
You don’t need stats, reports, or inside scoops from the pros to know that everyone is online. We all know that the Internet is far more than a novelty at this point, it’s a vital part of our everyday lives. It’s a place we all flock to throughout the day, whether we’re scrolling social media, shopping, conducting personal research, and the list goes on.
Since everyone is online, your business should be there, too, reaching high-value users—the ones who are most likely to want or need the products or services your company provides. A digital ad campaign offers you the ability to do just that—target audiences, deliver clear messages, generate leads, and land new customers.
When you create a digital ad campaign, it’s essential to create digital ad content that fits every platform in your strategy so that you can optimize the performance and value of each one.
What Is a Digital Ad Campaign?
A digital ad campaign is any marketing strategy that uses digital channels to get your message across. Also called online marketing, digital marketing uses the Internet to market your brand to users through text-based ads, image-based ads, video ads, or a combination of all three.
Why Use Digital Ads?

- The average social media user spends close to two and a half hours each day on social media. (Source)
- The average user conducts 3 to 4 searches on Google each day. (Source)
- The average internet user spends more than six and a half hours using the internet in some capacity. (Source)
With so many people online for so long day in and day out, it would be a huge missed opportunity if you didn’t use digital marketing to meet your audience exactly where they are at. Digital ads allow you to promote your business in the digital spaces where your audience is, and your audience is definitely online in some capacity.
And unlike traditional ads (radio ads, TV commercials, billboards, etc.), digital ad strategies allow you to optimize your campaign through hyper-specific targeting and ultra-accurate tracking capabilities.
Audience Targeting
Whether you use social ads, paid ads, geofencing ads, or other digital advertising strategies, you’re able to target the users who fit the criteria you set on the backend so that your ads reach exactly who they need to. While billboards are there for anyone to pass, a digital ad can be sent to the users whose demographics, psychographics, browsing behaviors, and other characteristics match the specifications you set.
Performance Tracking
Throughout the life of your digital marketing campaign, you’re able to track your campaign’s performance through up-to-date reporting. Each platform measures a multitude of metrics, from impressions and clicks to click-through rates, conversions, conversion rates, engagement rates, and many others. All of the results combined show you in almost real time what’s working, what needs improvement, and where to pivot to make it an even more successful campaign. Reports are available from a daily to an annual basis for closer insights, and they can be compared to previous periods so that you can observe trends, dips, surges, and other high-view details.
What Channels Can I Use in My Digital Ad Campaign?
To reach your audience right where they are online, it’s crucial to craft a well-rounded and versatile digital ad campaign that uses multiple digital channels.
Digital advertising can include:
- Social media ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others
- SEM ads, like search ads and display ads, on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others
- Video ads on websites, apps, socials, and streaming platforms like YouTube, Hulu, and others
- Email marketing
- Geofencing marketing
How Do I Shape My Digital Ad Content for Each Platform?
Regardless of what channels you use in your digital ad campaign, it’s vital for your content to stand out while also matching the expectations and parameters of each platform. For instance, social media is not the place for long, drawn out blocks of text. Sure, you can and should use text in the post, but short and sweet is the name of the game on almost all social media platforms.
Take a look at these suggestions for your digital ad content per platform:
Social Ads = Short, Clear Text and Visually Compelling Images

The anatomy of a social ad can and should include:
- Visual appeal – whether you use a photo, infographic, or video, the visual aspects of your social ad should be appealing, drawing the user in to see what your ad is about.
- Clear messaging – You want your message to cut through the clutter online and capture your audience’s attention. Keep the message grabby, yet short and clear.
- Call to action – Whether the ad is your only message or what your message points to, you want your ad to have a clear call to action that encourages a click through to your landing page, website, or other desired destination.
- Brand consistency – you want people to know exactly whose ad they are seeing without having to spot your logo or company name first. Establishing brand consistency with your social ads and across all your marketing strategies will help establish your brand in the minds of your audience (and even those outside of your audience).
When thinking through your content on the socials, you also want to consider the specific platforms you’re using, particularly who’s on them. Evaluating the overall audience of each platform will help you shape your ads per platform and optimize each message.
The everyman’s social media platform, Facebook is the one most often used by people of all sexes, ages, races, income statuses, and every other demographic. However, the audience on Facebook tends to lean older. It’s primarily seen as the place to see updates from friends and family members. If your business serves the general population, your audience is definitely on Facebook.
More popular among younger crowds and those interested in photography and short-form videos (like reels), Instagram is more commonly the place for visual content. People can post images, videos, infographics, and other visual-based content on Instagram. If your business serves a high population of younger consumers (under 50), or if your business offerings are well-captured through images or videos, chances are your audience is on Instagram.
Considered the social platform for businesspeople and working professionals, LinkedIn is most commonly used by those looking to network and grow on a professional level. While Facebook is most commonly used for connecting with family and friends, LinkedIn is most commonly used for connecting specifically with colleges, coworkers, recruiters, entrepreneurs, business owners, and others of the like. If your business serves B2B companies or those in the professional service industry, chances are your audience is on LinkedIn.
SEM Ads = Strong CTAs and Compelling Visuals
Search engine marketing, or SEM, is an option within digital advertising that places a business at the top of page one on search engines like Google or Bing, display its brand across millions of websites, play its videos in thousands of digital spaces, and more. Where a business’s SEM ad appears depends on the search that a user is conducting, as well the user’s browsing behaviors.
We’ll focus on Google Ads in this section, since it is the most popular SEM platform among businesses.
Google Ads offers a wide variety of digital ads, including:
- Search ads – Search ads are text-only and appear throughout page 1 on Google, as well as subsequent pages. Search ads look like organic search results, except they are labeled “sponsored.”
- Display ads – Display ads are image-based and appear on websites, apps, and other properties that are part of the Google Display Network. One of the most common types of display ads is the banner ads you see at the top, bottom, or sides of a webpage.
- Video ads – Video ads appear in places like YouTube and other websites or apps that are a part of the Google Display Network and play video ads. Video ads are commonly seen before, after, or during a YouTube video.
- Shopping ads – Shopping ads are ads that appear in the shopping tab of Google and at the top of page 1 of Google in a relevant search. Shopping ads consist of a product image, a product name, the price, the business name, the product’s star rating, and the number of reviews the product has received.
The ad space for SEM ads is rather limited, especially for search, display, and shopping ads. It’s crucial to be extremely concise and compelling through your content on all three. You definitely want quality visuals for display and shopping ads and strong CTAs for your search and display ads.
Video ads provide the opportunity to include more content than the others, but it’s key for your video ads to remain concise with strong CTAs, as well, especially in the first five seconds of any skippable ads.
Video Ads = Quality Storytelling, Strong Visuals, and a Clear Message
Along with the video ads that are a part of Google Ads, you can also use video ads to reach audiences through social media or streaming platforms like Hulu.
Video ads can range from 5 seconds to 1 minute or longer and aim to do one of four things (or a combination):
- Bring attention to a product, service, or brand
- Increase brand awareness
- Connect with the viewer watching the ad
- Direct the viewer to take action in some way
Let’s say the goal of your video ads is just to raise brand awareness. You don’t necessarily need to give your audience a direction or a CTA (other than the implied direction of “remember this brand”). But you do want your ad to bring attention to your brand through a video that focuses on connecting with your viewers somehow, most effectively through quality storytelling and strong, compelling visuals.
Or, if the goal of your video ad is to encourage the viewer to purchase a particular product, you’ll want to bring attention to the product and direct the viewer to take action by completing their purchase. Again, this is most effective through really strong storytelling and visuals.
Geofencing Ads = Strong Visuals and CTAs
Geofencing ads are those that begin to appear on your smartphone, tablet, or other internet-connected and tracking-enabled device once you enter a geofence with said device.
Geofencing ads are very similar to display ads and can appear on thousands of websites or apps, including on social media platforms, properties connected to the Google Search Network, and others sites.
Since geofencing ads appear like a banner ad or other display ad, it’s important for the content to be visually appealing, super actionable, and clear. You only have so much room to create a quick and compelling message—it’s crucial to make the most of the space you’re given on geofencing ads.
Email Marketing = Scannable Content and Clear Action
Email marketing is one of the few digital channels that allows you to speak directly to the people who have shown direct interest in your company, whether they’ve purchased something before or have simply signed up for your eNewsletter with thoughts of one day becoming a future customer.
Email marketing gives you the opportunity to dig a little deeper by fleshing out the message you want to convey a little more and giving more direction to the reader.
Email ads can be short and sweet or a little longer, depending on the topic of the email and the ultimate message. But all in all, they need to be:
- Easy to follow, both in text and with the visuals
- Easy to read and digest with clear and simple messaging
- Sectioned out with good heading hierarchy for better scan-ability and to promote better recall (in other words, it shouldn’t be one big block of text)
- Actionable with strong use of CTAs
- On brand, both in tone and voice
Shaping the content for your digital ad campaigns can feel overwhelming, but not with M&R Marketing as Your Partner. Let us help you craft the perfect message by calling 478-621-4491 today!
At M&R, our digital strategists, copywriters, and designers all know how to approach each digital ad platform and shape your content to fit each one in an effective, compelling way. From social media ads to SEM ads, video ads, email marketing campaigns, geofencing strategies, and more, we can help you reach your audience where they are and provide them with the messages you want them to receive.
Call 478-621-4491 or contact one of our business development managers today to start crafting your digital ad campaign today.
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