10 Reasons You Should Embrace Digital Advertising

If you’re looking to grow your business, going digital in your advertising efforts is the smartest choice you can make. That’s because around 75% of new customers find local businesses online first. More than any other media or means.

Here are 10 reasons you should be advertising digitally:

1. It’s Cost-Effective: Traditional advertising media (such as TV, billboards or radio) requires you to invest up front into that one strategy. But when small businesses advertise digitally, we can test ads, timing, messaging, and other variables to increase the performance of your ads. In other words, we can quickly determine what’s working and what isn’t, when digital advertising is combined with traditional media.
2. It’s Scalable: As we continue to adjust the variables mentioned in our first point, we can track performance and devote our ad spend to the better ad… Even down to the same day. This instant feedback, we’ve got the best chance of knowing what is working and seeing an immediate uptick in business.
3. Reach the Right Customers: 82% of people say they actually enjoy marketing and advertising content when it’s made relevant to them. With all of the latest targeting that digital advertising offers, we can get granular and build those relevant ads. People connect with relevance. That connection increases your sales.
4. Capture Lost Opportunity: When you advertise online, it’s easier to reconnect with people who were once customers or almost a customer. It’s called remarketing, and it works because we can target people who are already familiar with your brand or product, not complete strangers. An Adobe study found that retargeting ads get 40% more clicks than ads sent to strangers.
5. Tracking a Customer’s Journey: We can use analytics to track how people navigate your website. We can see what pages they like the most, where they’ve clicked, and even when they decide to leave. With traditional advertising, we only see the end results.
6. Reaching People at the Ideal Time: 75% of local searches lead to real in-store foot traffic or appointments, while 50% of people who visit your website on a mobile device will physically visit you within 24 hours. That’s because, these days, a customer’s journey typically starts online with a request for exactly what they are looking for at that moment. Your user-friendly and SEO-enhanced website will seal the deal.
7. Facilitating a Conversation: With traditional media, your space is limited. You’ve got a set number of square inches or a set number of seconds. With digital advertising, you’ve got an entire website behind that ad to spark the conversation as it relates to your brand. Behind your ad, you can not only sell, but speak to your visitors’ challenges, goals, questions, and more.
8. Getting Ahead: 29% of small businesses don’t have a website. 86% are on Facebook, but only 52% post something on social regularly. A lot of small businesses try to maintain their digital presence (website and social media) in-house, tapping whoever has the time or the skillset. But this often leads to inconsistency. This is where having an up-to-date website with an SEO plan and digital advertising plan in place will set you apart.
9. More Reviews & Referrals: Many small businesses struggle to get reviews, and most don’t feel comfortable (or know how to) ask for them. If you’ve already started a digital conversation, it’s easier to directly ask for reviews. Email automation, for example, is a great way to do this.
10. Highest ROI: Email marketing can deliver a 44:1 ROI. But email marketing doesn’t stand alone. The most effective strategies use email marketing, in addition to blogs, social media, and other digital efforts, to create a plan that will generate leads.