DIGITAL MARKETING - BBA-22-VC-406

UNIT – 2 Notes

Amit Kumar Bhanja

Assistant Professor,
SMS, Varanasi.
What is Display Advertising?

Display advertising, sometimes known as display marketing, involves the promotion of

products, services, or brands through visually appealing advertisements that are displayed on
digital platforms. These ads are usually a combination of text and images, capturing the
attention of users and encouraging them to take action.

Through eye-catching visuals, compelling messages, and strategic ad placements, display

advertising aims to engage users and generate interest in advertisements.

Display advertising can sometimes be confused with search advertising. Display advertising
involves outbound marketing by proactively showing ads to users, while search advertising is
an inbound marketing approach that involves displaying ads in response to user-initia ted
searches.

Common examples of display ads include banner ads and pop-up ads. These formats allow
advertisers to visually engage with users and deliver their messages effectively.

Types of display advertising

When considering display advertising, it’s important to look at the various types of targeting
and ad formats to effectively reach and engage the desired audience.

Targeting types include:

 Traditional display ads. Ads are placed on websites or apps based on demographics,
interests, or location.

 Responsive ads. Responsive ads dynamically adjust their size, format, and appearance
to fit different ad placements and screen sizes.

 Retargeting ads. Display ads that are shown to users who have previously interacted
with a brand.

 Native display ads. Ads that blend in with the surrounding content, providing a non-
disruptive user experience.

 Social display ads. Ads that are specifically designed for social media platforms,
tailored to match the platform’s visual style and user behaviour.

 Some types of ad formats include:

  Banner ads. Rectangular or square ads that are typically displayed at the top, bottom,
or sides of a webpage.

 Rich media. Interactive ads that incorporate elements like animation, audio, video, or
expandable features.

 Video ads. Ads in video format — often inserted before, during, or after online video
content.

 Pop-up ads. Ads that appear in separate windows or overlays on top of the main
content.

 Rewarded ads. Ads that offer users incentives, such as in-game rewards or access to
premium content.

 Interactive content. Ads that allow quizzes, games, or product configurato rs.

With a variety of targeting types and ad formats comes flexibility and opportunities to
tailor display advertising campaigns according to the needs of different businesses.

Benefits of display advertising

There are several advantages to using display advertising. Among other benefits, using display
advertising helps businesses:

 Increase brand awareness. Display advertising allows you to reach a broad audience.
Widespread exposure helps raise brand awareness and visibility among potential
customers.

 Target customers. Display advertising allows advertisers to reach their desired

audience with precision using demographics, geography, behavior, and other factors to
curate content, ensuring their ads are seen by the most relevant users.

 Design a full-funnel campaign. With programmatic advertising and smart bidding,

advertisers can design and optimize their campaigns to effectively target customers at
different stages of the sales funnel.

 Choose from multiple ad formats. Display advertising offers banner ads, pop-ups,
pop-unders, wallpaper ads, interstitial ads, map ads, video ads, and more. Advertisers
can select the most suitable format to capture attention and engage users effectively.
  Retarget customers. Businesses can retarget customers by displaying ads to users who
have previously interacted with their brand as they browse other websites or platforms,
reinforcing their message and encouraging conversions.

 Measure results. Display advertising provides robust measurement and analytics

capabilities, allowing advertisers to track key metrics like reach, click-through rate,
bounce rate, conversion rate, and return on investment. These insights help advertisers
evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns and perform data-driven optimizations for
better results.

Challenges of display advertising

Despite its benefits, display advertising can produce some obstacles that hinder its
effectiveness. These challenges include ad blockers limiting ad visibility, banner blindness
leading to low click-through rates (around 0.1%), and random clicks — especially on mobile
devices.

Advertisers must be cautious about potential pitfalls within their control, such as ineffective
creative approaches that fail to captivate audiences and poor targeting that results in ineffic ie nt
ad placements. Addressing these challenges through strategic measures can enhance the impact
and performance of display advertising campaigns.

Display advertising billing

When a business starts using display advertising, they need to understand the various billing
agreements that determine how advertisers are charged for their ad campaigns. Here’s an
overview of the most common billing agreements:

 Flat rate. Advertisers pay a predetermined fixed amount for a specific duration or
number of impressions, regardless of the performance or engagement of the ad.

 Cost per mille (CPM). Advertisers are charged based on the number of impressio ns
their ads receive, typically per 1,000 impressions. CPM focuses on exposure and brand
visibility.

 Cost per click (CPC). Advertisers pay for each click their ads receive. This billing
model is performance-oriented, as advertisers only pay when users actively engage with
the ad.
  Cost per lead (CPL). Advertisers pay based on the number of leads generated through
the ad campaign. It’s commonly used when the primary goal is lead generation.

 Cost per sale (CPS). Advertisers are charged based on the number of sales generated
that were directly attributed to the ad campaign. This model is often used in affilia te
marketing or ecommerce scenarios.

Digital Marketing Landscape

This is a constantly evolving space and it includes all the tools and channels used for digita l
marketing. What worked in 2021 may not be relevant in the coming 2-3 years. This is the pace
at which this domain is evolving. Since it is evolving at such great pace, it is very important to
keep a tab on the trends in this field. Companies or businesses which are not able to catch up
with these trends may be relegated to oblivion sooner or later. Some prominent trends
witnessed in the digital landscape are as follows:

a. Artificial intelligence

b. Chatbots

c. Social media marketing

d. Focus on mobiles

e. Personalized digital marketing

So, the pertinent question that may arise is “What is a digital Marketing Landscape”?

A digital marketing landscape is the collective name for websites, email, social networks,
mobile devices, videos etc. These tools help businesses sell their products or services.

To create a useful and profitable digital marketing landscape, businesses must have their digita l
strategy in place first. Digital strategy should be the starting point in order to curate the digita l
marketing landscape. SO prominent tools that could be a part of your Digital Strategy could
be:

a) Social Media Marketing: Social media is huge and it is here to stay. Each platform be it
Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, have turned out to be powerhouses. Sites such as Pinterest
and Twitter can also drive your RoI. Social media channels can help you drive organic
conversations, customer service, research and can also be a handy tool in activating your fans.
All these could be relevant objectives of your digital marketing strategy.

b) Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing: Investing in SEO can help
you achieve long-term results. When you have pages which rank high on search engines, can
definitely help you win trust of consumers and also can help you to appear as an authority in
your field. Optimizing you pages for relevant search keywords and having high-author ity
backlinks can do wonders for your SEO. But everything about SEO is log-term. When you
need instant results, you need to resort to SEM. You need to bid for low competition keywords
and spend some money for the same, so that whenever any relevant search takes place, your
search ads appear and you could still be in the game. Consider how digital ads on popular
search engines may fit into your digital marketing strategy.

c) Content Marketing: It is rocket science that word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most
powerful forms of marketing and this happens organically. Despite this it is very often ignored.
We need to build positive and favorable conversation, which prompts people to talk about you.
Rich content can play a pivotal role. Invest in great and engaging content to drive conversatio n
and content marketing should find an integral place in your digital marketing strategy.

d) Affiliate Marketing: Building a network of partners who are willing to sell your products
or services for some commission can always be useful for any business. Imagine if you have
an army of partners who are promoting your products and businesses in their network an
bringing business for you. It always helps. So, affiliate programs with a large and motivated
set of partners can be incorporated into your digital marketing strategy.

The key for successful integration of all the above-mentioned tools into your digital marketing
strategy depends on how well you leverage your content, the data that is generated and the
resulting analytics. This could be a decisive factor of your entire digital marketing strategy.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of the most popular as well as powerful ways of
marketing your products and services online. With the increasing competition and each
business vying for the same set of customers, it becomes pertinently important to advertise
online to stay at the top of the game and SEM appears to be a panacea to promote products and
grow business.
Search Engine Marketing –

An Overview SEM is a practice of advertising business or products or services using paid

advertisements that appear on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). In this practice,
advertisers bid for keywords, which they think are used by the consumers to search on search

engines such as Google or Bing. This provides the advertisers with an opportunity to show their
products and services as ads alongside the search results. These ads are also known as Pay-Per-
Click ads. These ads appear in various formats such as simple text ads or they can be elaborate
product listing ads (PLAs) which allow the customers to get the necessary information at a
glance. Search engine ads offer the unique advantage of presenting the ads in front of those
customers who are highly motivated and are keen in knowing or buying a product. No other
forms of advertising offer this unique advantage and marketers must exploit this form of
advertising to the fullest.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Advertising PPC is an online advertising technique where an advertiser pays every time a user
clicks one of their online ads. There are several types of PPC ads, but the most common or
popular one is the paid search ad, which is triggered whenever any user is making a commercia l
search or usually when the user’s intention to buy something is detected. These searches could
be anything ranging from pizza shops near you or when you are searching for Mother’s Day
gifting options. The search engines such as Google or Bing, serve relevant ads when similar
search happens on their platforms. All these searches trigger PPC ads. In PPC advertising, the
advertiser is billed only when a user clicks on the ad and thus the name PPC is given to such
ads.

How Does Pay-Per-Click Advertising Work?

Advertisers cannot simple pay more to get their ads on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
A sophisticated and automated ad auction algorithm operates on popular search engines such
as Google and Bing whereby ads are ranked based on their relevance and validity and are placed
on the SERPs. So, if advertisers assume that by paying higher amounts places their ads above
than those of their competitors, then it is a myth. Ad Auction is a bidding system, where
advertisers bid for the terms that would trigger or place their ads. These terms are known as
keywords. For example, your business specializes in Auto Insurance and a biking enthusia st
wants to perchance an insurance policy for his new motor bike. This biking enthusiast might
enter the term “bike insurance” into Google to find retailers offering Motorcycle Insurance.

At the moment the user submits his search query, Google runs its sophisticated Ad Auction
algorithm. This algorithm decides which ads to be displayed, in which order and by which
advertiser. Since businesses are billed only when the ads are clicked, it is imperative to bid for
those keywords only which are relevant for the business. This ensures a healthy ROI on ad
spends. A well-integrated keyword planner tool in Google Ads can help you find the right
keywords.

Types of Online Advertising

Online advertising has come a long way since it first began in the form of a simple banner ad.
Since then, several ad types have come into existence and this provides businesses a wide
variety of ad

types which could be used as per the use case. In this context we are going to discuss 7 major
types of online advertising.

a. Display ads

This is the original form of online advertising. These are visual ads which appear on some

third-party websites which are related to your content, product or service in some way. Display
ads have evolved and have come a long way. There are various forms of display

ads prevalent today and you can sight them in any of the following forms:

Static images

Text

Floating banners

Wall paper

Popup ads

Flash

Video
b. Social Media ads

Social media as an advertising platform is not only efficient, but also effective. It is very much
similar to display ads. They can be a simple image or text to a video ad. Social media ads can
be a great tool to develop your business because you get the opportunity to target your audience
with precision. For instance, Facebook’s targeting tools allow you to target your audience based
on age, gender, region, profession and interests. The common forms of social media
advertisements could be classified as organic and paid.

Organic advertisements create loyalty and give you feedback from your audience. It also helps
you garner word-of-mouth publicity. On the other hand, paid advertisements help you reach
specific targeted groups. Based on your requirements and budget, you can choose any of these
social media platforms for advertisements:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

LikendIn

Pinterest

Tumblr

Reddit

Google+

c. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM works on the keywords. Businesses bit for keywords, so that their website ranks higher
on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This is one of the most popular forms of paid online
marketing and is considered the most dependable as well.

Paid ads can be in the form of Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Thousand (CPM). One of the
most renowned platforms for SEM is Google Ads. Google Ads allows you to create highly
targeted campaigns. Another popular platform for creating paid ads is Bing Ads by Microsoft.
d. Native Advertising

Native advertising is a form of sponsored ads which appear at the end of blog posts, appearing
is Facebook feeds or other social media posts. These are integrated and camouflaged into the
platform in which they appear. Native advertising can be promoted and posted through
networks such as Adblade, Adsonar, Outbrain and Taboola. A few forms of Native Advertis ing
are:

In-Feed

Search ads

Recommendation widgets

Promoted listings

Remarketing/Retargeting One of the most powerful forms of online advertising is to advertise

to those who already know your product or to those who have been looking for your product
online. This is called remarketing or retargeting. When people visit their site, advertisers drop
a cookie on them, so that as they browse across the web, the advertisers’ ads will appear
everywhere and keep reminding people about the products and services over and over again.
This form of advertising is both effective and inexpensive. If done right, it can be more
productive than PPC. It has a higher conversion rate as people are already aware of your
product or service and probably, they have been looking for it. Facebook Remarketing and
Google Remarketing tools can help you set up the remarketing ads.

Importance of Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, popularly known as SEO is an important aspect of digita l

marketing. Despite its importance and significance, the level of knowledge and understand ing
about SEO is mostly shallow. This could be majorly because of the multifaceted nature of SEO.
Putting it short,

SEO is the process which makes your website more visible and thus attracting more traffic,
and more opportunities to convert visitors into customers. SEO is also a very important tool
for brand building, building customer relations, and also to position yourself as an authority in
your field.
The Crucial Elements of SEO

a. Keywords – There were times when keywords were the only SEO technique but that doesn’t

mean that they have become redundant. What is different nowadays is that you need to

research well for keywords and use them judiciously in your content in order to be effective.

Now you may have the question nagging in your mind that what are keywords? Keywords

are words and phrases that a prospect uses in any search engine such as Google to find online

content, and brands can use to connect with prospects that are looking for their products and

services. When organizations undertake the keyword research process, they need to keep a

few parameters in mind, such as:

1. The keywords must have high search rates.

2. The keywords must have low competition.

3. Keywords can be long-tail (such as “jogging shoes for women”) and short-tail (such as

“shoes”).

4. Local keywords (jogging shoes for women in Mumbai).

Apart from the primary keywords, you may also consider secondary and tertiary keywords as
they will still generate value for your business. All the titles, URLs and pages can also be
optimized using keywords.

b. Content – Content is undoubtedly the most vital part of SEO. It is the vehicle that engages
the audience with the brand. Knowing the craft to curate content that fits is essential. For
instance, if you are running a preschool, you may publish a lot of content about the need for
pre-schooling, the various activities to engage kids, how to improve motor or cognitive skills
for kids and so on. Now when a prospect who wants to know about some activities to keep his
kid engaged, your blogged popped up. This is the beginning of the relationship. So when the
prospect actually wants to enrol his kid in any preschool, you would be the first preschool that
comes to his mind. Currently, the content must be educational, interesting, entertaining,
relevant and shareable.
Content may be created in various forms:

1. Web Page Content

2. Videos

3. Blogs

4. Infographics

5. Podcasts

6. Listicles

7. How-to-guides

8. Whitepapers and e-books

9. Social media posts

10. Local listings

c. Off-Page SEO – Off-Page SEO consists of those optimization techniques which happen

usually away from your site rather than on it. One of the most important and prominent off-
page SEO techniques is back linking, which involves building quality backlinks to your site

from external sites. This tells the search engines that your site contains valuable content and

this helps in building authority. There are several techniques of doing the same, but some of

the most popular ones are guest blogging, using influencer marketing and also creating

infographics which are shared extensively.

d. Local SEO – The importance of Local SEO is increasing continuously as more and more
people are using their mobile phones for searching the web. Some research even pegs a number
and concludes that up to 60% of the entire search conducted on the web is through mobile
devices.

Further, nearly half of those searches have a local intent. So, let’s say that you own a restaurant,
and then the local SEO will ensure that when people in your area or visiting your area went
looking for a restaurant, they may come across your site. Along with using local keywords,
other local SEO best practices include claiming directory listings, creating location specific
pages for your site, and creating pages for your site, and creating pages for your business on
Google My Business local directories and Google Maps.

e. Search Engine Marketing – Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to the paid marketing
efforts, and this includes activities such as native ads, Google Ads, Social Media Ads, pay-per
click (PPC), Google shopping ads, display ads, and more. Though it cannot be clearly stated
that SEM is a major component in SEO strategy, yet it has a significant place in reaching out
to highly targeted audience.

Benefits of SEO

SEO is very both beautiful and useful for businesses if they wish to make their online presence
felt. The interesting part of SEO is that it can be done by anyone and it is not as complex as it
appears to be. Print ads or sponsored posts could be quite expensive, so learning a few SEO
skills could be helpful for small businesses, which may not be able to afford professiona l
services. Here are a few reasons which could be incentive enough for any business to adopt
organic SEO.

a. Brings in more customers through organic search

Customers usually search the internet for some solution. And if you provide quality solutio ns
to the problems and appear on the top of search results, there is high chance that they will
consider you when they wish to purchase a solution. Being on the top of search engine page
almost doubles you chances of being clicked and thus improves your click through rate (CTR).
By appearing on the top of search results, you make your brand highly visible and showcase
that you are a trust-worthy resource.

b. Creates a trustworthy web experience for customers

Working on SEO helps you work on various aspects of your website such as page speed,
backlinks, and other authority building elements, which are very important in providing the
experience to the user once they click your link. Search engines prescribe certain rules and
abiding by those rules ensures that your website in top notch condition and also makes it
popular among the search engines. By doing all these, your site will not just appear in the top
results of the search results, but will also earn trust based on the functionality of your website.
c. Encourages you to focus on user experience

Optimizing user experience infuses a core element of SEO in your website. Search Engines
such as Google have started prioritizing user experience and they will continue to do so along
with the other website vitals such as page speed, quality of back links etc. When it is evidence
that you are rewarded by search engines to build and provide great user experience, then you
are encouraged to provide exception user experience of your website.

d. Improves brand awareness

By doing everything you can, to reach the top results of search rankings, people will perceive
you as a provider of solution, to the problem whose solution they are looking for. So, people
will start noticing you even if they do not click on your link. Potential customers will start
associating your brand with those solutions. This is quite important if you are competing on
some common keywords with your competitors. You must fight in order to reach the top
position, in order to reach the top-of-mind recall. In case if you have just started working on
SEO, you should target the long tail version of the keywords which are popular with respect to
the products, services or solutions you offer. All these efforts will help in creating an impact
and helps build brand awareness.

There are several other benefits which business can derive and SEO has a direct impact on the
other marketing initiatives undertaken by the business. It is also inexpensive when compared
to other forms of marketing and can be done on a shoe-string budget as well. Working on SEO
keeps you informed all the time as search engines keep changing their policies and algorithms.
This way you are always in the lookout for better keywords, better optimization and also helps
you track your competitors’ moves.

Search Engine Advertising: What is it & How Does it Work

If your SEO efforts aren’t paying off — or paying off fast enough — consider adding search
engine advertising to build your brand and customer base faster. While SEO takes time, search
engine marketing (SEM) allows you to save time and automatically appear in front of target
audiences actively searching for products and services like yours.
What is search engine advertising?

Search engine advertising (also known as search advertising, Internet search advertising, or
online search advertising) allows you to directly display your paid ads among the search results
on various search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo:

Advertisers who utilize search advertising show their ads to users who are actively searching
for specific keywords, and they pay a fee every time someone click the ad. This type of PPC
advertising is especially effective because people who conduct searches tend to reveal a lot
about their intent with their search query.

Increase your PPC conversion rates. Send Google/Bing Ads to message-matched pages for
better results.
What are search engine ads?

On Bing and Yahoo, search engine ads typically appear above, below, or next to the organic
search results. That is one key difference between Google and other search engines because
Google only shows ads above and below search results. Regardless, search ads include the
following key elements:

 A headline, which should incorporate relevant, attention- grabbing keywords because

it’s the largest and most noticeable ad component.

 Display URL, comprised of your final URL domain, optional subdomain, and path
fields, to provide searchers an idea of where they’ll be taken once they click through
(hopefully to your landing page). On Google, Bing, and Yahoo, display URLs are
green, directly underneath the headline. On Bing, they’re also bold:

 Description text to highlight the most important details about your product or service,
and persuade users why they should click through.
  Ad extensions, like the ones in the Yahoo ad below, enable your ad to take up more
space in the results list, increasing its visibility and allowing you to provide more
information about your product or service:

To earn the coveted click, each component should work together and use a strong landing page,
highlighted by a landing page.

How does search engine advertising work?

Search engine advertising operates using an auction-based system, in which advertisers bid on
certain keywords relevant to their product or service. It should be mentioned, however, that
bids and clicks are different. Just because you might bid $100 for a keyword phrase, does not
mean you will be charged $100 for each ad click.

Keyword selection determines which searches display your ads, so without in-depth keyword
research to identify the most appropriate terms, you could potentially miss your target audience.
Choosing the right keywords (ones with high volume and low competition) can also make
your ad rank higher and cost less.

While a competitive CPC bid and highly-targeted keywords are important, your Quality
Score also plays a significant role in your SERP ranking:
Quality Score indicates how well your ad meets the needs and search intent of your target
audience, search engine uses it to provide searchers with the most useful results possible.
To calculate Quality Score, SEM platforms look at a variety of factors:

The benefits of having a detailed strategy

1. Quick and easy implementation

Setting up a search advertising campaign is relatively fast and easy. It’s highly flexible and
configurable, and can typically be set up in just a few hours. Additionally, changes can be made
on an ad hoc basis, so you can continuously tailor your website content, keywords, and ad
spending based on your audience’s behavior.

You can also import your existing Google Ads campaigns directly into Bing Ads, so with just
a few clicks, your campaign is up and running without having to recreate everything from
scratch:
2. High user intent

Since search advertising is based on keyword-focused search queries, it offers highly targeted
ads to search users. People are telling you what they like — so you’re reaching an appropriate
audience. In fact, one survey indicates that 90% of searchers know exactly what they’re
looking for, which is a good sign when you want them to take action (purchase, download, sign
up, etc.).

Also, since paid search ads are extremely targeted, they are considered much less intrusive than
other ad types. By providing a better user experience for Internet users, they can, in turn,
substantially increase conversion rates and ROI.

3. Fast results

There is limited real estate for top positions in organic search results. And reaching those
coveted positions requires a lot of SEO work. Even if you manage to make it there, it takes
extensive time and patience. However, by paying your way onto SERPs (even though space is
limited here as well), it’s much faster and simpler to score a top position.

4. Greater brand awareness

Search engine advertising also helps raise brand awareness. The higher your ad ranks, the more
it will be seen. As prospects become more familiar with you over time — recognizing you as
a relevant and trustworthy company. Their search terms will become increasingly related to
your product, service, or brand. Plus, when people click-through to your site, and you have a
retargeting pixel in place, they will continue to see your brand name and value proposition on
display ads.

5. In-depth measurability and analysis

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing provide advertisers with real-time data. And paid
search analytics so that campaign performance can be easily tracked and measured. Tracking
useful, in-depth information, such as:

 Money spent vs. value generated

 Total impressions

 CTR

 CPC

 Average ad position

 Conversion rate

 Cost-per-conversion

 Prospects’ geographical location

 What type of device they’re using

 Average time on page

 What pages they visited on your site

Search engine advertising statistics

Whether you’re planning to adopt a search advertising strategy, or already have one that needs
improving, some interesting statistics to consider:

 In 2016, digital search advertising spending in the U.S. was at $29.24 billion. In just
the first half of 2017 alone, it reached $19.1 billion. By 2019, it’s projected to
reach $40.6 billion.

 Today, search advertising spend accounts for nearly half of total digital ad spend.

 As of January 2018, Google generated 63.4% of all U.S. search queries, making it the
continued market leader; Microsoft Sites (including Bing) own 23.7% market share;
and Oath (formerly known as Yahoo) has an 11.9% search market share:
  The average cost per action (CPA) in a Google Ads search campaign is $59.18.

 The most expensive keyword phrase on Google Ads is “best mesothelioma lawyer” at
$935.71 per click.

Major Search Engine Advertising Trends

1. Enhanced audience targeting

Many experienced advertisers predict that a detailed keyword strategy is no longer enough.
Rather, the most successful search advertising strategy will include intensified audience
targeting as well. This means highly customized messages, an improved and personalized user
experience, and better monetization strategies.

While keywords will remain the foundation, a highly segmented audience will be what drives
change and separates the good campaigns from the great, highly profitable campaigns.
2. Voice search continues to grow

With the growing popularity of voice search — aided by smart speakers — full sentences have
been brought to both search queries and responses from search engines. While advertisers may
not build entire paid ad campaigns around voice search. They should certainly acknowledge
how search behaviours change with voice search: via voice (e.g., Google Home, Amazon Echo)
or via screen (e.g., Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant).

What will shape advertising with voice search and smart speakers remains to be seen, but two
common predictions include more partnerships and longer-tail keywords.

Get ahead of every organic result

Since search engine advertising puts you directly in front of users who are actively searching
for what you offer. There is no denying that a detailed strategy can help you get ahead of
organic results. When done right, internet search advertising is a great way to increase brand
awareness, generate leads, drive online sales, and gain new customers. Of course, this can only
happen when paired with an optimized landing page.

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Ad Rank

Ad Rank is a set of values that are used to determine whether your ads are eligible to show and
if eligible, where on the page your ads are shown (if at all) relative to other advertisers’ ads. In
each auction, your Ad Rank is calculated first to determine whether your ad is eligible to show,
and a second time to determine where your ad is ranked relative to other eligible advertisers’
ads. These Ad Rank values are calculated based on several factors, including your competitio n,
the context of the person's search, and your ad quality at that moment. You can monitor where
your ads are showing on the search results page by checking your top and absolute top metrics.
How Ad Rank is determined

The ad auction is how Google decides

first which ads are eligible to show, and
second how they're ranked among
eligible ads.

At both the eligibility and ranking

stages, Google calculates Ad Rank
scores. Generally speaking, the
advertiser with the highest Ad Rank gets
to show in the top position and the
advertiser with the second-highest Ad
Rank gets to show in the second
position, assuming the ads clear
the relevant thresholds and so on.

At a high level, Ad Rank scores are based on 6 factors:

 Your bid - When you set your bid, you're telling Google Ads the maximum amount
you're willing to pay for a click on your ad. How much you actually end up paying is
often less, and you can change your bid at any time.
 The quality of your ads and landing page - Google Ads also checks how relevant
and useful your ad and the website it links to are to the customer. Our assessment of
the quality of your ad is summarized in your Quality Score, which you can monitor in
your Google Ads account.
 The Ad Rank thresholds - To help ensure high quality ads, we set minimum
thresholds that an ad must achieve to show.
 The competitiveness of an auction - If two ads competing for the same position have
similar ad ranks, each will have a similar opportunity to win that position. As the gap
in ad rank between two advertisers’ ads grows, the higher-ranking ad will be more
likely to win but also may pay a higher cost per click for the benefit of the increased
certainty of winning.
  The context of the person’s search - With the ad auction, context matters. When
calculating Ad Rank, we check the search terms the person has entered, the person’s
location at the time of the search, the type of device they’re using (For example, mobile
or desktop), the time of the search, the nature of the search terms, other ads and search
results that show on the page, and other user signals and attributes.
 The expected impact from your ad assets and other ad formats - When you create
your ad, you have the option to add additional information to your ad, such as a phone
number, or more links to specific pages on your site. These are called ad assets. Google
Ads estimates how assets and other ad formats you use will impact your ad's
performance.

Example

Here’s a simplified example of how Ad Rank works. It doesn’t account for all of the factors
discussed above, but instead aims to give you a high- level overview of our algorithms:

Assume that the respective Ad Rank of each of the advertisers is 80, 50, 30, 10, -10, -30, and
-35.

Let’s assume the minimum Ad Rank to show anywhere on search results pages is 0, then the
last 3 advertisers whose ads have scores of -10, -30 and -35 are ineligible to show in any
position on the page.

Secondly, if the minimum Ad Rank necessary to show in the top ad location (generally above
search results) is 40, only the first two advertisers (whose ads have Ad Ranks of 80 and 50)
exceed the minimum and can show above the search results.

However, the advertisers whose ads have Ad Ranks of 30 and 10 are eligible to show in ad
locations lower down the page.

For top and absolute top metrics, the advertiser with an Ad Rank of 80 (in the first position
within the top ad location) will have 1 impression counting both for top and absolute top. The
advertiser with Ad Rank of 50 (in the second position within the top ad location) will have 1
impression on top. The advertiser with an Ad Rank of 30 (in the first position below the search
results) will have 0 impressions on top or absolute top, same as the advertiser with an Ad Rank
of 10 (in the second position below search results).
 Ad RankImpr. on absolute top Impr. on topImpr. (Abs top) % Impr. (top) %
Advertiser A 80 1 1 100% 100%
Advertiser 50 0 1 0% 100%
B
Advertiser 30 0 0 0% 0%
C
Advertiser D 10 0 0 0% 0%

To improve your share of the top and absolute top location on the search result page, you can:

 Improve the quality of your ads and landing page experience

 Increase your bid

Better ads mean better Ad Rank

The Ad Rank calculations incorporate your bid and auction-time quality that can include
auction-time measurements like expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience,
among other factors. Ad Rank is calculated every time a user does a search and is recalcula ted
for different positions on the search results page.

Our assessment of the quality of your ad is summarized in your Quality Score, which you can
monitor in your Google Ads account.

Why ad quality matters

The quality components of Ad Rank are used in several different ways and can affect the
following things:

 Ad auction eligibility: Our measures of ad quality help determine the Ad Rank

thresholds for your ad, and whether your ad is qualified to appear at all.
 Your actual cost-per-click (CPC): Higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs.
That means you pay less per click when your ads are higher quality.
 Eligibility for ad assets and other ad formats: Ad Rank determines whether or not
your ad is eligible to be displayed with ad assets and other ad formats, such as site
links.
Overall, higher quality ads typically lead to lower costs and more advertising success. The
Google Ads system works best for everybody when the ads we show are relevant and closely
match what customers are searching for.

Keyword Targeting: How to Target Specific Keywords in SEO

Of course, you want to improve your rankings for a specific, target keyword. While some
aspects of SEO, including link building and quality content creation take time and effort (which
has a huge cost), the following three tips are quick, easy and can yield results VERY quickly.

o 1. Internal Links

o 2. Title, Meta & H1

o 3. Backlinks From External Sources

 But, What Keywords Should You Target?

 Keyword Density

 Long-tail Keywords vs. Head Keywords

 Why Too Many Keywords is Killing Your SEO Strategy

 How Keywords Have Evolved Over Time

 Overcrowding and the Power of Niches

 The Visibility Tipping Point

 The Ideal Number of Keywords to Target

 Observing Rank Changes in Your Target Keywords

 The Future of SEO Keyword Targeting

1. Internal Links

Internal link building is perhaps one of best ways to boost and target for specific keywords and
the good news is that it is immediately in your control. Don’t be afraid to target specific words
or phrases with your internal links.
2. Title, Meta & H1

If your web pages aren’t performing for the keywords you want, try A-B testing tweaks on
your titles, meta descriptions and H1 headers to include direct targeting of your keywords. We
have seen as much as 80% traffic improvement from this alone.

3. Backlinks from External Sources

While less in your control than some of the other sources above, you can still engage in white
hat link building services or perform link building outreach on your own to target publishe rs
that are relevant to your niche and who have sufficient domain authority to move the needle.

But, What Keywords Should You Target?

Ultimately, you’ll want to narrow down your target keyword list to the top potential candidates,
zeroing in on a dozen or two strong keywords with the highest potential return. You’ll want to
look at three factors here:

1. Relevance. Realistically, how close is this keyword to your client’s products, services,
and target niche? This is going to be a subjective question, but you can ask more critical
questions here; for example, how far along in the buying cycle would a customer be if
they were searching for this? How informed is a customer who is searching for this?
Who wouldn’t be searching for this?

2. Volume. The volume is another important factor, as it controls how many people could
ultimately be influenced by a high-ranking site for this query. However, there’s one
limiting factor that could compromise volume’s effectiveness, and that’s competition.

3. Competition. A keyword with a lot of competition will be nearly impossible to rank

for. On the other hand, lower competition keywords tend to carry lower volume. You’ll
have to find a balance if you want your strategy to work.

Now, let’s consider a few other factors when it comes to targeting specific keywords in SEO.

Keyword Density

You’ll want to include keywords in your blog posts, and meta data, and really, throughout your
site. But thanks to various Google updates, if you include too many, you’ll end up getting your
client’s site penalized. What’s the solution? The old method was one of percentage, making
sure your targeted keyword phrases don’t appear more than 2-3 percent of the time. However,
a better solution is to avoid stuffing keywords at all; the less you think about it, the more
naturally you’ll write, and the less you’ll have to worry about a penalty.

For starters, only choose keywords that you can work into your content naturally, and then,
work them into content titles only when they’re appropriate. From there, they’ll probably
appear naturally as you complete the content work. For some keywords, this is easier said than
done, but your first job is choosing the right keywords to begin with. Your keyword
density should mirror the purpose of the miniskirt:

Keywords should be dense enough to let crawlers know what it’s about and what you want to
rank for, but not so dense as to throw off what any natural reader might expect.

Long-tail Keywords vs. Head Keywords

First, you need to know the difference between basic keywords (sometimes called head
keywords) and long-tail keywords. These are long phrases, sometimes colloquial, like “where’s
the best place for chicken tacos” instead of the basic “chicken tacos.”

Generally, the longer the query becomes, the lower the volume and competition become. This
makes them easier to rank for but also makes them yield a lower potential traffic rate with a
high rank. Compared to head keywords, they offer fast-paced gains, but a lower long- term
payoff (assuming you invest sufficiently in the basic keywords). They’re also great material
for topic-based optimization.
Focusing on the long tail keywords, can actually present higher traffic opportunities as big wins
are easier to come by. The biggest risk between the short and the long tail in keyword targeting
is keyword cannibalization.

Why Too Many Keywords is Killing Your SEO Strategy

In many ways, “more is better” is an ideology that dominates the SEO world. If you have more
high-quality links pointing to your domain, you’ll have a higher authority. If you have more
content on your site, you get more attention. In most cases, if you invest more time and money
into a strategy, you’re going to see better results.

Applying this thinking to the realm of keywords, many businesses select a broad range of
subjects and key phrases on which to focus their campaign. However, the “more is better”
philosophy can actually be counterproductive when applied in this context; in the majority of
cases, focusing on fewer topic keywords is going to yield the best results.

There are many factors responsible for this dynamic.

How Keywords Have Evolved Over Time

Today, Google operates under an entirely different algorithm. It uses a process known as
“semantic search,” which analyses the intent behind a search query, then tries to find the most
relevant answers for that query.
Because of this, being relevant is no longer a matter of direct keyword frequency—for
example, to rank in search engines for “cheap sleeping bags,” you no longer need to focus on
“cheap sleeping bags” specifically. Instead, you must focus on topics for your content—for
example, “sleeping bags” could be a broad topic keyword, and you could use that keyword to
generate articles like “The best sleeping bags for camping” or “10 qualities every sleeping bag
needs.” Your keyword choice doesn’t have to match on a one-to-one basis; instead you
can focus on generalities.

These “topic keywords” are generally more extended phrases than traditional keywords.
“Long-tail keywords,” which are search phrases consisting of several words, can be ranked for
naturally because of the types of content titles you choose pertaining to those topic keywords.

Overcrowding and the Power of Niches

SEO is a powerful, cost-efficient strategy. The problem is, almost every company in the
world is starting to realize it. As a result, the SEO landscape is becoming more competitive,
and fewer companies are able to rank in the top positions for general keywords.

When Google determines your level of authority, it considers your authority for specific topics
and industries.

For example, The Home Depot is a major authority in “home improvement,” and because they
have become so prominent, it’s unlikely that any new company will be able to displace it
without a huge budget for everything from content marketing, PR, keyword research for the
long tail etc.

However, more specifically targeted niches—like “DIY plumbing in Chicago,” are much
narrower in scope and are therefore open to less competition.

It’s far easier to become known as an authority in one of these segments than for a much
broader topic.
Under this logic, the best approach might seem to be becoming known for as many of these
niches as possible—however, this isn’t necessarily the case. Trying to become known as an
expert in “DIY plumbing in Chicago,” “Garden care in Illinois,” and “Ice cream recipes for
children” will be counterproductive because each separate niche draws away from your power
in the first niche. This is an extreme example, since these niches are so drastically differe nt,
but the principle is the same. Think of it as trying to work at multiple jobs—you can probably
manage two, maybe three if you push yourself, but any more than that and you’ll be pulling
your hair out and getting confused.

The Visibility Tipping Point

It’s also worth considering that 58.4 percent of all clicks go to the first three results on Google.
The average click-through rate for page one results are 8.9 percent, with the top spot getting
36.4 percent, while page two results average only 1.5 percent. Essentially, that means:

Even if you work your way all the way up to rank 15, you still won’t start seeing an influx
of traffic until you reach page one.

Considering these metrics, 1 page-one rank is worth nearly 6 page-two positions, and 1
number-one rank is worth more than 24 page-two positions.

Apply this landscape to your topic keywords—you only have a finite amount of effort to spend
across all your keywords. If you work on 10 keywords and get them all to page two, it still
won’t amount to half the traffic you’d get by taking 1 keyword to a number-one rank.
The Ideal Number of Keywords to Target

Obviously, there is no “ideal” number of topic keywords to have, since there are several factors
that must be considered:

 Your budget. The more money and resources you can spend, the more keywords you
can comfortably target.

 Your competition. Lower competition topics can afford a greater quantity.

 Your related niches. Choose one core niche and branch out only into related niches—
the number and relationship of those peripheral niches should determine how many you
target.

 Your keyword research. What does your keyword research reveal about the low-
hanging fruit you can target?

For most start-ups and new companies, two to five topic keywords is plenty. For small- to
medium-sized businesses, up to 10 can be comfortably managed, depending on the above
factors. Only when you get to a large scale with an equally large budget do you have more
flexibility to tackle a greater number. And as a general rule of thumb, if you’re in doubt, fewer
is always better.

Observing Rank Changes in Your Target Keywords

Reporting is a big deal for agency-client relationships, and keyword ranks tend to be a sensitive
issue. You’ll find your clients want high ranks, as fast as possible, and may grow irritated if
they aren’t getting the ranks they want (or overly complacent if they are).

First, set the expectation that ranks aren’t everything. Yes, you have target keywords and your
goal is to rank for them, but you’ll be rising in rank for dozens of long-tail keyword phrases you
didn’t even know you were optimizing for (thanks to your brilliant content marketing strategy).
Plus, keyword rankings can only tell you so much—what’s really important is your inbound
traffic.

Second, set the expectation that ranks are volatile, and aren’t entirely predictable. Your rank
may change from day to day, and may appear differently for two different people in the same
room. There’s a degree of relativity to be expected in the modern realm of keyword-based
optimization, so try not to let your efforts be judged too precisely, particularly if you’re
operating under a white label SEO services program.
The Future of SEO Keyword Targeting

It’s hard to say exactly what the future holds for keywords (or SEO in general). But I suspect
that the world of keywords and topics is only going to get stranger.

Technologies like Google Analytics, Google Keyword Planner, Rank Brain, the Knowledge
Graph, digital assistants and even Chat GPT/AI are evolving at a remarkable pace, and all of
them are, in some way, making it harder to get your site or specific web page ranked for a
specific keyword term.

Overall, keyword focus is only a part of SEO—building your authority, earning links,
getting inferred links and brand mentions, providing great content, and offering the best user
experience are other fundamental pillars you need to worry about.

So instead of trying to perfect the keyword side of things, hedge your bets, and try to develop
the best overall strategy you can with your clients.

Online public relations, also known as E-PR or digital PR, is the use of the internet to
communicate with both potential and current customers in the public realm. It functions as the
web relationship influence among internet users and it aims to make desirable comments about
an organization, its products and services, news viewed by its target audiences and lessen its
undesirable comments to a large degree. Online public relations shows differences from
traditional public relations. One of these is associated with its platforms. Compared with
traditional public relations channels (such as TV, radio and printed press), the network systems
used for online public relations vary from search to social platforms. In the era of digita l
marketing, the major online public relations tools for the public relations professionals and
marketers such as content marketing, search engine optimization are the results of mixture of
digital technologies and public relations. Those approaches have become the mainstre a m
digital marketing machines and learning to take advantage of these marketing tools is an
essential part of modern public relations strategies.

Differences between online and traditional public relations

 The organizations can communicate with its audiences directly through a variety of online
platforms instead of depending on the media channels only
 Audiences exposed to the information are linked to the network and then the flow of
information is multi-directional among people
  Multiple sources of information provided can be accessible to audiences
 Audiences are entitled to the right to review, comment and assess
 Online PR targets social media, web searches, blogs, and websites in addition to targeting
traditional media outlets

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing involves sending targeted messages to subscribers’ inboxes to inform them
of new products or services, boost brand awareness, and increase sales.

Marketing emails can be used to:

 Engage: Keep subscribers informed and interested in your brand with compelling content,
from shoppable blog posts to how-to guides
 Inform: Ensure customers stay up-to-date on new product launches or business policy
changes
 Convert: Increase sales through emails that feature special discounts or exclusive deals

Types of Marketing Emails

No matter what type of email you send, set a goal for it. This could include educating
customers, increasing brand awareness, or driving a specific action, like visiting your website,
signing up for a free trial, or making a purchase.

There are five main types of marketing emails:

 Newsletters: Regular updates that keep your audience informed about your business,
industry news, or other relevant topics
 Promotional emails: Messages designed to promote special offers, new product launches,
or exclusive deals
 Transactional emails: Order confirmations, receipts, and other communications that occur
as a result of a customer's interaction with your business
 Re-engagement emails: Rekindles interest among subscribers who have not interacted with
your previous emails
 Welcome emails: Brand introduction emails sent to greet fresh subscribers or purchasers,
setting the tone for future communications

Email Marketing Benefits for Your Business

Email marketing is vital to a well-rounded digital marketing strategy because it allows you to
connect with customers on a personal level. Here’s a look at some of the biggest benefits:

High ROI
Email marketing ranks as the most efficient direct marketing channel, achieving an impressive
average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every dollar invested. This makes it a cost-
effective way to reach your customers on a regular basis.
Targeting and Personalization
Personalized messages tailored to your subscribers' interests and behaviours make your email
content more relevant and engaging. According to a 2021 Litmus report, nine out of 10
marketers recognize personalization as key to their business strategy. In fact, 80% of
customers are more inclined to buy from brands offering personalized experiences.
Personalized emails often prove effective and lead to higher conversion rates. Some studies
show personalized emails deliver transaction rates six times higher than non-personalized ones.
Personalized targeting makes communication more meaningful and potentially more effective.

Personalization can range from simple gestures like using the subscriber's name to more
complex targeting based on their interaction history with your brand. For example, if a
customer frequently views a particular category of products on your website, send them tailored
emails highlighting new arrivals or exclusive deals in that category. If a customer views a
product several times or adds it to the cart but doesn't purchase it, send an email highlighting
that product along with a time-sensitive discount.
 Easy to Analyse

Email campaign effectiveness can be measured using various metrics like opens, clicks, and
conversion rates. For example, a high open rate might indicate compelling subject lines. An
impressive click-through rate could suggest engaging content. Conversion rates reflect an
email's success in achieving a desired action from recipients, whether a purchase or a lead.

Building Relationships

Regular, personalized communication through emails can help build and maintain customer
relationships. According to Optinmonster, 99% of email users check their inbox daily, with
some individuals reviewing emails up to 20 times a day. This gives you many opportunities to
connect with customers through email marketing. Create content beyond sales, providing value
and news. For instance, track customer purchases to recommend future products, send birthday
vouchers, and offer exclusive deals to subscribers. Sephora’s birthday offer is one of the best
email marketing examples of surprising and delighting customers in their inboxes. Your email
marketing efforts are an extension of your brand and should be treated with the same care and
attention as any other customer touchpoint.

Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform

Finding a quality email service provider for email marketing management will help ensure you
create emails that subscribers enjoy. Popular Email service provider (ESP) options include
Mailchimp and Constant Contact. These platforms are ideal for small- to medium-s ized
businesses due to their user-friendly interfaces and comprehensive feature sets. For larger
enterprises, platforms like Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot offer advanced
functionalities that cater to complex marketing needs. The right ESP provides the tools that
allow you to create, personalize, and track your email campaigns.

Here are some features to consider:

 Deliverability: A platform known for reliable deliverability might increase the chances of
your emails reaching the recipient's inbox rather than the spam folder
 List management capabilities: Tools for organizing and segmenting your email list can
make your campaigns more targeted and personalized
 Customization and personalization options: Tailoring emails to address your audience's
needs and interests can lead to higher engagement
 Analytics and reporting tools: Detailed analytics enable you to understand email
performance and guide data-driven improvements
 Integration with other tools: An ESP that integrates with your existing tools could
streamline your workflow and consolidate data management
 Scalability: As your needs grow, an ESP that can handle increasing volumes and
complexities will be beneficial for your evolving marketing strategies

What Is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is any advertising activity that promotes products and services via mobile
devices, such as tablets and smartphones. It makes use of features of modern mobile
technology, including location services, to tailor marketing campaigns based on an
individual's location.

Mobile marketing is a way in which technology can be used to create personalized promotion
of goods or services to a user who is constantly connected to a network.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Mobile marketing is an advertising activity that uses mobile devices, such as text
promos and apps via push notifications.
 Mobile marketing audiences are grouped by behaviors and not by demographics.
 Mobile marketing is a subset of mobile advertising.
 Marketing faces privacy issues related to data collection.
 Mobile marketing is much more affordable than traditional marketing on televis io n
and radio.
How Mobile Marketing Works

Mobile marketing may include promotions sent through SMS text messaging, MMS
multimedia messaging, through downloaded apps using push notifications, through in-app or
in-game marketing, through mobile websites, or by using a mobile device to scan QR codes.

Proximity systems and location-based services can alert users based on geographic location
or proximity to a service provider.

Mobile marketing is an indispensable tool for companies large and small as mobile devices
have become ubiquitous. The key players in the space are the brands (and companies that they
represent through advertising), and service providers that enable mobile advertising.

Mobile advertising targets audiences not so much by demographics but by behaviors (though
demography plays a part, such as the fact that iPad users tend to be older and wealthier).

One notable behavior in the mobile marketing space is known as "snacking," which is when
mobile device users check in to media or messaging for brief periods. Seeking instant
gratification equates to more points of contact for marketers.

In mobile marketing, the device (especially screen size) does make a difference; users of
smartphones and iPad tablets react differently to mobile marketing.

For example, smartphone users tend to find informative content to be the most relevant, yet
iPad users tend to be captivated by interactive advertising that features rich media
presentations with eye-catching imagery (the message of the content is a secondary concern).

Mobile Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

Unlike traditional marketing efforts, mobile marketing takes advantage of the fact that many
users of mobile devices carry them around wherever they go. As a result, location-based
services can collect customer data and then offer coupons, deals, or promotions based on their
proximity to a store or a place frequently visited by the consumer.

These marketing campaigns can be more targeted and specific to the individual user, and
should, therefore, be more effective for the company doing the marketing. One example may
be a marketing campaign that sends food-related coupons to a customer any time they come
within half a mile of a specific supermarket.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Marketing

Advantages

In regards to online related advertising, mobile marketing is much easier to access. You don't
need high- level technology or significant technical experience to get started. It's also easier to
measure the success of mobile marketing campaigns.

94 Percentage of marketers that reported an increase in sales after utilizing location data
to increase ad campaign effectiveness.

Mobile marketing is also extremely cost-effective. There are a variety of options to choose
from for any budget and the impact it can have when compared to the cost is significant. In a
common comparison, social media ads are much cheaper than purchasing ad space for radio
or television.

Customers can also be reached in real-time with mobile marketing no matter where they are.
Radio or television marketing only works when a customer is in front of the television or has
the radio on.

Disadvantages

There are privacy issues concerning how the data collected by mobile devices are used and
whether or not companies have the right to collect such data without explicit consent. Such
data can be used for identity theft or to send spam if it falls into the wrong hands due to data
theft or poor security of the information. Also, the tracking of an individual's locations and
movements may be considered crossing the line by some.

A particular drawback of mobile marketing is that it has the potential of increasing costs for
the user. For example, if a campaign directs a user to a video that requires a significant amount
of data and the user does not have an unlimited data plan, it may eat into their monthly data
allowance or result in charges if they go over their allotment.
Mobile marketing also needs to be perfect from the start. As users have smaller attention spans
and a variety of companies competing for their attention, a poor mobile marketing plan will
fail to grasp a user's attention and possibly lose their interest forever. For this reason, a mobile
marketing plan does not have room to be less than perfect.

Pros
 Easy to set up and monitor
 Cost-effective
 Real-time access to potential customers

Cons
 Data privacy concerns
 Possible increased data costs for the user
 Little room for error

How Do You Start a Mobile Marketing Business?

Set up a Mobile Website

People use their smartphones for almost everything these days and so it's important that your
website is formatted correctly for viewing on a smartphone. If you have an existing website,
many companies offer automated systems that convert your existing website for viewing on a
mobile platform. WordPress and GoDaddy are two great examples of companies that do this.

Other companies also create a completely new version of your website just for viewing on a
mobile device, commonly known as plug-and-play platforms. Another alternative if you are
comfortable with writing computer code is adding a line of code on your website that is able
to determine the screen size of the device being used and adjusts the site accordingly.

Set up Your Business on Location-Based Platforms

Setting up your business on the various location-based platforms, such as Foursquare,

Gowalla, and Facebook Places is a good way to make your business available to a wider range
of people and to start running mobile ad campaigns. Foursquare has been a pioneer in this
respect, where companies can run various promotions, such as offering discounts for meeting
a certain number of visits or "check-ins" on the app.
Dive Deeper

To get a real feel and understanding of mobile ad marketing you need to fully imme rse
yourself in the experience. Start using location-based platforms wherever you go, check- in,
use the various apps available for paying in restaurants or grocers, check out ads, perform
various voice searches, all to get a feel of how people might use their mobile devices for
consumer transactions. This can help you to design your mobile ad campaigns more
efficiently.

Start a Mobile Ad Campaign

Once your website is set up for mobile device viewing and you've understood how the mobile
ad marketing world works, it's time to set one up for your business. Mobil ad campaigns are
a crucial element for businesses to get viewership. If you have a skateboard shop in the
neighborhood and someone searches "best skateboard shops near me" you want to make sure
that your business pops up in their search.

There are a variety of ways that mobile ad marketing campaigns can be paid for. These include
flat fees for running an ad for a certain period of time, or on a cost-per-click basis, a cost-per-
thousand basis, or a cost-per-acquisition basis. Facebook, Google, Apple, Instagram, and
other social platforms all offer the ability to start your own mobile marketing campaign.

Utilize QR Codes

QR codes, which are square bar codes containing information, can be placed in a variety of
locations, and once scanned by a phone's camera, direct a user to a website that can show a
business's website, promotions, or other important information. They're a simple and easy way
to make your business known.

Examples of Mobile Marketing

Samsung

For the release of its Galaxy S6 phone, Samsung worked with Indian tech company InMobi
to develop interactive ads. These ads created a personalized real-time battery identificatio n
mobile ad unit that displayed the product and service to a user with a demo on their phone
when their battery levels were low. The mobile ad highlighted the new phone's "super fast
charging capability" right when their battery was low, enticing them to upgrade to the new
phone.

Pond's

Pond's is another company that partnered with InMobi. Pond's created an ad for one of their
acne products that was interactive in that when a person looked at their phone, the camera
would capture their features and highlight acne-prone areas. The ad didn't require any software
to be downloaded or for the user to visit any other site.

Ruffles

Ruffles witnessed declining sales in Brazil and decided to target teenagers with interactive
ads. It created a mobile reality game called AmiGo. The user saw what the game showed them
while their friends saw what the user's camera showed them. Friends would see Ruffle chips
surrounding the user and they could send voice commands to their friend on where they can
grab the chips. The more chips collected the more points the user would receive. Ruffles
ranked the highest-scoring users on its social media accounts.

Nissan

Nissan created the "Evil Snowmen" ad for its Rogue SUV. The ad was a video where its Rogue
SUV fought a gang of snowmen. The ad also contained hotspots on the screen that users could
touch to learn more about the SUV's features. Other hotspots also provided weather and snow
safety advice.

Conclusion

Mobile marketing is an affordable way to reach your target audience via smartphones, tablets,
or other digital devices, where people spend the majority of their time in today's world. Mobile
marketing is low-cost and can be targeted based on a variety of inputs from the company.