Different Types of Ads: Why and What You Should Consider

Life is about choices. What ice cream flavour? Which jeans to buy? or what digital platform to use to achieve what you need?

A lot of these things you probably understand and have a good grasp on, but when it comes to marketing online, do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? With an expansive array of platforms and ad types available, businesses must strategically navigate their choices to achieve optimal engagement, sales, and brand visibility. Selecting the right ad type is crucial for effective marketing, as it can lead to better engagement, increased sales, and stronger brand visibility. With platforms ranging from search engines like Google and Bing to social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, marketers have a multitude of channels to consider. Each platform offers unique ad formats tailored to meet different business objectives.

It can be overwhelming at times, so we’ve put together a short cheat-sheet, looking at several popular ad types, their purposes, effectiveness, and target markets.

1. Google Search Ads

What’s it For: Primarily to capture potential customers at the moment they’re searching for products or services.

What Makes It Different: People search with intent, so using Google ads aims to leverage this. Directly caters to user search intent on the world’s most popular search engine.

How is it Effective: By appearing at the top of search results, these ads ensure visibility and cater to users’ immediate needs.

Target Market: Almost everyone who uses the internet, especially those seeking specific products/services.

 

2. Google Display Ads

What’s it For: To increase brand awareness, promote products, and retarget users across different websites.

What Makes It Different: Broadens reach through a vast network of websites, using visually appealing ads.

How is it Effective: Utilises visual creatives to attract users and can be placed on millions of websites within the Google Display Network.

Target Market: Broad audience, especially those browsing websites related to a product/service or previously engaged users.

 

 

 

3. DSA (Dynamic Search Ads)

What’s it For: Dynamic Search Ads use the content from the target pages of your website to create ads that resonate with searchers. They can help fill in the gaps of your keyword-based campaigns. That is to say, they capture traffic without the need for specific keywords, and are mainly for websites with numerous products or regularly changing content.

DSAs are a great fit for someone who has a vast array of products and landing pages and specific stories to tell. For every product, you can use DSAs to target users based on user intent.

What Makes It Different: Automated ad creation without needing specific keywords, ideal for vast or dynamic content.

How is it Effective: Uses website content to dynamically generate ad headlines and landing pages, ensuring ads remain relevant.

Target Market: Individuals searching for products/services related to the advertiser’s website content.

 

4. Bing Ads

What’s it For: Similar to Google Search Ads but on the Bing search engine.

What Makes It Different: Offers an alternative search advertising avenue outside of Google’s ecosystem.

How is it Effective: Bing holds a significant share in specific markets, offering less competition and potentially lower cost-per-click.

Target Market: Internet users who prefer the Bing search engine, often older and more affluent demographics. This is also great for the B2B market i.e. corporate users who use Bing as their primary search engine bundled with their microsoft license or within the microsoft network.

 

 

The Introduction of Bing AI Ads:

Bing AI ads represent a new approach in digital advertising, leveraging the power of generative AI to create more relevant, visually appealing, and immersive content that dynamically adapts to both the advertiser’s objectives and the consumer’s intent.

Unlike traditional ads that are displayed as separate entities (like banners or pop-ups), Bing AI ads are integrated into the responses of Bing Chat, Microsoft’s search agent powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4. This integration allows for a more seamless and contextual presentation of ads, as they are woven into the chatbot’s responses. By incorporating ads into AI-powered chats, Microsoft aims to enhance user engagement. Regular ads often interrupt the user experience, but Bing AI ads aim to be part of the conversation, potentially leading to higher engagement and interaction from users.

5. Facebook Ads

What’s it For: Building brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, and facilitating direct sales with people who use the platform.

What Makes It Different: Provides unmatched granularity in targeting within a vast, engaged social network.

How is it Effective: Cost-effective yet has the ability to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, which helps in reaching the intended audience with precision. Facebook also covers a vast umbrella of niches in both B2C, E-commerce and B2B spaces.

Target Market: The vast global user base of Facebook which is currently at 3B users (November 2023 stats), is tailored by advertisers through specific targeting options.

 

6. LinkedIn Ads

What’s it For: B2B marketing, promoting professional content, recruitment, and lead generation.

What Makes It Different: The most professional-focused social and advertising platform, making it the go-to for B2B marketing and professional content promotion.

How is it Effective: Allows you to target professionals based on job titles, companies, industries, skills, location and more.

Target Market: Professionals, businesses, job seekers, and industry thought leaders.

 

 

7. Instagram Ads

What’s it For: Brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, and direct sales with a visual focus.

What Makes It Different: A visually driven platform catering to a younger, lifestyle-oriented audience with immersive ad formats.

How is it Effective: Visual and immersive formats engage users, leveraging the platform’s strong emphasis on imagery and video.

Target Market: A younger, lifestyle-oriented audience looking for visual inspiration and trends.

Combining Facebook and Instagram Ads:

Using Instagram and Facebook paid ads together is a powerful strategy because both platforms cater to a wide, yet distinct user base, enabling businesses to reach a more diverse audience. The integrated advertising system allows for seamless campaign management across both platforms, enhancing consistency in messaging and branding. Instagram’s visually-driven content complements Facebook’s more diverse media formats, ensuring a broader appeal. Additionally, leveraging the data analytics and targeting capabilities of both platforms can result in highly optimised campaigns, with insights from one platform informing strategies on the other, ultimately leading to a more effective overall advertising effort.

 

 

Ad Type	What’s it For	How is it Effective	Target Market	Projected Spending
Google Search	Capture intent-driven  searches	High visibility at the moment  of search intent	Broad internet users	Varies by competition & keyword
Google Display	Brand awareness &  retargeting	Visual reach across  millions of websites	Broad & previously engaged users	Depending on audience & placement
DSA (Dynamic Search Ads)	Capture traffic  without specific keywords	Dynamically generated relevance	Searches related to website content	Generally lower CPC (cost per click) than standard search ads
Bing	Search intent on  Bing platform	Less competition,  potential for lower CPC	Bing users, often older  & affluent	Varies by market & keyword
Facebook Ads	Broad objectives from awareness to sales	Granular targeting options	Global Facebook users with specific attributes	Depends on ad format & targeting
LinkedIn Ads	B2B marketing &  professional engagement	Professional-focused targeting	LinkedIn professionals & businesses	Typically higher CPC due to niche audience
Instagram Ads	Visual-focused  objectives	Immersive visual  content	Younger, lifestyle-oriented users	Depends on ad format & competition

 

Each digital advertising channel offers a unique opportunity and strength, designed to meet varying business needs. Recognising these differentiators can empower brands to allocate resources wisely and tailor campaigns that resonate with their intended audience. As with all marketing, determining your strategic imperative first is essential as this will allow you to determine how to fragment your marketing efforts in the most cohesive and ROI focussed way.