Sponsored advertising - types of paid advertising

Many of the businesses in Israel and around the world today realize that in addition to their physical presence, through the deployment of local branches, they must also manage a digital presence on the network. Digital presence means the management of a digital asset to which interested persons and applicants can reach, regardless of their geographical location, and receive information, direction and the possibility of carrying out actions, even without human intervention and at times convenient for the potential client.

But managing a digital asset, whether it be a brand website, a business Facebook page, a very active WhatsApp group, a Facebook group, an Instagram profile, a YouTube channel, and more - is not enough to generate income for a business. To ensure that traffic of surfers can be converted into revenue, two things need to happen: first, that the content strategy be tailored to the needs of potential customers and generate real added value for them. The second - that such potential surfers will indeed come to the digital asset. This is exactly where the story of funded advertising comes in.

What is sponsored advertising?

Sponsored advertising is a nickname for the collection of techniques that aim to generate relevant user traffic for some digital asset, through generally accepted advertising mechanisms. There are different types of platforms which allow sponsored advertising. In this article we will get acquainted with the different types of platforms, and we will try to understand when each such platform will be the right choice for the business that should benefit from the fruits of advertising.

Sponsored advertising in search engines

The various search engines are also a high-quality platform for managing a sponsored advertising campaign, which will allow surfers who search for relevant keywords to be exposed to a business' ad. Clicking on this ad will usually send the user to the digital asset that the business would like to refer users to.

When will sponsored advertising through search engines be relevant to different businesses? Especially when businesses need surfers with a high degree of maturity to make a transaction, when they need surfers who need to make use of a particular service or product, and also know about it, at exactly the right time.

The great advantage of search engine sponsored advertising is the complete control of the advertising budget, the ability to set a maximum price that the business wants to pay for each click, the ability to prioritize the exact search phrases that indicate the relevance of the user to the communication with the business, and the ability to set up a campaign relatively quickly, without the need to build a significant, complete, authoritative digital asset in a niche.

Sponsored advertising on social networks

The social networks that have entered our lives in recent years have made a real revolution when it comes to managing information about the relevant target audiences of the business. Using the advertising mechanisms of social networks makes it possible to carry out an accurate segmentation of the target audience according to characteristics such as age, gender, family status, interests, areas of activity, and various internal characteristics that the advertising system manages about the user, mainly based on his interaction with different content.

When can advertising through social networks be relevant for a business home? Especially when the business wants to reach a very segmented and focused target audience, and especially when the business wants to build audiences similar to those that have already worked well with the business' marketing campaigns in the past. Social media advertising allows a business to reach potential customers even if they have not proactively searched for the product or service it provides.

Sponsored advertising through content recommendation platforms

Another method in which businesses use systems for sponsored advertising is the content recommendation method. Through platforms such as Outbrain and Tabula, businesses can offer content that looks natural, that generates real added value for the surfer and that aspire to all-purpose content articles published in leading magazines.

To the surfers who consume this sponsored content, businesses that publish such content manage to generate a stronger connection. Users can be colored using a pixel (tracking code) in order to generate future marketing content for them, increasing the likelihood that they will choose to call the company providing the relevant service.

Sponsored advertising via email

Another way to reach the target audience of a business, when it is free and attentive to receiving marketing messages, is through advertising on the email channel. Email advertising allows businesses to reach the target audience when they are emotionally available to read different materials, and they are on the platform anyway. The email tool also allows surfers to verify that they have not missed a message, and mark messages they want with a tick indicating that the email has not yet been read.