Advertising has always needed to evolve to ensure businesses are getting the most reach when trying to capture their target audience’s attention.
In recent years this approach has changed. Instead of using reach, advertisers are turning to targeting a smaller pool of users that are more likely to be engaged and take action.
With the rise of digital technology, advertising has shifted to a new era of targeting, tracking, and optimising.
Here our Creative Executive, Symone, explores how digital advertising has evolved and transformed how businesses reach and engage with their audiences.
One of the earliest forms of advertising was print ads, which date back to the 17th century.
For a long time, the advertising industry was dominated by print ads followed by radio and television.
These advertising tactics allowed businesses to reach a wide audience, but with little ability to target specific demographics or track the effectiveness of their ads.
But then the internet came along!
The rise of the internet in the 90’s started an evolution in advertising.
With the emergence of digital media, businesses gained the ability to target specific users who meet a combination of criteria and track the effectiveness of their ads in real-time using a variety of qualitative metrics.
One of the earliest forms of digital advertising were banner ads, a form of online advertising that typically consists of an image or animated graphic displayed on a web page.
They were designed to attract the attention of the viewer and encourage them to click through to a website or landing page.
Banner ads were then followed by pop-up ads.
Pop-up ads are small windows that appear on a website, usually to promote a product or service.
The next major development in digital advertising was search engine marketing (SEM) which appeared in 2001.
SEM allowed businesses to bid on keywords and display ads to users who were searching for specific products or services.
This allowed businesses to appear first for searches they were bidding on meaning they would account for a higher visibility and clicks.
This type of advertising was highly targeted and effective as it reached users who were actively looking for what businesses had to offer.
The rise of social media in the mid-2000s marked another turning point in the evolution of advertising.
In 2006, Facebook ads were launched. At the time, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook Ads were:
“A completely new way of advertising online. For the last hundred years media has been pushed out to people, but now marketers are going to be part of the conversation. And they’re going to do this by using the social graph in the same way our users do.”
Facebook set the mould for social media marketing.
Businesses could now reach highly targeted audiences through social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
Social media advertising has become increasingly desirable, with platforms offering advanced targeting options based on demographics, interests and behaviours.
This method of advertising comes in many forms such as video, image, text only, etc. It is one of the most variable methods of advertising currently available.
Where previously brands would purchase advertising space in newspapers and on the television to promote themselves, they now had the world of social media in their reach.
Unlike those traditional offline advertising channels, social media offers the ability to collect consumer data and performance metrics on campaigns which can be evaluated and targeted.
The evolution of advertising from traditional to digital has transformed what is possible and allowed businesses new opportunities for how they can reach and engage with their audiences.
As the industry continues to progress, businesses will need to stay ahead of the curve to remain competitive.
With the rise of digital advertising, there has never been a better opportunity for companies of all sizes to have an advertising presence.
At Prominent Media, we can help your business achieve a competitive edge by utilising the latest digital advertising strategies to reach your target customers.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business succeed.
Share this article:
Call us on: 01473 276126
Email us on: hello@prominentpr.co.uk
