s attention.

In recent memory, consider that there were flyers and magazine advertisements, billboards and more. Several decades ago, advertisers started thinking about broader messaging and even subliminal messaging. Though for most of the history of advertising advertisements were fairly direct, within the last hundred years there has been the idea emerging of a “brand.” A brand is a corporate identity that resonates with people far beyond the sum of its products.

Targeted advertising has existed for some time. Consider that merchants would go to the places where their customers were most likely to be. Targeted advertising is a way to do this. Sending postcards to people in specific neighborhoods is targeted advertising.

But with online advertising, targeted advertising ethics has become more important. It’s now possible to digitally reach into people’s homes and find ways to target people on an extraordinarily specific and granular level. Targeted advertising Google stats can see directly into what people do online, and the intricacies of their lives and lifestyles. Guidelines for internet advertising in e commerce need to consider the ramifications of such direct control.

In the history of targeted advertising, this level of detail is unprecedented. And it can drive amazing results by marketers who understand its power. But these same marketers need to be mindful of their audience and consider the consequences of searching for and targeting specific demographics. As an example, targeting women from 40 to 60 may not be an issue. But targeting aggressive ads to children 8 to 12 may be a broader issue, as they are less likely to be skeptical about advertising.

Online Advertising Business

What companies are in the online advertising business? There are many “digital marketing” companies and agencies. Some develop online advertising websites and web presences. Others manage social media accounts. Some targeted advertising companies specialize in pay-per-click display ads. Others perform targeted advertising research for the purposes of search engine optimization. In the realm of targeted advertising, The Guardian has outlined some potential ethical issues; but the best online advertising companies are well aware of potential ethical dilemmas and work to resolve them.

Companies like Terminus have been made to help customers with hyper-targeted online advertising without ethical issues. The benefits of partnering with a business that specializes in online advertising include: they complete the research for you, they execute the ad campaign for you, and they know which metrics to look at to determine success.

Nevertheless, not all advertising companies are made equal. Some digital marketing companies provide mostly self-service: They provide some minor tools, but they don’t drive the campaign itself. Other digital marketing companies are all-in-one, handling everything. Businesses that have had their own advertising success may not want to hand over all their advertising to another person; they may just want a partner they can work with.

But how can you identify the right online advertising company? Usually reputation. Those who seek out online advertising, especially in the B2B market, are more likely to be savvy, and they’re more likely to present their results in working with the company online.

Online Behavioral Advertising

To understand behavioral advertising, you need to understand cookies and targeted advertising. Consider this. You look online for some “beef jerky.” A second later, you’re on Facebook and you see creepy targeted ads about “beef jerky.” What’s happening?

Cookies are something that track what you do on your computer. A website can see through cookies that you’ve been looking up beef jerky, usually because Google runs the largest advertising marketplace, and Google is used on many websites and search engines. The advertising network then serves up images of beef jerky because it knows, due to your browsing behavior, that it’s something you’re interested in.

Why is targeted advertising bad? It’s not necessarily. But there are many questions, such as: Is targeted advertising an invasion of privacy? Is targeted marketing ethical? Ideally, targeted marketing is used to give customers exactly what they want. In the above scenario, you did in fact want beef jerky.

But the problems with targeted advertising and sentiment targeting usually relate to the knowledge of the users. If users don’t know they’re being tracked this way, and don’t opt into being tracked this way, it can be distressing. The relationship between targeted ads consumerism is also questionable, because it can drive people to make purchases they really didn’t mean to make. In this way, targeting advertising manipulation can be seen as injuring a person’s well-being, and targeted advertising privacy issues may arise.

But there’s no arguing that it is now widespread, nor that it is effective. In many ways, it’s about informed consent. Advertising networks such as Google and Facebook are now very cautious about how they display ads and about making it obvious that they are ads.

Online Advertising Examples

How do people get started with online advertising? With online advertising examples, usually. Targeted advertising examples include what other companies are doing within a similar industry, and how they’re targeting and tracking their users. While a general online advertising PDF can give someone an overview about creating an ad itself, it can’t help with the intricacies of describing a full advertising campaign. Online advertising strategies PDF and templates give a good starting point, but online advertising examples and case studies go further.

A targeted advertising presentation can begin with a discussion of the company’s core demographics, how they wanted to reach these demographics, and more. Then, it can go into whether these strategies were ultimately effective or not, what worked well, and what did not. Learning from others within the industry and even the competition is often the best and most effective way to understand how targeted advertising works.

Many people going into targeted advertising for the first time don’t find it intuitive. Marketing to users through display ads, search engine ads, or even just social media, can feel foreign and distant, especially if people are used to more traditional methods of advertising. But the truth is the opposite: online advertising is actually far closer and more personal than many people think. By engaging with the right data, looking at examples, and studying their own metrics, marketers can start to take advantage of advanced advertising technology for their own benefit.