With the rise of strategies like inbound marketing that emphasize content for attracting prospects, it’s no surprise that B2B marketers can be a little wary of good old fashioned advertising. How do you fit it into your strategy? You don’t want to do too much, but you also don’t want to do too little. In fact, digital advertising can be a valuable tool – perhaps just not in the way you might think. When it comes down to it, it’s easy to see why people don’t think this kind of advertising has much value, I mean, when’s the last time you clicked on a display ad? But here’s the thing: what’s the last display ad you remember? You probably have a name in mind, and might even be able to say where you saw it – especially if it’s a brand that’s tied to something you’re interested in. (Mine was an ad for a clothing brand I’d browsed recently by the way… in my inbox’s sidebar).
The world of digital advertising isn’t all bad – in fact there are some benefits to having a strategy for your online advertising as part of your overall marketing efforts. If you’re wanting proof, join us for our webinar on January 18, “How Pardot Drives Demand with Online Advertising” on January 18.
Without further ado, here are some quick pros of online advertising (because you already know the cons).
Pro: You can use your social media accounts
While you should never dedicate your social media channels purely to advertising, you can still run some advertising without taking away from the valuable content that you post. Social media lends itself well to online advertising because it’s got a built in framework for segmenting your target audience. Whether you’re advertising in industry-specific forums or blogs, or on professional groups on sites like LinkedIn, you can easily identify the audiences that you want to target and ensure that your advertising can reach them.
Pro: Another chance to Personalize
When it comes to personalization, online advertising comes with some genuine pros. While no one likes being followed around the internet by ads, you can still use this kind of targeted advertising to attract prospect to new useful content or features on your website. Walking the fine line between informative and irritating is about making sure that you’re advertising in appropriate places: for example, if you sell restaurant equipment, you want to advertise on websites about the food industry. It’s pretty straightforward, but for your online advertising to be successful, you need to be especially conscious of what your target audience will be looking for and thinking about when the come across it, and that’s where personalization comes in. The more you know about your target audience the better you’ll be at identifying new places to promote your content or your brand.
Pro: Take your content on the road
Online advertising can give your content legs. An ad promoting new free content gives your target audience more of an incentive than just a logo, and can be easily added to your own site as well as others. You can curate a selection of content that you’ll be advertising in specific places – partner pages, industry websites and information hubs, and your social channels. It opens up a much wider range of prospects for you to appeal to – so long as you ensure that you’re careful about where you display your ads. You don’t want to advertise everywhere – in this case, casting your net too wide can lead to traffic from people that aren’t anywhere near your target audience.
