Brands often struggle when it comes to choosing the best possible advertising medium to promote their product or service. We get it; it’s easy to feel lost as you start your marketing campaign. With so many options, some forms of advertising are bound to work better than others, depending on your marketing objectives.
That’s where Rivers Agency comes in. We’re here to break down the five different types of advertising and help you understand which one can be the key to your marketing success.
In this article, we’ll define display, video, native, mobile and social advertising, while describing the many benefits they can bring to your company.
Display
Display advertising is the process of advertising a product or service through visuals on websites, social media platforms or other digital mediums. It’s a method of attracting an audience to take a specific action.
You have probably seen display advertising in the form of horizontal banners at the top of a webpage or as a vertical banner in the side margins of a page. They are meant to stand out and entice audiences.
Display advertising is beneficial if you want to increase brand awareness, retarget lost customers or improve customer acquisition. It’s a great way to tell a fast visual story while also showing off your brand’s identity.
Want to showcase your company in a variety of ad formats? Display ads are also great for that. They provide a diverse range of formats that can reach almost any audience. These ads are also the perfect opportunity for targeting relevant audiences, as you can place your ads right in front of them on the websites they use most.
Of course, no form of advertising is perfect and display advertising does have some slight downfalls. These include banner blindness and ad blockers. With the rise of banner ads, many users have started to ignore them, simply skimming over display and not paying attention to the ad. Ad blocker technology has also become more popular, as users no longer want to be bothered with constant ads.
Video
We’re sure you’ve seen your fair share of video advertising, and that’s because it’s currently one of the most popular ways to reach online users. Experts expect it to dominate the next decade, so if you haven’t thought about video advertising for your campaigns, now is the time.
There are various types of video advertising, including instream, outstream, reward and shoppable video ads. Instream ads appear before, during or after video content. These are what you typically see on YouTube. Outstream ads are video ads that are integrated into an article or blog post.
Overall, video ads can provide many benefits to your advertising efforts. They’re effective in catching your customers attention and convey a lot of information in a short amount of time. This helps you to increase your brand awareness. Video ads are also easily shared, increasing reach and allowing you to engage with your audience.
If you still aren’t convinced of the benefits to video ads, studies show that about ¾ of consumers prefer video content over text ads. This is most likely because they are eye-catching, entertaining and draw audiences in.
Native
Native advertising is the use of paid ads that match the look, feel and function of the media format in which they appear. They appear in-feed and are non-disruptive, blending into the overall content of the page.
You most likely have seen these ads in the form of suggested posts on Facebook, in-feed native ads or sponsored content. Examples of native advertising include:
“In-feed” ads: ads that appear in your news feed on social networks.
Search and promoted listing: ad listing that appears at the top of your Google search results, or in the sidebar.
Content recommendations: recommended articles that appear below the article you just read.
Native ads are ideal for driving traffic to your website. They serve to provide content that educates users and encourages them to follow the ad.
Experts say that consumers look at native ads 53% more than display ads. This is attributed to the fact that native ads are often relevant and interesting. They engage the audience and fight ad fatigue, re-capturing the attention of users.
Mobile
Mobile advertising is exactly what it sounds like: ads that are optimized for mobile consumption. These ads can take the form of video, app, display, search or social ads that are simply meant to fit a smaller display area.
Using mobile allows you to be more accessible and directly reach your customers. Given the popularity of smartphone devices, individuals have their phones on them all the time. Marketers can make use of this information to deliver location-based, geo-targeted ads.
Other benefits of mobile advertising include cost efficiency, higher conversion rates, interactive capabilities, instant results and personalized advertising. With mobile, you have the opportunity to mold this accessible form of advertising to fit the target’s lifestyle.
Social
Finally, we saved one of the best types for last: social advertising. We know you’ve heard of it, and maybe even feared it a little bit. The reach of social media is extensive and has taken over our daily lives. As of 2021, 3.96 billion people worldwide use social media.
Social advertising is the process of reaching audiences through social media platforms, messaging apps, news feeds, apps and websites. The major social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat.
Social ads are used to build awareness, generate leads and capture sales revenue, and they’re good at driving engagement and conversions. By publishing personalized content on your social media profiles and engaging with your followers, you can develop your brand’s identity and create loyalty among your target audience.
If you’re looking to reach a new audience fast, social advertising will be your new best friend.
Need help? We might be just the right fit. If you’re struggling to handle a marketing, public relations, graphic or any other creative project we’re here to help. To learn more about our services, feel free to contact us. We can discuss your needs and dreams in depth and determine the next steps you need to take to accomplish your goals.