Ready to Start Advertising? You’ve Got Options!
When you're ready to run digital ads, you have several ways to purchase ad space. Each approach has its own benefits. The right approach depends on your budget, goals, and target audience.
Direct Deals with Publishers
This is the most straightforward approach: you buy ad space directly from a website or publication. If you know your audience reads a particular magazine or visits certain sites regularly, direct deals can be very effective. However, they typically require larger budgets and contract negotiations, making them better suited for bigger brands.
Social Media Ads
Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok offer self-serve ad systems that are perfect for beginners. You can create campaigns, choose your audience, and set your budget without any contracts or minimum spending requirements. These platforms let you target users based on their interests, location, age, and behavior, giving you precise control over who sees your ads.
The downside? Since ad space is sold through real-time auctions, popular audiences can get expensive quickly.
Programmatic Advertising
Think of this as automated ad buying that works across multiple websites and platforms simultaneously. Instead of negotiating with each publisher individually, programmatic advertising lets you reach your audience wherever they browse online: news sites, streaming services, mobile apps, and more.
You set parameters for who should see your ads (location, device, demographics, interests) and the system automatically finds and purchases the best ad placements. This approach is incredibly efficient and can even help you discover new audiences you hadn't considered.
For example, you might assume your target customers are primarily on parenting websites, but programmatic data could reveal they're also highly engaged on news sites or gaming platforms.
Curated Deals
Think of these as a middle ground between programmatic and direct buying. If you want the efficiency of programmatic advertising but only want your ads appearing on premium, high-quality websites, curated deals are the way to go. Many are pre-packaged which makes using them even easier.
Plotting Your Path
Your choice depends on your goals, budget, and experience level. Beginners often start with social media advertising due to its accessibility and control. As you grow more comfortable and need broader reach, programmatic advertising becomes valuable for its efficiency and discovery capabilities.
The key is understanding that each method serves different purposes in your overall digital marketing strategy.
Too busy running your business to navigate these options and manage campaigns? Orange 142's Media Solutions team handles it all for you.
Learn More
Ready to choose your advertising approach? Download What to Expect from Digital Advertising: A Beginner’s Guide to Setting Goals, Targeting, and Anticipating Results to learn how to match the right ad buying method to your specific business goals and budget.
