THE INDISPENSABLE ROLE OF DIGITAL ADVERTISING IN THE SUCCESS OF EVERY BUSINESS
Digital advertising, also known as Internet advertising or online marketing, is a form of advertising, where products and services are promoted to the target audience via the Internet through various digital platforms. Traditional advertising is also known as offline marketing, and it involves promoting products and services using channels like television, radio, newspapers, and printed materials like catalogs, flyers, and postcards.
A business can be successful only when it leverages the benefits of traditional marketing and digital advertising.
Though digital marketing has been a part of effective marketing practices for years, it became prominent only during the pandemic when businesses struggled to bridge their gap with their customers.
After the pandemic, digital advertising has taken a giant leap and has become an essential marketing practice for every business. Business owners believed lacking a digital presence meant missing out on something crucial.
How does Digital Advertising help in the growth of every business?
Digital advertising helps business owners reach more people. They could reach a mass of their target audience irrespective of location, which is difficult in local marketing.
Digital advertising helps businesses directly engage with their target audience by creating polls, interactive content, quizzes, etc. on their website and social media pages.
Digital ads are flexible because the content, target audience, location, and time can be adjusted. On the contrary, an advertisement in print cannot be changed once published.
Digital advertising is cost-effective because running a campaign on digital platforms is less expensive than offline marketing ad campaigns.
With digital advertising, promoting your brand worldwide and increasing your global reach is just a click away.
The most important aspect of digital advertising is its measurable results. Key Point Indicators, also known as KPIs, are metrics used to set a goal or objective and track the results to know if your campaigns are heading toward the goals you set. It is always easy to track them and adjust the campaign settings accordingly.
Why Should A Business Opt for Digital Advertising?
We have already discussed how Digital Advertising can have an impact on the growth of a business. Now let’s see why every business must invest in Digital Advertising or Digital marketing.
The answer to this is simple. It is because more and more people have started using the internet for various purposes. The number of people spending time on social media pages has also increased significantly. So, the basic concept is to reach out and sell your products or services directly to the people, WHERE THEY ARE!
A Checklist Essential To Digital Advertising
In this digital era, almost every business is very enthusiastic about promoting their brands on digital platforms; but before embarking on digital advertising, certain crucial factors must be considered.
Digital Branding
Digital branding includes creating an identity for your brand by consistently using specific colors, typography, logos, and messaging across several channels like websites, social media, and emails so that consumers can easily associate with your brand.
For example, Zomato initially created an identity for its brand with the color red and a specific typography in its marketing materials. Consumers become familiar with this identity over time. However, if Zomato suddenly changes its brand color to yellow, consumers get confused, leading to a loss of trust and reliability for the brand.
This inconsistency leads to consumers having difficulty recognizing the brand, which will impact brand recall.
Thus, creating and maintaining a consistent brand identity is very important in any kind of marketing, be it online or offline. The digital branding has various components.
Components of Branding
Logo:
A logo is a symbol with text or images used to identify your brand. It is usually of different shapes, sizes, colors, and typography that symbolize your brand. A customer gets emotionally connected to your logo. So, it is very important to create a suitable logo for your brand.
Brand definition:
A brand is the name of a product that differentiates a company from its competitors. It is important to have a brand definition, which explains you, your services, and your target audience.
Brand Value:
These are values you offer your customers, such as quality products, healthy products, quick delivery, etc. In the long run, your brand value will become the word of mouth to get you new customers.
Marketing Collateral:
Any marketing material used to promote your products or services to your customers, like print material such as catalogs, banners, business cards, or flyers or digital materials like social media posters, newsletters, or brochures is called marketing collateral. These materials must follow consistent brand identity such as the use of specific colors and typography to build trust and avoid confusion among the target audience.
Unique Selling Point (USP):
The USP might sound similar to the brand value but a USP is how a product stands out or makes itself unique from its competitors, while a brand value is the overall value that a company promises to its customers.
Brand Message:
The brand message is a summary of your brand value that you use in your ad copy, tagline, or non-verbal or verbal communication with your customer.
Thus, it takes a lot of effort to build and maintain all these brand components of your brand, but it’s an investment that helps your business grow steadily.
Once your brand identity is set, you can decide on which platforms or what type of digital advertising you are going to invest.
Types Of Digital Advertising
Search Advertising – This type of advertising places the digital ads in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Streaming Media Advertisements – When digital ads run within a show or movie on OTT platforms, they are called streaming media advertising.
Display Advertising – Placing graphics, text, banners, or video ads on your websites, apps, or third-party websites is called display advertising.
Video Advertising – Video ads that play before or after the main video. For instance, when you watch a video on YouTube, ads play before, in between, or after the main video.
Mobile Advertising – Mobile advertising is advertising through mobile devices through text, image, video, or audio ads.
Email Advertising – The use of emails from customers who have accepted to receive promotional messages to send offer-related content, advertisements, newsletters, or subscription details by a brand or a company is called email advertising.
Audio Advertising – Streaming an audio ad in between a music-on-music app or on podcast platforms is called audio advertising.
Social Media Advertising – Advertising for engagement, brand visibility, brand awareness, and lead generation on various social media platforms is called social media advertising.
Digital PR – Using online platforms to build awareness and visibility of a company or a brand through online press releases, content marketing, influencer marketing, and media outreach by building relationships with bloggers and journalists is called digital public relations or digital PR.
One of the best digital branding companies in Chennai that provides digital PR services is Iconxt (www.iconxtinteractive.com). Iconxt is the best public relations services company in Chennai, which provides bespoke tailor-made services specific to the needs and goals of a particular brand or company, ensuring a personalized strategic approach for data-driven results.
Future Of Digital Advertising
According to reports on www.statista.com, the use of social media platforms in India has risen from 366.63 million people in 2020 to 714.42 million at the end of 2023, and it is said to rise to 860.93 million people at the end of 2024. And this number is forecast to increase by 34.63% by 2029, which means that the future of digital advertising is strong, and it is likely to become an essential part of the marketing practice of any brand to survive and remain in the market. The use of emerging technologies like AR and VR in marketing ensures that the scope of digital advertising in the future is inevitable.
This will lead brands that are advertising on one or two digital platforms to follow “omnichannel marketing,” i.e., advertising in every possible marketing channel to connect with existing customers and gain new customers.
