Now that we’ve covered some of the challenges you'll be up against, let’s take a look at the benefits of all this online advertising, shall we?

Two of the biggest advantages digital media has over traditional offline channels are greater flexibility and improved targeting options. First up: flexibility.

More traditional media, like print or TV, tends to have long lead times, and often depends on a brand’s ability to produce creative assets. There’s also a high level of commitment involved when booking media for a set period of time and deciding on the creative, which can leave little room for changes to be made, once the project is underway.

By contrast, digital campaigns can be whipped up and launched in minutes. They can also be scaled to almost any budget and, if necessary, you can keep creative costs to a minimum. And, after launch, there’s the option to scale back your campaign or go even bigger, if required.

Digital advertising offers huge benefits for precisely targeting your audiences too, helping you target the most relevant audience across all the different platforms out there. But, to use these targeting capabilities effectively, you’re going to need access to data and to develop a deep understanding of your audience.

This is where segmentation comes into play. Put simply, segmentation is the process of grouping people together based on particular criteria, like demographic, behavioral or psychographic characteristics. The most effective segments are identified using good data, they’ll have a common need, and the people within that segment should respond to your targeted messaging in a similar way.

Imagine that your brand sells natural deodorant. After analyzing your data, you identify a segment of people that prefer unscented products. You create a campaign promoting your new unscented deodorant, and use the targeting features on your advertising platforms to get your product in front of audiences that are similar to that segment.

But, how might you start identifying and targeting these users? Well, that’s where cookies come in. These are tracking codes that are placed on a user’s device whenever they visit a platform, channel, app or website. A lot of the digital ecosystem has been built around, and is reliant on, cookie data. There are two different types of cookies to be aware of, so let’s take a look...

First up, first-party cookies. These are stored on a user’s device when they visit your website and they can tell you a lot about your audience. They typically contain information owned and collected directly from a company’s consumer base, like someone’s purchase history, their geographic location, and email address. They also allow companies to collect analytics data, which can be used to monitor how people are interacting with different types of content - data which can then be used to optimize the user experience.

Next, third-party cookies. These are created by sites other than the one a user is currently visiting, and they track user behavior across different websites and platforms. Brands use third-party cookies for the purposes of audience targeting, advertising to people based on websites they’ve visited previously and things they’ve already shown an interest in.

However, as consumers have become more concerned about privacy, and with the recent increase of data use restrictions, the use of third-party cookies is being called into question. And, slowly but surely, this type of cookie is in the process of being phased out, and this means that brands and advertisers are having to consider new ways of collecting and using data.

As a result, there’s been a shift in focus towards first-party cookies, and the value that can be found in the information advertisers and brands already have access to on their own audiences. Advertisers and brands are also beginning to opt for more premium ad placements and using contextual targeting to ensure their ads appear alongside relevant content. The result? Ads that make a bigger impact and complement the content audiences are enjoying online - all without using third-party cookies.

Benefits of Digital Media