Marketing and advertising online has expanded greatly in the last few years to encompass a variety of plans, locations, and audiences. With so many digital options available to small business owners, it can be overwhelming to understand exactly what each digital platform is best for your small business.
The good news is that we understand all the digital solutions available to small businesses and understand the frustrations that surround different digital offerings. While not a comprehensive list, here are some digital advertising options available to small business owners.
Display Advertising: Display ads seem to be a catch-all term in digital marketing, but they actually refer to something very specific. Digital advertising offerings include placing banner ads in specific sizes on a website page. Display options include text, images, or even video.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): SEM relates to the ads placed on search engine results pages for specific keywords. These are the listings that can sometimes show up first on a page for a specific user query. This is often confused with SEO, but the two are different.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is how you rank organically for your content on search engines. Unlike the cousin SEM, SEO is free advertising; you rank based off your keyword research and the work you do to ensure your website is updated regularly and uses phrases your customers may be searching for.
Social: Social media is powerful. Many platforms can offer you extremely targeted advertising based off how the user has interacted with the platform (think likes, interests, accounts the user is following, etc). For this reason, advertising on a social platform can deliver your business right to the target audience you want to reach.
Native Advertising: Native advertising leverages original content to help sell a product or service. It hones in on something of benefit to your target audience so much so, that they often share the content to their friends and network.
Newsletter Sponsorship: By working with other businesses in your market or who appeal to your target audience and sponsoring their newsletter, you can introduce your brand to a new audience and build brand awareness.
Still feeling overwhelmed? We wrote a complete survival guide that can help you successfully drive digital for your business. This eBook features important information about different digital offerings and tips for small business owners so they can successfully implement a digital strategy for their business. Download your copy of our survival guide today!