Will Digital Ads Take on a More or Less Important Role for Marketing Companies in the Future?

Digital ads are here to stay. Whether you’re online for work, school, or to do your shopping, you encounter digital ads on a daily basis. In the past few years, digital ads have taken an increasing chunk of the marketing world.

In fact, in 2019, digital ad spend eclipsed traditional ad spend for the first time, and it shows little sign of slowing. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed a lot of people online, and marketing companies quickly adjusted to meet them there. As digital platforms continue to gain in popularity and effectiveness, the future of digital ads looks bright.

While traditional forms of marketing like mail and radio ads still hold value for many industries, digital ads typically drive a higher ROI and reach more potential customers. Digital ads offer many advantages over traditional ads, like the ability to target specific segments of the population, and the ability to track key metrics. Will digital ads continue to take a more important role for marketing companies in the future? The short answer is yes, digital ads will continue to be a valuable part of your marketing plan. Read on for insights from top industry leaders on why digital ads are here to stay.  

More Companies Are Increasing Their Online Presence

“The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of companies to finally expand their online presence, something many of them had neglected to do previously. With more companies online and working to increase their name recognition, digital ads will become more important, but the field will be more competitive. Brands will have to work harder to differentiate themselves from their competitors, and to authentically drive more traffic to their site.” – Amanda E. Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer of TatBrow

It’s Easier to Get Started with Digital Ads

“In recent years it’s become easier for companies to get started with digital ads. Whereas in the past you might have needed a team of marketing experts, now there are tools and sites available to quickly and easily identify your target demographics and design a digital ad campaign. Once you’ve built up your online presence and determined your marketing goals, you can get an ad campaign off the ground within a matter of days or weeks.” – Boye Fajinmi, Co-Founder and President of TheFutureParty

Untapped Markets

“Most businesses are looking for a way to reach out to untapped markets, and digital ads can help you reach them. If you’ve exhausted your current market, you’ll want to pivot and target new customers. Do some keyword research or look at your internal customer data and see what markets might be untapped. If you think those markets contain potential customers, you can use some targeted ads to reach them and grow your base.” – Rahul Khatri, Co-Founder and CXO of Stoggles

Shift Towards Privacy

“Digital ads and marketing still form a critical component of any marketing plan, but there is definitely a shift towards privacy that we’re beginning to see. Apple recently changed their privacy settings, which gave users more power over their personal data. This change impacted the way that digital marketing agencies target their ads, and made it more difficult to collect data. It’s likely that this trend will continue, but marketing agencies will adjust and I don’t think digital advertising is going anywhere.” – Jason Wong, CEO of Doe Lashes

They’re a Powerful Marketing Tool

“Since more and more consumers are on the internet now, digital ads will take on a more important role for marketing companies in the future. It is one of the most powerful marketing tools to use. Companies need to meet customers where they are. Not only are there more ads on sites such as Facebook and Instagram these days, but the ads are now even more important because customers can now easily make purchases from the ads.” – Rob Chang, CEO and Director of Gryphon Digital Mining

More Immediate Returns

“Digital ads have an advantage over traditional ads in that they can quickly drive attention to your brand and drive revenue to your company. Other advertising channels can take longer to grow and scale, but a digital ad campaign can get off the ground relatively quickly, and will typically lead to faster results.” – Adam Shlomi, Founder of SoFlo Tutors

Ads Will Continue to Evolve

“So much of our worlds are online now, and digital ads are not going anywhere. We may see more innovative approaches emerge when it comes to digital advertising, as we have seen since the Internet’s early days. Remember when website banners were the go-to for online advertising? Now we have pay-per-click campaigns, social media ad opportunities, video ads on YouTube and so on. Digital ads may continue to evolve, but I think they will always be a marketing staple.” – Rachel Blank, Founder and CEO of Allara

Targeted Marketing

“With digital ads you can target certain segments of the population so that you can really zero in on potential customers. This allows companies to get the biggest bang for their buck, and it helps to even the playing field for smaller businesses. While big corporations can outspend the small mom-and-pop shops when it comes to ad spend, those shops can carefully target their intended audience and get the word out on a very limited budget. Digital ads also allow for a more personalized customer experience, so that you’re not constantly being bombarded with ads for things you have no interest in. Digital ads will continue to play an important role in the future.” – Dan Potter, Managing Director and CEO of CRAFTD

Ability to Adjust Your Ad Spend

“One benefit to using digital ads is the ability to adjust your ad spend as needed. This can be especially important when you’re just starting out or on a tight budget. If one month you need to dial back your ad spend, you can easily take a step back, and then ramp back up again the next month if you choose. With a lot of traditional marketing tools, you don’t have that flexibility. This gives smaller and emerging brands a lot of advantages, and it’s a trend we can expect to continue.” – Ben Teicher, President and CEO of Healthy Directions

Better Tracking of Metrics

“With many traditional forms of advertising, you’re not able to track key metrics. One of the reasons we like using digital ads is that you can get a clear idea of how an ad is performing – who it is reaching, and what actions are they taking after they see it? By collecting and analyzing this data, we can get a better idea of who our customers are and what drives them. It’s part of an ongoing conversation between our team and our customers, and I think marketing companies will continue to take advantage of these opportunities in the future.” – Sheila Chaiban, CEO of One Ocean Beauty

Agencies Will Have to Innovate

“In the future, digital marketing may be able to reach more people, but the challenge will be to continue to get people to take action. At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw click-through rates (CTRs) drop dramatically on many platforms, with the CTR for Google search ads dropping 41% year-over-year versus Q1 2019. If these trends continue and people become more immune to online marketing, agencies will have to continue to innovate and invest in quality to drive success.” – Aaron Agius, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Louder.Online

More Marketing for Less Money

“Few forms of advertising are as cost-effective as digital marketing. Small businesses and start-ups are always trying to achieve as much as possible through their marketing on a budget. Advertising online can stretch your budget further and will allow you to refine your target audience. Social media is particularly good for this as it enables you to set a daily budget for a discrete audience that has an interest in your brand or ethos. Most importantly, it allows your business to exclude the people that would never buy from you – saving you time and money!” – Emma Prunty, Editor of My DMI

Digital ads are a great way to increase your brand awareness and drive clicks to your website. Not only is it one of the more cost-effective forms of marketing, but the targeted nature of digital ads also gives you a better chance of reaching interested customers. With so many advantages, there’s every reason to believe that businesses of all sizes will continue to make heavy use of digital ads in the years to come.