Advertising on the Internet has many names

Banal statement? Perhaps. Nevertheless, many people equate online promotion primarily with paid banners and sponsored links. It is impossible to hide: they are a very important part of on-line communication. Measurable, effective, with fair settlements. Nevertheless, the possibilities offered by the Internet are much, much more.

Think for a second: how do you use the internet? On the one hand, you are looking for information in it (including those helpful in shopping). On the other hand, you contact your friends and acquaintances and share information about yourself with them on social media. On the next one: you draw a handful of entertainment. On-line games, streaming services, YouTube … can be exchanged like this endlessly. Behind the enormous possibilities offered by the internet, there is also a very wide range of marketing tools that you can use. One thing is certain: they all have the same ultimate goal – to motivate and encourage the consumer to make a purchase decision.

That is why, when writing about advertising, we will take into account both direct promotion strategies and those that fit into the so-called inbound marketing.

Internet advertising – what are the most important types of advertising?

Before we move on to the rules of selecting advertising tools or creating a campaign, let’s answer one more important question: what forms of promotion can you use? There are many of them. Get to know the key ones.

PPC / PPV advertising

Pay-per-click and pay-per-view are the two most popular systems for the settlement of classic online advertisements. These are those that are direct promotional messages and are displayed to users in a typical context. So it is mainly about:
– advertising banners – appearing mainly on websites, e.g. information or industry portals,
– Google Ads text ads – displayed to Google users over the so-called with organic results.

It is worth knowing that a very modern and effective form of PPC or PPV advertising is contextual advertising, especially displayed as part of remarketing. What is going on? That the content appearing in the form of advertisements is related to the interests and activity of each recipient.

Today it is possible – all thanks to cookies, which you are asked to accept after entering each page. Special algorithms process them when any ad site that works with this ad system is accessed. As a result, the user is shown banners referring to the content of previously visited pages.

For example, if you have recently browsed the Wi-Fi router offer, banners of this type will appear more often, which may eventually push you to make a purchase.

It is worth knowing that Google Ads / AdWords ads are billed in the system per click or per pageview – which means that you pay only for certain effects.

The advantages of PPC advertising are:
– easy accessibility,
– relatively low cost,
– simplicity of preparation,
– the possibility of detailed monitoring of the results.

Ads on social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn – these are social networking sites that are used by millions or even BILLIONS of users around the world every day. For many people, they are a source of information, contact with loved ones, but also with brands they value and like.

It is worth knowing that in social media you can conduct advertising activity in many ways – not only by creating a company profile. Yes, it is the primary source of communication. Nevertheless, such a fanpage will largely play a PR role, and therefore it will be:

– built brand awareness,
– encouraged interaction / leaving a lead,
– it allows your current and potential customers to stay up to date with your offer.

Yes, strictly advertising content can also appear on it – for example, encouraging people to take advantage of a specific promotion or presenting new products. However, in order for them to reach a sufficiently large number of users, they must be properly promoted. This is the purpose of advertising systems on social networks.

For example, on Facebook you can use e.g. with:
– paid post promotion – so that it is displayed also to people who did not like your page, and at the same time meet the criteria of your target group created according to strict assumptions.
– banner ads – both in the main part of the website and in a dozen or so other, secondary locations

Ads can direct both to your fan page and directly to the website, e.g. to specific products.

The advantages of advertising in social media are:
– the ability to reach a very wide audience,
– the possibility of taking full control over the budget (you control the limits),
– possibility of precise profiling of target groups of messages,
– the ability to adjust the specificity of the advertisement to the purpose of the promotional campaign.

Content marketing

Is content marketing also a form of advertising? Yes, although the promotional message is more subtle and less direct than in the above-described promotion methods. Tools that also function as advertising are mainly internal and external articles, as well as guides, trendbooks or – recently popular podcasts.

If at this moment you think of advertising articles from years ago – those that constituted a “laurel” for the company – you know that modern content marketing has nothing to do with them. Brand information is skillfully woven into expert text that has practical value for the user. Thanks to this, the text is a fairly effective form of direct promotion, and at the same time supports SEO activities.

Video advertising

Contrary to appearances, television or cinema is not the only place where they can be displayed. For their publication, you can use:

– Internet portals that provide such technical possibilities – many of them, especially informational ones, publish their own video materials, so there is an opportunity to place their own advertising message in them,
– YouTube service – ads are displayed here both before the actual recording starts and during it.

The video advertising system was also proposed by Facebook. Importantly, these commercials differ in formula from standard videos prepared for television. On the one hand, short formats of a few seconds are desirable. On the other hand, especially on YouTube, you can afford longer content. If they catch the user’s attention, it can last for several minutes.

Email Marketing

This is another form of communication that belongs more to the inbound format than outbound. Although it may seem ineffective, in fact … it works very well, and at different stages of the customer’s journey towards finalizing the transaction. For that to be the case:

– gain a group of customers interested in the newsletter (and thus obtain valuable leads),
– prepare interesting content, prompting you to take specific, desired actions.

A properly created e-mail message may encourage, for example, to read the content on a company blog, but also directly to purchase, if it informs about a short-term sale or the introduction of a new collection of products.

Of course, this is not the end of promotional tools that can be used on the Internet. There are many more.

Does internet advertising have to take all of the above forms?

Simply put: no. Above, we have presented the most important forms of presenting advertising messages on the web. However, you as an advertiser don’t have to use all of them. On the contrary: it is worth choosing those that suit the specifics of your business. So what?

Think: Will an e-shop that sells pet food need more contextual advertising on LinkedIn, or a promotion on Facebook or through sponsored links? And what will be useful for a company that implements firmware? She can make more profits by reaching for ads on LinkedIn or by using content marketing on industry websites.

So we go back to the basic rule: advertise where your target group is.

How to choose advertising channels on the Internet?

Before you start thinking about having an online ad published, you have a long way to go. You should and even have to go through it if you don’t want to risk financial losses. Although online promotion is relatively cheaper than that on television or on outdoor media, it still carries considerable costs if you operate in a competitive industry. And if so, you need to be well prepared for it. How?

A. Define the purpose for which you want to promote
The ultimate one is obvious: maximizing your sales. However, for the conversion to take place, the consumer has to go through many steps along the way. What do you care most about right now? On building brand awareness? Arousing consumer curiosity? Achieving a quick sales effect, or maybe long-term results?
Each of the answers to the above questions is good. Each of them also entails the necessity to take other actions.

B. Define your target audience
In a word: answer the question to whom you are targeting your products and services. It is not just about a few-sentence definition. Comprehensive personas are prepared in modern marketing. It is about:

– specifying representatives of all target groups of people interested in your products – for example, the aforementioned food may be bought by both a student – owner of a domestic cat, and a wealthy businessman who looks after purebred dogs,
– precise definition of their features – both their character and needs as well as the problems they struggle with,
– giving them a “face”.

The more accurate the visualization, the easier it is to translate theoretical assumptions into specific promotional messages.

C. Determine the budget for the campaign
Yes, it cannot be done 100% precisely, but you need to know in advance how much money you can spend on advertising on the Internet. This will allow you to diversify your resources and control your budget.

Advertising on the Internet: on its own or with the support of a digital agency?

In theory, you can plan and implement online advertising yourself – various tools are available at your fingertips. However, in practice, the correct configuration of a campaign – so that it brings the desired results – requires in-depth knowledge and broad skills. It is not a formula at all, but … a hard reality. The point is to spend your money as efficiently as possible. In the era of growing competition, it is more and more difficult not to simply burn through the budget for ineffective activities. The care of an agency or a freelancer will save you time and, paradoxically, your budget – many times it turns out that optimization brings much greater savings than the commission for service.

Therefore, if you want to know how to use the potential of online advertising in order to achieve maximum business goals, contact the experts.

On the other side of the room in the corner sits a mysterious person. Nobody exchanged a word with her and has no idea where she came from. The mysterious guest holds the cards in his hands and performs magic tricks. After a few minutes, someone finally pays attention to him and begins to comment loudly on the show. Gradually, more interested parties appear, and finally half of the participants gather. Many viewers eagerly cheer on the magician and assist him in performing tricks. Guerrilla marketing works in a similar way.

In the described situation, both people finally draw the attention of other participants to the event. The difference is how much they have invested and how they have communicated to achieve the goal. The main assumption of guerrilla marketing is to achieve the best effect, bearing absolutely minimal costs. How to do it?

You can’t enter through the door? Try out the window! Insane guerrilla marketing.

Consumers have become accustomed to being bombarded with advertising messages at every turn. No one is able to process all these stimuli, and above all, they do not have the slightest desire. Defense mechanisms allow the separation of grain from chaff. Recipients only pay attention to messages consistent with their interests, meeting the needs or being so interesting and unconventional that you can not pass by indifferently.

Advertisers using guerrilla techniques strive to surprise the recipient and evoke emotions. The safest option is to create a playful creation. After all, laughter is a positive reaction that will consolidate positive associations with the brand. Many daredevils are also trying to use elements of the environment to form brilliant conclusions. The finished composition makes the audience reflect and stays in their consciousness, even if they are not aware of it. Bolder marketers go all the way and try to shock the recipients by breaking taboos. Sometimes such attempts end in a media scandal, but this does not necessarily mean failure. The seed has been sown, and soaring sales results prove that it’s worth taking the risk.

Guerrilla marketing rules

In guerrilla marketing, you do not need to present in detail the distinguishing features of your offer. It would be inadvisable, because it soothes the message, which must be simple and volatile. The campaign is to generate the widest reach and expand brand awareness. This is the first stage of the sales funnel. Importantly, if you skillfully formulate a message, the recipients will do the rest of the work for you. After all, if you managed to arouse their curiosity and do not know much about you, then they will want to get to know you better. Then you can also gradually reveal more cards. Remember, however, to increase the tension and not to reveal everything you have to offer too quickly. As a result, the interest will be self-driving, and with it you will get the involvement of users.

Mental shortcuts have sprouted around the described phenomenon that would be worth correcting. The articles state that guerrilla marketing is a great solution for companies that have a limited budget but want to generate a large reach and stand out on the market. We are not going to undermine this, but this is not the only solution. It is worth slightly broadening the perspective. Guerrilla activities are also great as a diversification of marketing strategy in wealthier enterprises. Then they will complement the conventional methods and allow paving new routes to reach customers.

It also happens that guerrilla marketing is often seen in the context of offline campaigns. In fact, many outdoor creations have been created because urban space is great in this role. This does not mean, however, that you cannot operate suddenly on the network. Social media, mobile applications and websites are also a great environment to surprise users.

Guerrilla marketing in practice

Netflix has been setting trends in a diverse approach to marketing for years. The American company uses the image of actors, but also does not shun unconventional actions. An example is the installation that stood on the main market in Cracow (Poland). Next to “Erosa bendato”, i.e. the head carved by Igor Mitoraj, a second head was placed, in this case depicting the image of Salvador Dali, who promoted the series “Money Heist / La casa de papel”. According to accounts, the creators only paid $ 69 for 2 weeks of exposure.

In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone repeats like a mantra so as not to leave the house unnecessarily. Streaming platforms turned out to be a blessing at a time when sitting in front of a computer or TV is one of the few forms of entertainment available. What if an almost unlimited database of movies and series is not enough to keep people in check? Netflix has placed posters depicting spoilers from his most popular productions in cities. If you can’t adapt to the rules, you’ll learn what will happen in the next episode.

Noteworthy is the series “The Walking Dead” presents the story of people who are fighting for survival in a world dominated by bloodthirsty zombies. During the promotion of the next season, the creators did not change their clothes and decided to shake the recipients. The promotional campaign used a truck that was splashed with blood and cut off human limbs protruding from the open shed. The whole composition was complemented by the visual identity of the series and information about the release date of new episodes.

Guerrilla marketing in online channels often comes down to responding quickly to user statements. This was the case with the British Virgin Trains line, where Dante’s stages took place. One of the passengers used the toilet but was out of toilet paper. In a gesture of despair he called for help on Twitter. The carrier fished his appeal out of the jungle of fasts and sent a rescue mission. This inconspicuous situation captivated other users who eagerly distributed the publication. As a result, the company could significantly expand its brand awareness while creating a positive image.

When should you use guerrilla marketing?

Guerrilla advertising seems to be interesting and effective. Under the influence of emotions, one can get the illusory impression that this is the only right approach to marketing, and more conventional methods are a melody of the past. However, this is only an illusion resulting from the specifics of the target group. The goal of guerrilla marketing is to create a message that will spread virally. Thus, the most valuable recipients will be active users of social media, eager to flood the internet with an avalanche of comments about original creations. It should be borne in mind, however, that this group includes mainly younger users who love new products and unconventional practices.

On the other hand, there are more conservative consumers who prefer the classic approach to presenting the offer. They want to have black and white what you can offer them and what they will have from it. Fireworks and weirdness don’t matter to them. Therefore, you can not get carried away. The analysis of the target group plays a significant role and will determine the success or failure of the entire campaign. You must have at least a pre-emptive feeling that your concept will appeal to someone besides you, your friends and colleagues.

The characteristics of guerrilla marketing mean that it will not always suit brands for which a professional image is a fundamental value. In this case, you need to design the campaign very skillfully so as not to shoot yourself in the knee. After all, we expect from doctors and lawyers that everything will go smoothly and painlessly. As long as the creation does not contradict these assets, it will be successful.

Representatives of professions with significantly lower social responsibility have much more room to show off. Restaurant and club owners, artists, clothing manufacturers – they can indulge. The success of products and services in these categories depends on whether they are fashionable or not. As a consequence, guerrilla activities are a great way to create a unique brand image.

Guerrilla marketing is an attractive and effective formula for brands planning to enter the market firmly and create a lot of noise around them. It can also be used by companies that have become slaves of mediocrity and want to finally break through the glass ceiling. Established enterprises may also be tempted to unconventional actions. In this way, they will make standard communication more attractive and remind the world of their existence. In other words, you can take partisan actions at any stage of the company’s operation. However, you have to understand your recipients perfectly and meet them.

Why this content?

Before we get to know the guidelines for all kinds of content placed on websites, at the beginning it is worth considering why we need them at all. They help increase both the number of search impressions and sales.

We can distinguish two reasons why content is created.

The first of these is values flowing to users. We should remember that online stores are run primarily for customers, so it is worth encouraging them to familiarize themselves with the offer. The home page is a showcase of the company, we should present our business on it and show the user why shopping on our website is worth it. Not without significance is the writing style, which should be properly selected for the target group. Content is therefore a great way to build a lasting relationship with the user. Very often, however, it turns out that when entering our site, the user knows what to expect from it. For this reason, the content is placed at the bottom of the page so that the most important categories or products for users can be in the foreground.

The second purpose for which content should be placed on the page is Google value. The inclusion of relevant keywords that will show the search engine what we do will prove to be significant in achieving high positions in the serpentine. For this to happen, we must also take into account the uniqueness of the texts and their naturalness. This type of content will definitely be rewarded by Google, which is much more willing to show in the search results valuable pages that provide the most information, especially those valuable to users.

Properly constructed content is a key element on the site that is supposed to inspire the trust of both users and search engine robots.

Where do the content have to go and what are the most important features?

The content should be properly in every place of the online store. So we will place it on the main page, categories, subcategories and products. The rules for formatting text will be the same for all components of our site. However, their content will differ, which should accurately describe what is on a given subpage.

So what should content contain to make it valuable not only for Google, but also for users?

– Headlines
This is a key element that increases the number of entries, which sets the hierarchy of importance of content on the page. The correct structure of the text should contain one H1 heading and two H2 headings. They will show users the most important aspects of their business, and including keywords will help them increase their position on Google. You can read more about headers in our previous post: What are website headers?

– Keywords
If we want to ensure high positions in the SERP, we must not forget that our content contains the right number of key phrases for the main page, category or products. In this regard, attention should also be paid to the appropriate variation and synonyms of the most important words, so that the texts will look more natural. We do not have to worry about Google – his robots perfectly understand numbers, declination or cases. Remember, however, not to overdo it with the number of key phrases, as this may be considered a manipulation, and our site may be subject to a penalty. Content with a length of e.g. 300 words should contain max. 2-3 unchanged keywords matched to a given subpage.

– Text formatting
This is important for customers for whom the content becomes more readable and transparent. It is much easier to read the text, which is divided into paragraphs. This is also appreciated by Google, for whom users and their convenience are the most important. In this case, the use of Black Hat SEO, i.e. hiding content by setting the font in the background color will be severely punished by Google.

– Internal linking
Added in the content will help users navigate our site, and placing links to categories or products in anchors on the appropriate keywords will positively influence the position increase in search results.

Now that we’ve learned the most important features that content should contain in an online store, let’s consider what are the guidelines for the texts on individual subpages:

– Content on the home page
– Content on categories
– Content on products

1. Content on the home page

The content on the home page is designed to provide users with as much information as possible about what our business is about.

– Total text length: 300-500 words.
– The text must be unique – it cannot appear on any of our other subpages (eg in the “about us” tab). It is important that it is also not copied from the competition.
– The aforementioned appropriate text formatting is welcome. The content does not have to be compacted in one block, on the contrary – its division into several paragraphs, located in different places on the main page will look more aesthetically pleasing. However, remember to set appropriate headers ..
– The description should include information about the company and what makes it stand out and what is on offer.
– The content should also use references to individual categories on the page (internal linking).
– Use words that can be used by users who are looking for a given product.
– It’s worth using epithets and synonyms that will expand the words for which the page is displayed in the search engine.

2. Content on categories

The texts on the page of individual categories and subcategories will saturate them with content, which will increase the number of phrases for which they are displayed in search results.

– Total text length: 250-300 words.
– Uniqueness is also very important here – copying from other sites is not recommended.
– In this case, remember also about proper formatting: division of descriptions with headings, placing in them bolds and skews containing the name of the category, their distinguishing features and relevant information for users.
– In the content it is also worth adding internal linking to product pages or other categories.
– The content should contain information about:
a) the category to which it relates (the main keyword will usually be its name),
b) differentiators by which users can search for products in this category,
c) producers of goods in this category (it is worth to name them at least),
d) major products or related categories.

3. Content on products

The content on the products will be created analogous to the category, but they will differ in terms of substance.

– Total text length: 200 words.
– Uniqueness once again. The content should not only be copied from manufacturers’ websites, but also should not be repeated within the store – for similar products of the same brand it is worth using paraphrase.
– It is advisable to divide the content with H2 headings, it may also include a few italics and bolds on the keywords, i.e. usually the name of the product.
– The description should be a combination of user-friendly and search engine-friendly content.
– Remember to link to products from other related categories.
– The content should contain information about:
a) the type of product (what is: boys pants, dress),
b) distinguishing features, after which users can search for the product (color, material, size / size, other characteristics),
c) the producer (it is important that his name appears),
d) the specific model name should also be included.

Duplication of content and uniqueness of texts

Our entire article is mainly based on one simple principle: the content on the page should be unique. In this way, we eliminate content duplication that is severely punished by Google robots. It is also important for users who, once again encountering the same product descriptions, feel frustrated, resulting in leaving our online store. There is also a risk that the text we copy, e.g. from the producer, is covered by copyright, so there will be painful legal problems.

The introduction of properly optimized content on the page is crucial for positioning. The result of adding content to the site is an increase in the number of views in search results, and thus also organic traffic, which also directly translates into the sale of online stores. In this way, we confirmed the thesis that content is king!