Where should you advertise to reach customers? The simplest, yet most universal answer to this question is: wherever your target audience is. And did you know that over 28 million people in Poland have used the internet, and the number of users is growing year by year? That's why online advertising is the foundation of modern marketing. And how can you promote yourself online? We'll tell you.
Some people still associate advertising primarily with often irritating TV and radio spots and street billboards. However, these forms are slowly becoming obsolete. Nowadays, online advertising is paramount – it's effective and inexpensive. Moreover, it knows virtually no limits! Learn what online advertising can look like, why it's worth investing in, and how much it all costs.
Internet advertising has many names
The internet has opened up a truly vast range of promotional opportunities for advertisers – from the conservative to the truly innovative, from practically free to million-dollar campaigns. Online advertising can be conducted in more or less covert ways. You can decide for yourself whether you want to promote yourself subtly, for example, by positioning your website on Google, or opt for a full-fledged campaign that will leave no one indifferent, such as social media advertising.
Online advertising has also significantly expanded access to attractive forms of promotion. Not so long ago, a small local business could inform customers about its existence through flyers or a small newspaper ad. Many, however, relied solely on word of mouth. Any other approach was simply too expensive. Today, many forms of advertising are available at little or no cost. At the same time, the internet has significantly facilitated direct communication with customers and control of advertising messages. This is especially important today, as more and more areas of our lives and businesses are moving online.
(The rest of the article can be found below the form)
Think about it for a moment: how do you use the internet? On the one hand, you search for information (including information helpful in shopping). On the other, you connect with friends and acquaintances and share information about yourself with them on social media. On the other hand, you enjoy a wealth of entertainment. Online games, streaming services, YouTube… the list goes on and on. The vast possibilities offered by the internet also encompass a vast array of marketing tools you can utilize . One thing is certain: they all have the same ultimate goal: to motivate and encourage consumers to make a purchasing decision.
That is why, when writing about advertising, we will take into account both direct promotional strategies and those that fall under the so-called inbound marketing.
Internet advertising – what are the most important types?
Before we dive into the principles of selecting advertising tools or creating campaigns, let's answer one more important question: what forms of promotion can you use? There are many. Learn the key ones.
PPC/PPV advertising
Pay-per-click and pay-per-view are the two most popular payment systems for traditional online advertising. These are direct promotional messages displayed to users in a typical context. These primarily involve:
- advertising banners – appearing mainly on websites, e.g. information or industry portals,
- text ads Google Ads – displayed to Google users above the so-called organic results.
It's worth noting that contextual advertising, especially when displayed as part of remarketing, is a very modern and effective form of PPC or PPV advertising . What's the point? The content appearing in the form of ads should be relevant to the interests and activities of each recipient.
Today, this is possible thanks to cookies, which you're asked to accept upon entering each website. Special algorithms process them when you visit any website with ads that cooperate with this advertising system. As a result, the user is presented with banners related to the content of previously visited pages.
For example, if you have recently browsed the offer of Wi-Fi routers, banners will feature this type of device more often, which may ultimately push you to make a purchase.
It is worth knowing that Google Ads/AdWords ads are billed per click or per view – which means that you only pay for specific effects.
The advantages of PPC advertising are:
- easy accessibility,
- relatively low cost,
- simplicity of preparation,
- the ability to monitor results in detail.
If you're interested in more direct online advertising and immediate results, Google Ads is worth considering. It's a versatile advertising tool, available to both large corporations and small businesses, and used by almost all savvy businesses looking to increase their visibility and reach more people.
The tool is designed in a very accessible way, making it easy to use, even for those unfamiliar with marketing. At the same time, it's very comprehensive – so if you want to precisely define your advertising parameters, you won't be disappointed. Another advantage of this solution is the CPC (cost-per-click) method of billing. This means you only pay when a user clicks on the ad that redirects to your website. From there, you're responsible for maintaining their interest.
What's worth knowing about sponsored links? For competitive keywords, their position is determined based on bidding. Advertisers themselves declare how much they're willing to pay for a single click, and this is the main factor that determines the search results page's appearance. Google also considers the quality of the landing page, among other factors.
In addition to text ads, Google also allows you to place links to specific products along with images and prices. This is called a product listing ad, or PLA (Product Listing Ad). The tech giant also offers the ability to place graphical content promoting your company on various websites – primarily in the form of banners. This is a very interesting promotional tool that primarily allows you to increase brand recognition. A variation of this is a remarketing ad – displayed to users who have previously visited your website as a reminder of your offer and an incentive to return.
As mentioned, using Google Ads is simple. The scope of your campaigns can be easily tailored to your budget. You can target specific demographics and operate solely on a local scale. All of this makes the tool incredibly versatile. In most cases, it's highly effective online advertising, offering immediate results.
SEO
SEO is the most popular online advertising, and it can be very effective. However, it's far from the traditional concept of advertising. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, meaning "optimization for search engines." It primarily applies to Google – the world's most popular search engine, used by the overwhelming majority of internet users in Poland. After entering a selected search term, you receive a list of results – websites that match your query. Their order is determined by highly advanced algorithms.
Theoretically, the top positions should be occupied by websites with the most useful, credible, comprehensive, and up-to-date information on a given topic. In practice, it all depends on SEO, also known as positioning. What is it? It's all the activities aimed at ensuring a website appears as high as possible in search results. The stakes are high because most internet users don't bother to look at more than the top two or three pages. Only a small fraction of users visit the second page of search results. Therefore, if you can get your website to the top, it's a very effective form of online advertising!
SEO encompasses extensive activities that must be conducted continuously. It produces long-term results, although they often take months to materialize. It requires the use of appropriate website design and optimization of all its attributes. Content marketing, which is itself a form of advertising, is also a crucial element of SEO.
Social media advertising
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn – these are social networking sites used daily by millions, even BILLIONS, of users worldwide. For many, they serve as a source of information, connection with loved ones, and even with brands they value and love.
It's worth knowing that social media advertising can be conducted in many ways – not just by creating a company profile . While it is certainly a primary source of communication, such a fan page will largely serve a PR function, and therefore will:
- built brand awareness,
- encouraged interaction/leaving a lead,
- allows your current and potential customers to stay up to date with your offer.
Yes, it can also feature strictly advertising content—for example, encouraging people to take advantage of a specific promotion or presenting new products. However, to reach a sufficiently large number of users, they must be properly promoted. Advertising systems on social media serve this purpose.
For example, on Facebook you can use, among others:
- Paid promotion of the post – so that it is also displayed to people who haven't liked your page, but who meet the criteria of your target group, created according to strict assumptions. When it comes to Facebook, sponsored posts are becoming increasingly important due to limitations in organic reach,
- banner ads – both in the main part of the website and in several other, secondary locations.
Facebook sponsored posts and banners can lead to both your fan page and directly to your website, e.g. to specific products.
The advantages of advertising on social media are:
- the ability to reach a very wide audience,
- the ability to take full control over the budget (you control the limits),
- the ability to precisely profile message target groups,
- the ability to tailor the specifics of advertising to the purpose of the promotional campaign.
Content Marketing
Content marketing involves publishing content. This can be text, graphics, video, or audio. It's a form of brand communication with a target audience. Content marketing, applied to a website in accordance with SEO principles, allows for its online promotion. Proper use of keywords improves a website's search engine ranking, increasing its visibility.
Content marketing, however, is also a great way to build brand awareness. Publishing interesting, valuable, and original content that presents information people are looking for positions a company as an expert. This builds credibility. As a result, trust in and opinions about the brand increase.
Content marketing is recommended for any company wishing to promote itself online. However, it's important to understand that it requires skill and sensitivity. It's essential to tailor the message to the target audience and ensure its high quality. Furthermore, such activities must be conducted consistently.
Is content marketing also a form of advertising? Yes, although the promotional message is more subtle and less direct than in the promotional methods described above. Tools that also serve advertising functions include primarily internal and external articles, as well as guides, trend books, and – recently popular – podcasts.
If you're currently recalling promotional articles from years ago—those that served as a "laureate" for a company—you know that modern content marketing has nothing in common with them. Brand information is skillfully woven into expert text that offers practical value to the user. This makes the text a highly effective form of direct promotion while also supporting SEO efforts.
You can read more about content in our brand new guide!
Video ads
Contrary to appearances, television or cinema aren't the only places where they can be displayed. They can be published using:
- Internet portals that offer such technical possibilities – many of them, especially informational ones, publish their own video materials, so there is an opportunity to place your own advertising message there – e.g. player.pl
- YouTube service – here, ads are displayed both before the start of the actual recording and during it.
Facebook also proposed a video advertising system, so the sponsored content we publish there can have different formats to attract audiences more effectively.
Importantly, these social media ads differ in their format from standard television videos . On the one hand, short formats, a few seconds long, are desirable. On the other, longer content, especially on YouTube, is possible. If it captures the user's attention, it can be sustained for several minutes.
E-mail marketing
This is another form of communication that currently falls more into the inbound format than the outbound one. While it may seem ineffective, it actually works very well, at various stages of the customer journey towards finalizing a transaction. To achieve this, you need to:
- gain a group of customers interested in the newsletter (and therefore acquire valuable leads),
- prepare interesting content that encourages you to take specific, desired actions.
A properly crafted email message can encourage people to read the content on a company blog, for example, but also directly to make a purchase if it informs them about a short-term sale or the introduction of a new product collection.
Email marketing was incredibly popular when online advertising was in its infancy. Today, many forget about it, but it's certainly not worth writing off! Almost every internet user uses email, and email is a way to reach customers directly. It's also inexpensive, even when the campaign is large-scale.
Currently, email marketing most often takes the form of a newsletter or periodic commercial information sent to customers. Messages delivered to random people rarely yield the desired results. It's crucial to carefully consider the form and content of messages sent to customers and monitor the results. Sometimes, just a few minor changes can significantly increase response.
Does online advertising have to take all of the above forms?
In short: no. Above, we've outlined the most important ways to present advertising messages online. However, as an advertiser, you don't have to use all of them. On the contrary, it's worth choosing those that suit the specifics of your business . So, which ones?
Consider this: would an online pet food store need contextual advertising on LinkedIn, or Facebook promotion, sponsored links, and Instagram Ads? And what would be beneficial for a company implementing enterprise software? They could reap greater profits by advertising on LinkedIn or using content marketing on industry portals.
So we come back to the basic rule: advertise where your target audience is.
How to choose online advertising channels?
Before you even consider commissioning online advertising, there's a long road ahead. You should, and even must, take it if you don't want to risk financial losses. Although advertising on social media and Google's advertising system is relatively cheaper than television or outdoor advertising, it still carries significant costs if you operate in a competitive industry. And since this is the case, you need to prepare well. How?
- Define the purpose for which you want to promote yourself
The ultimate goal is obvious: maximizing sales. However, for conversion to occur, consumers must complete many stages along the way. What are you most focused on right now? Building brand awareness? Arousing consumer curiosity? Achieving quick sales, or perhaps long-term results?
Each of the answers to the above questions is valid. Each also requires different actions.
- Define your target group
In short: answer the question: who are you targeting with your products and services? It's not just about a few-sentence definition. Modern marketing involves developing comprehensive personas . It's about:
- identifying representatives of all target groups of people interested in your products – for example, both a student who owns a domestic cat and a wealthy businessman who takes care of purebred dogs may want to buy the previously mentioned food,
- precise definition of their characteristics – both their character and the needs and problems they face,
- giving them a "face".
The more accurate the visualization, the easier it is to translate theoretical assumptions into specific promotional messages.
- Determine your campaign budget
While it's impossible to be 100% precise, you need to know in advance how much you can afford to allocate to online advertising. This will allow you to diversify your resources and control your budget.
Effective online advertising – what does it mean?
Online advertising is appealing because it's easily accessible, inexpensive, and scalable. However, in the hands of an inexperienced entrepreneur, it can feel like navigating a minefield. It's important to realize that not every online ad will be effective. Sometimes, small details can determine whether something catches on or not. Sometimes, even a clumsy approach can damage a company and its image, so it's important to proceed with a great deal of caution. Entrepreneurs make numerous mistakes, including:
- inappropriate setting of Google Ads parameters – the result: high costs and mediocre results,
- poor proportions in the distribution of advertising funds,
- lack of analysis of the results of advertising activities or incorrect measurement of the effects,
- too much investment in social media advertising,
- lack of a precisely defined target group – advertising directed to “everyone”,
- incompetent SEO activities or focusing only on quick results,
- inappropriate selection of advertising forms in social media and Google Ads in relation to the business and target group,
- lack of diversification – focusing only on one promotion channel and one form of advertising.
How can you avoid these and other mistakes? Primarily, by educating yourself about online advertising or hiring professionals, and by measuring results. Depending on the chosen promotional channel, you can use numerous indicators to help you measure the impact of your advertising. These include:
- CTR (clickthrough ratio) – indicating what percentage of people who received an ad decided to click on it; mainly used to evaluate the effectiveness of banner ads and search engine campaigns;
- bounce rate – the percentage of visits ending with one pageview; helps to assess the quality of the generated traffic;
- open ratio – the percentage of open mailings compared to the number sent; used in e-mail marketing.
Additionally, more advanced parameters can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, such as:
- conversion rate (CR – Conversion Rate) allowing to check what percentage of users completed the desired action (e.g. purchase);
- cost per conversion, i.e. the cost of advertising per number of conversions;
- return on investment (ROI) showing the profits from advertising in relation to its costs as a percentage.
Online advertising: on your own or with the support of a digital agency?
As you might have already concluded, online advertising only appears easy. While implementing promotional activities shouldn't pose a problem, the key lies in selecting them correctly. Without this, promotion will become a cost instead of a worthwhile investment.
It's worth remembering that online marketing, even if it's a small investment, requires a significant investment of time, energy, and knowledge. If you're just starting out and have a tight budget, tackling this issue on your own might be a good idea. Try to utilize as many free and inexpensive tools as possible, and above all, constantly update your knowledge of online advertising. You'll find a wealth of information online, especially on blogs and thematic portals.
However, if you don't have the time or enthusiasm to diligently manage your own social media and Google Ads advertising, consider hiring a specialist—preferably a marketing agency. Consistency and commitment are just as important as the content. By outsourcing your advertising, you'll free up time to focus on growing your business. Choosing a reputable agency will likely ensure positive, long-term results.
You can also create a dedicated position or even department within your company structure dedicated to online advertising. However, this is the most expensive solution and is generally only used by large companies and corporations, or businesses operating in specific industries.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The variety of forms and characteristics of advertising conducted in the online environment
- Key types of promotions available in the digital ecosystem
