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Online advertising

Online advertising (also digital advertising or internet advertising) is a form of marketing that uses the internet and digital technology to deliver promotional messages to a target audience. It covers a wide range of formats, from text ads in search engines through visual banners on websites to video content on social media. Its main goal is to draw traffic to a website, raise brand awareness or directly generate conversions (sales and enquiries).

Online advertising revolutionised marketing thanks to its precise targeting and measurability. Unlike traditional media (billboards, TV), where you address a mass of people with no feedback, online advertising makes it possible to show a specific offer to a person who needs it at that very moment.

The basic models for buying online advertising are:

  1. PPC (pay per click): you pay only when someone actually clicks your ad (Google Ads, for instance).
  2. CPM (cost per mille): you pay for every thousand impressions of the ad (common when building awareness).
  3. PPA (pay per acquisition): you pay for a specific action, such as a completed order.

The main online advertising channels:

  • Search: advertising in search results (Google, Bing).
  • Social media: advertising on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
  • Display (banner advertising): graphic banners on news and topical portals.
  • Video advertising: formats before or during videos on YouTube.

What are the advantages of online advertising?

  • Precise targeting: you can show an ad based on location, age, interests, search history or even device type.
  • Immediate results: unlike SEO, where results take months, online advertising can bring customers to a site as soon as it goes live.
  • Budget flexibility: you can advertise on €5 a day or on €5,000. You can switch a campaign off, pause it or adjust it at any time.
  • Detailed analytics: you know exactly what one visitor cost you, how many of them bought and what the overall return on ad spend (ROAS) is.
  • Retargeting: it makes it possible to show ads to people who have already been on your site but did not complete a purchase, which increases the chance of conversion.

Practical example

The owner of a local car service centre wants new clients for tyre changes. If he bought a billboard, thousands of people would see it, many of whom may not even own a car. Instead he launches online advertising in Google Search on the keyword “tyre change Bratislava”. The ad shows only to people in Bratislava actively looking for the service. As a result he gets 20 bookings for a fraction of the price of a billboard, and he knows precisely that each booking cost him €4 in advertising.