With so many options, where should you advertise? Everyone might be advertising on Facebook and you might have heard that TikTok ads also have a very promising future. But in order to choose the right advertising channel, you have to understand what they’re all about. That’s why today we explore 5 digital advertising channels worth considering. We selected channels that have a high return-on-investment (ROI), that are popular among digital marketers, and with high growth potential.
According to HubSpot research, 92% of marketers use more than one channel for advertising. This means that even if you become a fan of any particular channel, it’s usually good to be present in some others to reach a wider audience and to create more trust with your existing audience.
But be careful about trying to advertise on every single known advertising channel. It will be a waste of your time, resources, and precious ad dollars. You need to pinpoint your objectives and take a more focused approach: choosing the most relevant channels and making the most out of them.
Video
Nothing appeals to more senses than video ads. Engage your audience with sound and visuals. You know this works because video is the preferred way of learning about a brand for 69% of consumers.
Video marketing involves creating video advertisements for streaming or video-friendly platforms. Youtube is the most popular, but Facebook and Instagram are also popular for marketers. While it might be resource or time-intensive, videos can be repurposed and used across channels. According to War Room Inc, video is the second most popular search method online!
Types of video ads include:
- Bumper
- In-Stream
- Out-Stream
- Interstitial
- Masthead
- Over-The-Top (OTT)
- TrueView Video Discovery
Sliding into inboxes is another effective way to boost your marketing objectives. It is particularly popular in B2B marketing, with 87% of marketers using this channel. Email is commonly used for sharing educational material, with many firms using it to establish themselves as thought leaders in their field.
However, email marketing is not exclusive to B2B companies. You’re probably subscribed to at least one of your favorite company’s newsletters, learning more about their products and offerings. B2C companies often use email marketing to show their new releases, inform their customers about discounts, and more.
The effectiveness of email marketing for B2C companies is shown by the fact that it is the top channel for converting and nurturing leads. Furthermore, a study by Litmus found that the ROI for email marketing is $36 for every dollar spent. Surely a worthy investment for your company if done properly.
Social Media
Social media platforms have an immense reach – in 2022, over 4.4 billion people worldwide used some social media platform, with people using 6.6 platforms on average. Social media can be used for different types of video and image ads. And while you might be wondering which type is better, the truth is that it depends. Many prefer video ads but it depends on the context and about what YOUR audience connects with. Testing is the way to go.
Social media as a whole is the most popular channel used in the marketing world for advertising. HubSpot found that social media has the highest ROI across channels, however, it’s worth noting that this can change depending on the social platform where you are advertising.
These platforms are a good option for businesses of every size as entry costs can be affordable. The average cost per click of an online Facebook ad is $1.72. According to WordStream, the average cost per click for Instagram in 2021 was even lower, in the range of $0.40 – $0.70 (note that this includes any click on the ad). As for TikTok, ads can be as cheap as $0.02 per ad click, however, average costs tend to be higher and the minimum spend per campaign is $500.
With all this talk about various social media platforms, we should give a word on some of them too. Facebook is the platform with the most active users at 2.7 billion, and the platform where most baby boomers and people from prior generations are active.
Instagram is widely used by people under 34, and 60% of people say they use it to learn more about a product.
Yet the king of social media for young people is no doubt, TikTok. Also the fastest growing social media platform in terms of users, their user base is 41% composed of Gen Z. Worth noting that this platform is video-only, particularly short-form videos.
There are many more platforms and we encourage you to be active on more than one of them, depending on what suits your company. Linkedin is great for B2B companies with a more “professional” or formal approach. Twitter has a fairly high college-educated base and is good for building a following. Pinterest is mostly used by females and so on.
Google Search
If you want to be at the top of search queries, then Google Ads are the way to go. Pay-per-click ads to be more specific, are one of the most cost-effective channels. In PPC, you pay every time a user clicks on your ad. The estimated ROI for Google Ads is $8 for every dollar spent.
Success in Google Ads depends on how much you bid but also on the work you put into crafting your ads. With thorough research and audience understanding, you might be able to find efficient keywords you can target. Definitely look into long-tail keywords to expand your opportunities.
You also want to make sure your landing page is effective, capturing your visitor’s attention and helping to convert them into customers. When considering the additional effort to the cost of creating the ads, Google PPC ads might sound costly, yet for companies that expect their audience to find them on Search Engines like Google, they can definitely be a game-changer.
Digital Audio
Heavily powered by streaming platforms such as Spotify, audio ads have grown significantly in recent years. They are quite flexible as they reach users in so many different contexts – from working out with your earbuds on, to driving, to sitting on the bus listening to a podcast.
Audio ads are different from radio ads in that the former are distributed through mobile streaming apps, not radio. This means they can reach a wider audience, and they’re also more targeted as streaming platforms allow advertisers to select certain topics, artists or genres where they want to show their ads, besides other targeting options.
In the US alone, 62% of the population over 12 listens weekly to audio digitally, spending an average of 16 hours and 14 minutes in this activity. While Spotify leads the market, there’s various other platforms such as Pandora, Amazon Music, Youtube Music, and more.
Audio ads can be more affordable than other types such as video – producing an audio ad costs between $1,000 to $2,500, while video ads range from $1,000 to $5,000 per ad minute. If you have the resources to do it in-house that’s a great option. If you don’t though, don’t be discouraged! There are various ways to hire voice actors to record your ad, such as Voices.com, or even through Spotify’s own creative studio.
We chose to recommend these channels because they are handy throughout the customer journey. You could use Audio and Video to increase brand awareness, then use Google Search to capture those in the consideration stage, retarget them with Social Media and once they convert, you can use Email marketing for customer retention and upselling!We hope this was a helpful guide and that you’ll try out a new channel for advertising this year. Happy marketing!
