The Deal with Digital Ads

We are surrounded by advertisements, especially in our digital environment.  They run on intricate algorithms, compiled with data and expertly planned.  You will encounter ads when you watch videos, respond to emails, and tap through your friends’ Stories.  This phenomenon exists because of targeted marketing.  As you delve into the Internet, certain browsers, apps, and websites pick up notes on your browsing habits.  Lingering in online shopping carts and scrolling through product pages does not go unnoticed.   In this way, the Internet has become a virtual market place, and target marketing is the presence of vendors shouting for your attention.  

The Pros of Targeted Marketing

• More Relevant Ads:  You’ll see advertisements based on content that interests you. You’re less likely to be annoyed with content that has absolutely no relevance to your own lifestyle.  

• More Access to Sales:  Companies tend to push their best promotions through targeted ads.  Offers like BOGO, free shipping, and memberships give people more options for thrifty spending.  

The Cons of Targeted Marketing 

• More Temptation to Buy: Society is consumerist, and certain trends exist because of the temptation to spend money on items that one would consider non-essential.   

• Loss of Privacy: In order to receive ads relevant to your interests, advertisers need to know what you’re looking at online.  This data is broken into pieces and compounded by data brokers who can sell it to companies. The data usually does not contain vitally private information, but many, many people deem it as a cause for concern.  

Platforms for Ads 

• Apps, free apps specifically.  Whether it’s your favorite crossword game or Spotify or the latest trend in the App Store, you probably see ads within your free apps.  The money has to come from somewhere, so app developers seek out advertisers for promotions (and a lot of the time, it’s another app in a similar genre).  Some apps use this as an incentive to push a premium paid version, which would release users from the continual exposure to ads. (In marketing circles, this is referred to as a ‘freemium’ model). 

• Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube).  Social media platforms are also free to use and run based on ad revenue.  Many of the ads are linked to pages or topics that you  ‘like’  or follow.  Advertisement formats typically range from simple text, to photos, to GIFS and lastly, videos.  

• Websites, particularly entertainment and information sites. There is a  theme here.  Anything that’s “free” on the Internet? Paid for with ads.  Users are most likely to see banner ads as they slot well in rows between text or side columns. Video ads may be present, most likely playing before a video already embedded on the page.  

Types of Ads 

• Social Media Ads.  Like all ads, these pop-ups will link to a sales or landing page with a strong call to action. Marketers can pay for these ads to appear to certain demographics based on information provided openly in users’ personal accounts.   

• Pay Per Click Ads.  PPC stands for Pay Per Click.  These advertisements appear on search engine pages, mainly Google.  Marketers use keywords to optimize these PPC ads to appear for ideal and likely customers.   

• Retargeting Ads.  These ads are the most interesting, and the ones most likely to be hit with limitations.  Retargeting ads use third-party cookies, the sneaky pieces of data which browsers pull from your search habits.  If you spend some time on a product page, you’ll likely see an ad for it later.  You may even see ads for items that you’ve recently bought.  

Limitations to  Digital Ads 

Google is phasing out the usage of third-party cookies on its platform.  Though most marketers were fairly upfront about their usage (ex: people noting a popup on a website that informs them of the tracking code and an option to block it), Google will have them removed by the end of 2021.   The company has confirmed that it won’t use or invest in alternative tracking tech that could identify people at an individual level.  Google is officially discontinuing the selling of  advertisements which are based on a person’s individual cross-website browsing.  As the largest search engine, this decision has created waves in the digital marketing sphere, who have had to content with calls from consumers for more privacy online and respect of personal data. 

In Apple’s iOS 14.5 software release, apps that track user data for advertising purposes or share data with data brokers will be required to show a prompt asking permission to track. Some developers have already implemented the prompt.  On these pop-ups, users will have two options to choose from: “Allow” or “Ask App Not to Track.” Rather than comb through complicated settings to opt out of tracking, users can opt in to targeted advertisings on apps of their choosing.   Apps will now ask before sharing data with other apps—or third-party advertisers or data brokers. It’s all part of Apple’s effort to provide more privacy controls.

Have any questions about digital marketing?  My team is happy to share our wisdom with you! Reach out to me at info@pearlmarketing.com!