Online advertising solutions can be either direct or indirect in the way they relate to consumers. Some forms of online advertisements don’t look like commercials at all, such as viral videos. Other types that reach out more directly to consumers include email marketing and online promotions. Advertising to mobile phone users is expected to be a growing sector in the early 21st century, and the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook is expected to increase as well. Online advertising solutions can range from free or low-cost options all the way up to campaigns that cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Viral marketing is considered one of the most creative online advertising solutions. Businesses and corporations often pay marketing companies to produce videos with the intent of them going viral, meaning the video will be organically sent around to millions of viewers through social media channels. While many companies are trying to follow this trend, there’s no guarantee that a video will actually catch on with consumers. So-called viral videos often have content that are quirky, funny, or odd and may not even directly advertise a service or product. The point of these videos is to get consumers talking about it and in turn to visit the business’ website.
Search engine optimization is another one of the more common online advertising solutions. Businesses research the keywords that their customers are most likely to use to find them online and incorporate those words and phrases into their websites. The goal is to gain a higher page rank on the major search engines to make it easier for a larger number of consumers to locate them. This method is often research intensive and requires the creation of a large volume of content, usually in the form of articles.
Creating a blog and managing social media channels is another one of the online advertising solutions that’s often used. Business owners try to position themselves as an authority in their particular niche and invite readers and consumers to participate on their blog and social media channels. This is often coupled with email marketing, in which the business owner produces a newsletter. The information in the newsletter is emailed to people who have interacted with the business owner, and it often encourages the reader to visit the business website. While this is the most cost effective of online advertising solutions, it can still be very time consuming for a business owner. It often requires the business to hire a writer to manage the blog and email marketing campaigns.
Mobile phone advertising is a low-cost option, and many small businesses consider it attractive for that reason. Customers opt in to receive messages directly from the business. Owners can send updates such as discounts, sales, coupons or promotions directly to the customer’s phone.
