The last decade has seen a boom in the online market, affecting everything from the way we date to how we buy our food. Brands large and small alike are turning away from print advertising and towards digital formats, in the hope of snapping up a slice of the ever-growing online pie.
Here are five of the top reasons why companies are focusing on maximising their digital advertising output. The following points focus on brands which are advertising with a magazine or paper, through the magazine’s digital channels rather than the more traditional mode of print.
Cold Hard Data
When a brand places a print advert in a paper or magazine it has a rough idea of reach (the number of people who will engage with the ad) through the sales and readership figures of the magazine. These figures are measured and certified by a number of central auditing boards such as ABC. But beyond this, there’s no real way of knowing how many readers have actually engaged with or read the ad, and how many have actually visited the brand’s website as a result of this.
With digital advertising options such as e-newsletters or bespoke advertising emails, platforms such as Adestra record the number of readers that have engaged with the advert. This software tracks not only how many people have opened the email, but also the number that have clicked through to a specific brand’s page via the link in the email. This provides a wealth of much more satisfying and immediately accessible data than a print advert.
Focusing On The Target Market
The general readership of a magazine can be assumed to fit within certain perimeters associated with the magazines specialism. For a brand aimed at a specific gender, age or location, digital and online marketing allows for a more targeted approach. Unlike print ads, which are sent out to the whole of the magazine’s readership, online advertising such as Facebook boosted posts are sent out to a chosen number of people dependent upon their age and gender demographic. Similarly, a geo-targeted advertising email is focused on recipients within a certain geographical area.
The Perfect Timing For The Brand
Adverts within print are subject to copy deadlines, which are the dates by which all materials for an advert (or advertorial) need to be supplied. This is often weeks before the magazine goes on sale, and call fall once a month or every few months, dependent on how often the publication goes to print. With online posts and digital mail-outs timing is far more flexible, allowing for a quicker turnaround and a more targeted approach in terms of dates. If, for example, a brand’s campaign is launching in the middle of a month between two ad copy deadlines, a boosted post or email can go out on this particular date irrespective of the on-sale date of the magazine.
Flexibility
Whilst print adverts tend to be limited to a few sizes such as full, half and quarter page adverts, online advertising offers greater flexibility with regards to the quantity of advertising. On a website a brand can pay for a bespoke amount of advertising in choosing how many website impressions they wish to serve. The number of impressions is the number of times the advert appears to visitors on the website, creating a quantifiable amount of advertising. This allows for financial flexibility, allowing a brand to select exactly as many impressions as they can afford. It also means that a brand can test how effective their online advertising is on a small budget with a small number of impressions, before committing to a larger spend.
The Direct Link
Rather than having to change platform from print to online to look up an interesting brand, the link is ready and waiting for immediate, low-effort investigation. This then requires a lower baseline interest from a consumer in order for them to click through to the brand’s website.
Alexandra Jane writes graduate careers advice for Inspiring Interns, a graduate recruitment agency. Check out their website to see which internships and graduate jobs are currently available. Or, if you’re looking to hire an intern, have a look at their innovative Video CVs.