Every successful marketing strategy includes at least one form of advertising. In the good old days before the Internet, we had ads in newspapers, TV, radio, and street signs. In the modern age, the Internet offers an array of opportunities for digital advertising, where you can target your audience with clear messages to funnel more buying customers at an affordable price.
While people usually walk away when the advertisements come on the TV, there’s no walking away from online advertising. And the best part? Your audience usually searches for you. That’s why investing in the right digital advertising channels for your content marketing strategy is crucial in developing your business.
Are you considering organic content marketing services? Find out more here.
Digital advertising channels to use
Depending on your brand’s personality and business goals, planning for the right mix of digital advertising channels for your business to hop onto is a key step. Here are the ins and outs of the five most used channels, and how you can use them.
| Digital advertising channel | Best for |
| Paid search | Increased traffic |
| Display advertising | Brand awarenessMore conversions |
| Social media | EngagementLoyal brand communityMore conversions |
| Video advertising | Increased trafficMemorabilityEducating the audience |
| Forum marketing | EngagementEducationGenerating viral posts |
Paid search
Paid search is a form of pay-per-click advertising, in which you pay when someone clicks on your ad. The aim is to increase traffic to your website by buying it, instead of creating it organically. Paid search helps to increase your visibility.
For paid search, Google Ads is the most popular platform, and it’s your best bet. You can create your ads, and it’ll show on Google’s search engine, as well as their partner sites.
If you’re keen on using paid search as one of your digital advertising channels, start by bidding on keywords and ad placement. While the temptation is to bid on a lot, if not all, of the keywords that are relevant to your business, you shouldn’t do that.
Bidding on too many keywords will cause you to lose focus and make it increasingly difficult to keep track of the performance. You may also have a more challenging time crafting unique messages for each keyword.
Instead, target and bid long-tail keywords that are more relevant to your audience. For instance, “best gym equipment for busy working parents in Singapore”, rather than “best gym equipment Singapore”.
Always remember to stay relevant and to match your keywords to your landing pages.
Display advertising
Display advertising is similar to traditional advertising. Your banners or pictures appear on third-party websites to attract potential customers.
While you can place your ads anywhere on the websites, their position isn’t entirely essential. Their relevance is. You’ll have to optimise your ads for your audience and take note of where they land on after clicking them. The page they land on should be designed and crafted to convert faster.
Display advertising is considered relatively effective, with an average click-through rate of 0.06%. As a pull strategy, display advertising is cheaper and suitable for creating brand awareness.
Social media
Social media is the undeniable top dog at creating brand awareness, customer engagement, increased traffic, and conversions. That’s because a staggering 88% of Singaporeans are now online, with 79% being active on social media.
Common social media platforms that businesses advertise on are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These platforms target people differently, which means you’ll have to adapt your messages depending on the channels you use.
Facebook is the right place to start if you have a varied audience and different goals.
You could create engagement with videos that show how a product works or a day in the life of your company. You can also educate your audience with useful infographics. Or create a loyal brand community with your live videos.
Facebook is king with its array of options that include video, collection, canvas, lead generation, or offers.
Twitter allows you to target based on specific keywords and unique hashtags. As such, you can reach your target audience quicker and get more results. This strategy also increases your chances of becoming viral because hashtags support specific movements.
Twitter features remarketing options and tailored audiences with their promoted tweets, accounts, and trends.
LinkedIn provides a useful form of digital advertising to reach a local audience. You can use LinkedIn for professional networking, as well as advertising your local services.
LinkedIn ads include sponsored mails with visible CTA buttons, sponsored content to increase visibility, as well as pay-per-click text ads that generate more traffic for your website.
Instagram is a visual platform for creating engagement, awareness, and conversions. Statements are by definition easy to refute if you find counterarguments. Conversely, from a rhetorical standpoint, you can’t contradict images.
That’s why a lot of brands and movements use Instagram to instil a sense of loyalty in their audience. With the right message, you could do that too. Instagram allows photo, video, carousel, and stories ads, with call-to-action buttons for increased responsiveness.
Thinking of tapping into the Chinese market? Here are the popular Chinese social media to check out.
Video advertising
With video advertising, your brand will appear on a powerful video platform like YouTube. You can choose between two main types of ads:
TrueView
TrueView ads are pay-per-click, but you only pay when someone watches at least 30 seconds or clicks on your ad. People can skip your in-stream ads, but you can also make them appear as a suggested video on the right sidebar.
You can use TrueView ads to tell a 6-minute long story, use them for case studies to educate your audience, or create an entertaining film to ensure people remember your brand.
Another advantage of TrueView ads is that you can acquire a lot of insight into your customers.
You can analyse the click-through rates on the CTAs, keep track of the subscriptions, and check how many completed and partial views your video has. That way, you can create more compelling ads in the future to reach your goals.
Pre-roll
Pre-roll ads are also pay-per-click, but people can’t skip them. They’re also shorter, around 15-20 seconds.
Do not clutter your Pre-roll ad with a lot of information. Instead, use the 15 to 20 seconds wisely and include a call-to-action that your audience can’t refuse.
Forum marketing
Forum marketing allows you to engage and create relationships with potential customers, as well as experts in your field.
These channels help you address the audience in the middle of their community. You can also respond to their most poignant needs and questions. Common forums you can consider using are Reddit and Quora.
The platform allows you to post a paid sponsored post, guaranteeing that it’ll be at the top of the subreddits.
Image credit: Wired
You can also educate your audience and show your trustworthiness by tapping into relevant subreddits and looking at what’s being discussed.
For instance, if you sell ergonomic office furniture, you can help a few people choose the best office chairs by providing your insights. If you have an educational startup, you can get involved in certain debates. You can even get viral if you’re funny or relevant enough. Or both.
Quora
Quora is an excellent platform to answer your audience’s questions too. Show your expertise and interest so that you can increase your organic traffic to your website and peer-to-peer recommendations.
Tapping into the right channel
The five channels above allow you to form a rounded digital advertising strategy. Make sure your brand fits nicely on a particular channel, though. You don’t want to risk turning your audience away with the wrong message.
Remember to stay relevant and focus on your customers’ needs each time you post an ad or a status update. Adapt your message to each platform, and you’ll be able to gain more traffic, trust, and conversions.
Read more about the essential content marketing tools to complement your strategy here.