When you hear advertising, what comes to mind?
Do you think of print inserts or website ads? Those emotional John Lewis videos at Christmas? Or billboards and posters you see on the tube or at the train station?
The average person in 2020 is exposed to between 6,000 and 10,000 ads every day, so we all have a pretty good idea what advertising looks like. What is a little harder is understanding how different advertising media can help your business.
Advertising formats each have their own particular use in appealing to different target audiences or conveying certain kinds of messages. That means you need to think hard about choosing the right advertising media for your business’s goals.
To help give you an idea of what different media can do for you, we’ve put together a list of some of their specific benefits and applications.
We think video should be at the core of every brand’s marketing strategy. When it comes to building your brand’s visual identity, video has clear and inherent advantages over other formats in terms of impact and memorability.
Beyond your branding elements, video lets you demonstrate your products to a receptive audience. Even a short demo video allows you to quickly show off how your product looks and works, and what makes it unique in a crowded marketplace.
You also have the strongest chance of cementing in someone’s memory with video. Viewers claim they retain 95% of a message conveyed to them via video. With the average attention span now down to 8 seconds, it’s no longer enough to capture a customer’s attention; you really have to hold it.
Display advertising - the boxes and banners you see on sites across the internet - is pretty much the default mode of advertising online.
While your display ads will help you generate sales, that's not what they're best at! Instead, their primary function is raising brand awareness. This means building up name recognition among your target audience by placing them on sites where your (future) customers are most likely to spend their time.
Digital display is an indispensable part of any advertising strategy. So whether you’re new in town and building a customer base, well-established but keen you keep your name out there, or if you have recently rebranded, this is a key tool in your advertising toolbox.
When you’re shopping in-store you only pick the goods that you can see. Pretty obvious, right? This is the same for online and a huge reason why investing in Google ads is essential.
When competing in the marketplace, visibility is key. And with 3.5 billion Google searches made every single day, you want your business to be easy to find. Advertising on Google will display your business prominently on the results pages, helping you quickly gain attention from your target audience just at the right moment (when they’re most likely to buy from you).
Print may be the oldest advertising format around, but businesses around the world still pour huge amounts of money into getting their messaging on paper. Print publications’ typical audiences, plus their air of traditionalism and enhanced prestige, make them excellent channels for appealing to older consumers.
In a digital age where so much content of varying quality is freely available online at the touch of a mouse, print publications can attract especially loyal readerships. Habitual readers are always of great value to marketers, as repeat exposure to your advertising message will significantly increase the chances of it making an impact.
Print advertising can also help you boost take-ups of promotions and special offers; never underestimate the power of the cut-out coupon in driving people to your door!
Social media matters a great deal for businesses these days. But algorithmic changes, problems with trust, and the inherently distraction-packed environments of social platforms can all limit the impact of the average company’s marketing posts.
Social display takes your social posts out of their original, noisy habitats and places them on our news websites where people actually pay attention to what they’re reading.
Social display helps you engage a new audience with your social media posts without needing to worry about battling for attention on those social platforms themselves.
Did you know, 61% of consumers prefer companies that create custom content? While yes, crafting high quality content is a great way to reach new customers, sponsored content will help you reach the right ones.
The key thing here is relevance. While content matters to your customers, what matters more is a piece tailored to their individual needs - or even appealing to needs they never knew they had. Carefully consider your target audience and how your content will reach them. A professionally-written article on a specific topic, such as gardening, will not only showcase your garden centre but tap into your customers’ personal interest.
Unlike traditional ads, sponsored content is all about the storytelling. Through a professionally-written article you can not only sell your customers on your business, but also why your products are needed in the first place.
Be careful though, while you want to direct your customers to a sale, if you start to sound too much like a typical ad you might lose their trust (and therefore, their business).
In order to be successful and grow your business, you want to reach your target audience and choosing the right advertising product is the way to do that.
Marketing your products or services is an ongoing process. Knowing which product to utilise will be a challenge, but don’t be afraid to mix things up. There are things that certain products can do that you may not have even thought of, so if you have been sticking to one advertising type for ages, it may be the time to try something new.
Still not sure which format is right for you? Download our in-depth guide for a more detailed overview.
