For business owners, the ways that you can advertise and promote your business to attract attention have changed dramatically in the past decade. In fact, this occupation has been split into two. On the one hand, you have data aggregators and on the other, you have advertisers. And they differentiate in a view ways. By far, the most significant change has been in digital ad spending. A research report expects U.S. internet ad spending to increase 12.4 percent in 2020 to over $135 billion, which accounts for 53 percent of ad spending. This means more than half of all spending on advertising has now moved to online mediums. That said, in this article, we’ll look at some of the most popular advertising platforms and how to advertise and promote your business in 2021 and beyond.
If you want to advertise and promote your business, Pay-Per-Click is one way to go about it
Make no mistake; Google is an advertising machine. It may appear to be giving you helpful information and tools, but it’s providing all these cool things to make sure you see their ads. Did you know that 85% of Google’s revenue comes from the Google Ads platform? True story. The growth in the popularity of Google ads over the past ten years has been tremendous. In 2019, there were over 160 billion monthly Google searches. Businesses make an average of $2 for every $1 they spend on Google ads.
One of the huge benefits of pay-per-click advertising is the fact that you only pay for what consumers click on. Whether you are a larger or small business, you can tap into the power of the search engine for a small cost. The ability to target and test specific markets and to run niche campaigns means that buyer interest is substantial. It’s a great low-cost marketing strategy and an effective way to attract prospective customers. Perhaps the only downside is the competition from other companies in the same industry. Due to the ease of access to Google Ads, most popular markets have several advertisers competing for the top spot.
Social Media Ads are also a great option
Advertising is the financial engine that drives all social media. LinkedIn began offering paid advertisements as early as 2005, and Facebook launched ads in 2007, while Twitter and Instagram introduced them in 2010 and 2013 respectively. Even TikTok has begun adding advertising to the hugely popular social platform. So, the world has become used to the idea of seeing ads in their social media feed. Many people will skip past them, but they still see them, which leads to familiarity.
With the invention of tools such as Facebook leads forms, the social media platform has increased the ways that advertisers can reach their market. Social media is great for both brand awareness and business promotion. This is exactly the reason why you should check out different strategies for boosting your social media shares. There are currently 8 different ways to advertise your business on Facebook, which are worth testing out. For those wanting to advertise on Facebook, the average cost per acquisition (CPA) on Facebook is reasonable. A 2018 study showed that the average CPA across all industries was $18.68 on Facebook (compared with $48.96 CPA on Google Ads.)
When you want to advertise and promote your business, Influencer Marketing is another approach
A reasonably new and somewhat untested model of advertising has grown from the increased popularity of micro-celebrities and influencers. Popular on both Instagram and Youtube, ‘influencers’ are people who have a large and loyal follower base. Influencer marketing can, in some sense, help to both grow your brand reach and offer sales incentives. According to a study, the average price to use an influencer to promote a brand is $271 per post. For influencers with more than 100,000 followers, the average cost was $763 per post.
Podcast Ads are another great way of advertising and promoting
With the rise in popularity of podcasts during the past ten years, there are a lot of opportunities for advertisers to tap into an interested audience. Podcast advertisers are often called ‘sponsors’ as they allow the podcasters to stay in business. As a trade-off for the sponsorship, there is typically an ad read (similar to the radio) that the podcast host delivers on each episode.
The considerable benefit of advertising on podcasts is that the audience has high trust in the person reading the promotion. Most listeners know that the podcaster will not advertise products or services that don’t suit their audience. If you want to advertise on a podcast, typically, the going rate is $18-25 CPM (cost per thousand downloads). So, if you are offering a product that is really a high-end one, advertising it via a podcast can be a great and affordable marketing strategy. However, keep in mind that some of the most popular podcasts can charge between $40-80 CPM and will often only advertise products that they use personally.
Think about video content & advertising
Since Youtube launched in 2005, the platform has grown to become the world’s most popular video platform. In an average month, 80% of people aged 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube. But, that’s not the end of it. Not only does Youtube offer the chance to advertise on the platform, but the video format is also an excellent way to build trust with your audience. Businesses that use video as part of the advertising and content will, by default, gain higher engagement with their customers. Having a Youtube channel and adding video marketing to your business can also help with SEO.
Video can be used to promote, educate, and keep a connection with the existing customer base. You can also use video as an additional part of each blog post you write. Best of all, the cost of video production has dropped considerably. For less than a few thousand dollars, a company can set up an in-house studio and begin creating high-quality videos.
Last but not least, Organic Web Traffic is one of the most affordable ways to advertise and promote your business
Of course, everybody wants their website to be ranked at the top of Google. And with some effort and focus, with a quality website and local citations done by professionals such as AZ Citation Services, there is still a significant opportunity to grow your visibility through organic reach. Organic traffic to your site always comes down to the usefulness of your website. If you create a website that answers your potential customer’s questions and provides them the solutions to their problems, you will begin to attract attention.
The more people that click onto your website, the better it will start to rank in Google. If you can gain backlinks from other websites, this will also help the site to increase rankings. While gaining organic traffic is technically free, there is a lot of effort needed to grow it. It can also take time. Therefore, you need to be patient. Keep creating written and video content that you can share via social media, and over time the interest will grow and you will advertise and promote your business easily.
