It’s common knowledge that Google and Facebook reign supreme in the realm of paid advertising. However, as advertisers reach the saturation point with their target audiences on these platforms, the quest for incremental gains leads them to explore alternative avenues.
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This comprehensive guide aims to assist you in not only initiating but also sustaining diversification within your paid media portfolio.
Before we delve into the strategies that can supercharge your advertising efforts, let’s take a moment to reflect on the myriad benefits of diversifying your paid media expenditures:
1. Engaging Diverse Audiences
It’s essential to recognize that your most engaged audiences may be spending substantial amounts of their online time on platforms other than Google and Facebook. For instance, imagine the receptivity of business professionals to business-related advertisements when they navigate through LinkedIn—a platform meticulously designed for professionals.
2. Amplifying Your Advertising Reach
Navigating the convoluted maze of the online purchase funnel has never been more challenging. Research indicates that a potential customer may require exposure to your product 10 to 20 times before deciding to make a purchase. By spreading your advertising across multiple platforms that resonate with your target audience, you enhance the frequency of your brand’s presence in their digital lives. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of conversion.
3. Risk Mitigation
Google and Facebook, while behemoths in the advertising realm, have not been without their fair share of controversies—particularly concerning brand safety. This issue becomes more pronounced when we include YouTube within Google’s ecosystem. A diversified advertising strategy empowers you to shift the weight of your campaigns to one platform when another encounters challenges related to brand safety, technical glitches, or other unforeseen issues.
Now, let’s dive into an in-depth exploration of ten alternative advertising platforms that have the potential to reshape your advertising landscape:
Microsoft Advertising
Previously recognized as Bing Ads, Microsoft Advertising leverages the search inventories of not just Bing but also AOL and Yahoo. While these may not command the same volume as Google, they harbor a unique user base, ensuring that you access users who cannot be reached through the Google network. In March 2018, Microsoft Advertising held a commendable 34% share of the U.S. PC market and recorded a staggering 6 billion monthly searches. These statistics underscore its potential.
Quora
Quora, the unique and high-intent advertising platform, presents an exceptional opportunity to engage with your target audience as they meticulously evaluate and research products or services. People come to Quora seeking answers, making it an ideal platform to provide valuable insights about your company, products, competitors, and industry. With over 300 million monthly unique visitors, Quora’s reach is substantial and deserves your consideration.
AdRoll
Renowned as a powerful retargeting platform, AdRoll extends its reach across a diverse network, including Google, Facebook, Instagram, and more than 500 other leading networks and exchanges. What sets AdRoll apart is its proven track record, with customers achieving an average return on ad spend of five times their investment. Furthermore, AdRoll offers a suite of products beyond retargeting, including prospecting, email retargeting, and AdRoll Video Ads.
Amazon
Amazon, the e-commerce juggernaut, accounted for a staggering 43% of all U.S. e-commerce sales in 2016. This figure is projected to surge beyond 50% by 2021. Its marketing platform alone commands $3 billion of North America’s advertising market, poised to grasp a staggering $20 billion of the global market by 2020. While Amazon presents a compelling opportunity for e-commerce merchants, it’s prudent to approach it cautiously, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. It’s imperative to weigh the pros and cons before committing fully. Nonetheless, Amazon’s disruptive force in the e-commerce landscape cannot be ignored.
Quantcast
Quantcast stands apart with its robust data set and audience insights, which enable advertisers to craft tailored campaigns and reach untapped display audiences. Whether your goal is to drive website visits or generate revenue, Quantcast offers a comprehensive suite of tools. Furthermore, it provides a free data and audience insights tool called Quantcast Measure, aiding in audience understanding and competitive analysis.
BuySellAds
If you seek an extensive network to effectively disseminate your banner ads across the web, BuySellAds is your go-to solution. With over 4,500 advertisers in its client roster, this platform offers transparency in processes and an extensive selection of high-quality sites, especially within internet and tech niches. Buying ads on BuySellAds is convenient and efficient, simplifying the ad placement process.
Infolinks
Infolinks has emerged as a versatile marketplace that harnesses user intent and real-time engagement to strategically distribute ads. As the third-largest publisher marketplace globally, it operates in a staggering 128 countries. Since its establishment in 2007, Infolinks has continually evolved its product offerings, now featuring six distinct ad units. These units, such as “inarticle,” “infold,” “inframe,” “intext,” and “intag,” cater to diverse advertising needs and user experiences.
Despite being under the Facebook umbrella, Instagram possesses a distinctive audience profile and growth trajectory. Particularly noteworthy is Instagram’s strong adoption among teenagers, with 72% of U.S. teens reporting its use, compared to 51% for Facebook, according to a Pew Research Center study in 2018. Additionally, Pew’s research has revealed a significant 7-percentage point increase in Instagram adoption among U.S. adults since 2016, contrasting with Facebook’s stagnant adoption rate during the same period. Instagram’s ad format places a strong emphasis on visual inspiration, demanding creative excellence to capture the audience’s attention effectively.
For companies operating in the B2B sphere, LinkedIn emerges as the preeminent advertising platform to explore. It offers a spectrum of business targeting options, including the ability to target specific job titles and execute Account Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns directed at specific businesses. Numerous studies and surveys, including LinkedIn Audience 360 and Salesforce Advertising Index Report 2016, have consistently rated LinkedIn as the number one platform for B2B lead generation. With over 610 million professionals on the platform, four out of five drive significant business decisions. LinkedIn’s ad offerings encompass Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, and Text Ads, with recent expansions to include video, empowering B2B advertisers to convey their brand narratives effectively.
Pinterest distinguishes itself from other image-based social platforms through its unique user intent—planning. According to the Kleiner Perkins 2016 Internet Trends Report, an astounding 55% of users engage in shopping activities on Pinterest. To provide context, other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram trail significantly at 12% each in this category. The high intent to make purchases on Pinterest makes it a compelling platform for businesses. However, akin to Instagram, the quality of your creative content is paramount for capturing your audience’s attention. High-quality imagery and videos are prerequisites for successful Pinterest ad campaigns.
In conclusion, this comprehensive guide has illuminated the diverse array of alternatives available to advertisers beyond the omnipresence of Google Ads and Facebook Ads. By integrating these platforms into your daily advertising strategy, you not only expand your audience but also construct a robust sales funnel. This approach yields enduring sales growth
