Is online marketing worth it for you?? Advantages and disadvantages of digital advertising
Dear reader, you are right to be skeptical about! Because even with the Online Marketing the saying "all that glitters is not gold" applies. The Online marketing brings numerous Advantages but also Disadvantages with itself. You are still torn whether online marketing is the right way for you? Then this Blogpost will provide clarity for you surely. We subject areas of the on-line marketing of a critical appreciation and show you the Advantages and the disadvantages of online marketing at.
Advantages of online marketing
Let's start with the benefits , which the various online marketing activities bring with them.
Wide range
Search engine optimized websites, Google advertising and the various social networks allow for a wide reach. About the various possible touch points (Google My Business, Google Ads, social media, blog, etc.) that you offer your potential customers, you take up more space in the online world. According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, an average of 87% of Swiss citizens regularly use the Internet. This way you can directly address Internet users and attract their attention to you.
Cheaper than other measures
While you quickly pay several thousand Swiss francs for offline marketing measures, Google advertising as well as advertising on social networks is significantly cheaper. Theoretically, you can start with an investment of 1 franc per day. The cost of Google advertising varies by industry. Nevertheless, you can decide for yourself how much budget you want to invest for which measures and thus have your costs fully under control.
Low wastage
You want to reach only those people who are really interested in your service or product? This is possible with the various online marketing measures! Thanks to precise targeting, you can identify your target audience by search behavior, interests, demographic characteristics, and so on. or narrow down surfing behavior. With this method you reduce wastage and even save costs.
Measurability of the measures
This is one of our favorite advantages of online marketing ! With conversion tracking set up, which tracks the behavior of users on your website, we can see where they came from, what actions they take on your website, and whether they reach your desired target (e.g., if they are interested in your products or services). Product purchase, contact, newsletter subscription, etc.) Conclude. However, we can track not only the activity on the website, but also the performance of organic (unpaid) and paid activities through other sources, such as Google Ads or social media. This is how you find out which measures are suitable for you, which ones you should polish and which ones you should say goodbye to.
We can aggregate all this data at Google Analytics, Google's analysis tool, evaluate it and summarize it in a meaningful report. Super cool, or?
Customization& Optimization
This advantage is the result of the previous point. Because, if you can measure your activities, you can also analyze their performance. With this knowledge, you can, for example, test other texts or images in Facebook ads that may perform better. Thanks to this data and analysis, you have the possibility to continuously adjust, retest and optimize your measures. The goal behind this: To continuously improve performance.
Interaction with users
way from the one-to-many communication of the classic marketing measures and towards the one-to-one and many-to-many communication. The various social media platforms, newsletters or instant messengers bring the Advantage , be able to interact directly with users. Get feedback on your service or product, see how users interact with your social media posts via likes, shares and comments and show them that you see and hear them by responding to their interaction. This direct interaction fosters trust. Strengthens company-customer loyalty.
Builds the image
Whether it's SEO, blogs or social media activities – all of these Digital Marketing This is an excellent way to improve your company's image. It is highly likely that you, as an individual or as a company, want to position yourself as an expert and build a positive online reputation. The web offers you the chance to do this. To name just a few examples, you can share your knowledge via LinkedIn, react and comment on professional contributions, write your own blogs about your field of expertise, collaborate with various online professional media, be present on social media, and much more. Exploit this online space for your own purposes. Profit from the reach in the World Wide Web. Users become aware of you, are inspired by you and the word-of-mouth takes its course.
Good, so that covers the advantages of online marketing. Now we come to the downside.
The disadvantages of online marketing
As with everything, there are downsides to online marketing. When you get right down to it, almost every pro-argument for online marketing has a matching con-complementary.
High effort
A disadvantage of online marketing is that the measures are time-consuming. Websites, ads, social media – it's all not done with a one-time set up. The site must be continuously updated. Being populated with new content. Ads on Google need to be continually reviewed and optimized for new keywords. Your followers on LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing and Instagram want to be regularly informed about your company news and benefit from your insights. This means that behind the different measures there is a continuous process and there is a hell of a lot of work to do.
Banner blindness
Ads are a dime a dozen. There are very different situations in our everyday life: You search on Google for a new e-bike and the first thing that appears are three to four text ads and on the right side shopping ads in image format. In the morning you pick up your smartphone. Scroll through the news on the NZZ page. On the top as well as on the right, there are banners vying for your attention. Even on social networks, advertising is our constant companion: While you are being sprinkled by the Insta-stories of your friends, advertising stories sneak in every now and then. Do the ads still catch your eye? There are two situations where users might notice these ads:
1. The advertising is annoying and annoying 2. The ad is relevant to you and you are interested in it
However, it is not so easy to target the right audience in this sea of ads. To draw attention to your ads, you need fancy ad copy, creative images or videos, and most importantly, a relevant offer.
Adblocker
There are users within your target group who have had too many negative experiences with advertising and are now fed up with it. According to the Media Use Index (2018), 39% of all Swiss users already have an adblocker installed on their laptops. In other words: you don't reach these users anymore with your advertisement, even if it would have been relevant for this target group.
Target group 60+
If your target group is older than 60 years, targeting via online marketing measures has its limits. Only a small part of this target group is regularly on Google or YouTube or exchanges with friends and family on Facebook or via WhatsApp ( study by Media Use Index 2018 ). Only a small part of this target group is regularly on Google or YouTube or exchanges with friends. Family members on Facebook or via WhatsApp from ( study by Media Use Index 2018 ). But you will hardly reach this target group via Instagram or TikTok. The strategy to address this customer segment online is more complex. One way is to approach this target group through younger family members.
High competition
Let's do a little live test. Open a new tab, go to the Google search engine and type in a search term that is relevant to your business. For example, for those of us in the financial sector, this could be the search term "open a bank account". Now look at the first three to four results. You see the word "ad" hidden in the upper left corner? If so, this is already an indication that the competition does not sleep.
Now scroll down a little further. Ads are followed by organic (unpaid), hard-earned search results. Is your site in the first place? Then congratulations! Your website is super optimized for the search term and relevant to your target audience. If "No", then you have to catch up, because Google classifies the search result of your competitors as more relevant.
Source: Own screenshot
The downside is evident in this: If the competition is high and strong, the investment in this area also increases – because the time and monetary expenditure becomes more intensive.
Accessibility of companies increases
From user's point of view this point is an advantage . Because from now on, your customers can engage with your business on any platform you're active on. Nowadays, companies can be reached through their website, email, phone and through social media. The company accessibility thus increases. The disadvantage of this point concerns you. Higher reach means a greater time commitment and more intensive coordination on your part. For example, according to Brandwatch, 78% of users who complain about a company on Twitter expect a response from the company within an hour. The accessibility, the demands on the company and thus the prere on the part of the company are increasing.
Image loss
If you do not meet the requirements of your (potential) customers, the tide can quickly turn. According to WebZunder, 39% of companies active on social media have already had negative experiences with it. Only 3% of the respondents saw themselves in a shitstorm. Nevertheless, 48% of companies are aware that negative customer feedback or a shitstorm is a disadvantage and a danger of online marketing that should not be underestimated.
Every post and every message should be clearly considered. Therefore, a clearly defined online marketing including social media strategy is essential.
Conclusion Advantages and disadvantages of online marketing
Source: Own representation
As with everything, there are pros and cons to online marketing. The advantages of online marketing, such as.B. Wide reach, lower costs, precise targeting and measurability of the implemented measures can be tempting and incredibly effective when paired with a sound strategy. Nevertheless everything is a question of the strategy with those the disadvantages of on-line marketing may not be disregarded. It is important to keep an eye on possible reactions to online marketing measures at all times in order to be able to react to them in good time if necessary. In a nutshell: Always keep the risks and opportunities of online marketing in mind – then all digital gates will be open to you.