The 10 types of digital advertising (explained and classified)

Here you will find a summary of the types of digital advertising, and their advantages and characteristics.

One of the main characteristics of the Internet is its ability to generate very different products; experiences that, beyond having in common the fact of being accessible through electronic devices with screens, have little in common.

This has implications for the world of advertising. While until a few years ago advertising formats had been the same for decades, today marketing is incredibly dynamic and constantly transforming, exploring new opportunities for advertisers to gain exposure and differentiate themselves from their competitors. This has given rise to the types of digital advertising that existThe result of having been experimenting with the options that the Internet makes available to individuals and companies.

What types of digital advertising are there?

Virtually any company or organization that wants to advertise today, especially if what it offers is aimed at young or middle-aged people, should be aware of the different types of digital advertising. Not only because nowadays practically everybody uses the Internet, but also because the digital world offers possibilities for creating advertising campaigns that, when used wisely, are highly efficient and allow almost all the money invested and allow almost all the money invested to gain exposure to potential buyers.

Also, let's not kid ourselves, even if a company is not taking advantage of digital advertising, it is more than likely that its competitors are.

If you want to get an overview of the types of advertising that exist, read on; here you will find them classified according to various criteria.

Types of digital advertising according to how they adapt to the consumer

This classification is based on the extent to which advertisers try to make their advertising pieces be shown only to certain profiles of potential consumers or customers.

1. Non-adaptive advertising

Although increasingly rare, there are still cases of advertising that appears almost randomly, with no intention of targeting a specific potential consumer profile. At most, the advertising campaign will take into account the medium in which the advertisement is shown. (i.e. a web page, a mailing list, etc.), so that all the people who might see that ad are, in principle, equally likely to come into contact with it.

The only advantage of this type of digital advertising is how simple it is to put it into circulation, so it is suitable for "newbies" and for people with little or no marketing training.

2. Tailored advertising by audience segmentation

In this type of digital advertising, there is a certain degree of adaptation to target audiences that are already objectively divided beforehand, thanks to the textual information associated with each user..

For example, when certain social networks offer the possibility of showing an ad only to people living in a certain country or region or only to people of a certain age group, it is making use of those criteria that are guided by database categories.

3. Tailored advertising based on third-party cookies

If in the previous type of digital advertising the degree of adaptation was based on textual information (i.e., expressed in words and numerical codes predefined in advance), adaptation based on third-party cookies is guided not so much by categories, but rather by user behavior. This is achieved by by assigning a cookie to each user, so that certain information about their Internet browsing patterns is recorded and accessible to advertisers.. In this way, as time goes by, it is possible to intuit your preferences and interests according to what you have been visiting and searching the network of networks.

As you may have guessed, advertising based on third-party cookies can come into conflict with respect for the privacy of individuals, and that is why many countries require websites to always warn about the existence of these marketing elements, giving the option to reject them.

4. Contextual advertising

Contextual advertising is that which adapts to the subject matter of the page on which it is shown, so that it adapts to the users' preferences.It adapts to users in an indirect way, under the assumption that if someone is visiting a certain place on the Internet, it is because what is being discussed there generates interest.

It has the advantage that it fully respects the privacy of users because it is not based on information collected on each person, and it also tends to adapt better to each individual's preferences in real time, tends to adapt better to each person's preferences in real time (third-party cookie advertising (third-party cookie advertising makes decisions based on what is collected over weeks, regardless of what the individual intends to do at any given time). For example, if a website publishes an article on sports nutrition, advertisers of protein shakes may decide that this is a good place to place an ad.

Types of digital advertising by format

Let's now move on to look at the types of digital advertising based on the format that the advertising piece adopts, i.e. the way the information is presented and how it is perceived by users.

1. Email marketing

As its name suggests, email marketing is based on sending emails to people is based on sending emails to people whose email address was in a specific list.. These advertising pieces usually consist of emails entirely dedicated to a brand, product or service, although it is also possible that this space is shared by several companies (for example, by adding an advertising skirt to a newsletter).

Depending on the degree of information you have about the users that appear in this list of emails, it will be more or less possible to segment by target audiences, sending these ads only to certain types of people.

2. Advertising banners

Advertising banners are advertising pieces that appear integrated in the layout of web pages, usually in the margins of the content but sometimes also between paragraphs. These ads may consist of static visuals only, or videos, gifs or other formats that incorporate moving images. They also have embedded links, so that it is possible to click on a banner and go to the web page of the advertiser's choice (usually the one for purchasing a product or service). (usually to the one for purchasing a product or service).

This is one of the most classic types of digital advertising, but over time, people have become accustomed to paying very little attention to banners. However, the chances of a user clicking on it increase a lot if it is part of a tailored advertising campaign.

3. Sponsorships and collaborations

This type of advertising consists of associating a brand, product or service with an entity that captures the attention of a large part of the target audience and generates a following.. For example, it is common for influencers to promote products through their social networks, and it is even possible to incorporate physical advertising pieces in YouTube videos of a channel followed by a type of people likely to buy what is advertised.

4. Social media advertising

Advertising on social networks is that which is based on the options of boosting the reach of publications on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram... That is to say, they are publications made from an account opened by the user. are publications made from an account opened by the brand or company that is promotedand in which money has been invested so that they have greater impact, being shown to many more people than would be normal without paying.

5. Mobile ads

Mobile ads are those in which advertisements are displayed embedded within a smartphone app.. They usually have the appearance of a banner like those that can be found on any web page. To advertise in this way, you have to pay the company that has the rights to that particular application.

6. Search engine ads

Search engine ads are part of what is known as SEM (Search Engine Marketing). This type of digital advertising is reflected in search results that are located at the top of the results that we get when we search for something on pages like Google or Bingso that they are visible to 100% of those who have made the search by typing certain words or phrases.

In other words, if the majority of results obtained when searching for something on websites of this type are positioned organically according to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) criteria, with SEM this privileged positioning is obtained by paying the search engines.

Do you want to boost your digital marketing in the world of psychology?

If you are a psychologist or you run a psychology center, we can help you to increase and optimize your advertising campaigns on the Internet.. In Psychology and Mind we help psychologists to have a presence in the digital media and gain exposure to their potential customers, whether in the field of psychotherapy or in the field of business services.

If you want to know more about how we can advise you in the field of digital marketing or we can help you to advertise, please contact us at [email protected].