Move over Google and Facebook!
There’s no denying that both Google and Facebook are great advertising platforms and have distinct advantages. However, it is high time to expand the use of your advertising platforms and reach your target audiences not on traditional platforms through video, text and audio ads.
There are several alternatives to traditional advertising platforms. Also, remember that not all people from your target market will see ads hosted by only Facebook and Google. Therefore, it is important to leverage other ad platforms that may produce better results than the usual sites. Alternative ad platforms can also help increase brand awareness.
1. Quora
Quora has recently stepped up its game in the past year and should be considered as a great advertising platform.
It is a Question and Answer platform where people can ask a question on any topic and others answer it. Multiple people can answer one question, however, one answer is usually highlighted as the “best” that helps people find it easily.
The best part about Quora is that it enables you t reach people who need digital marketing services by running your ads. For instance, if someone asks,” Which is the best digital marketing agency in Sarnia?” You can get your ad in front of such a person.
Additionally, Quora offers targeting options such as lookalike audiences, website match audiences and list match audiences as seen on other platforms. Also, you can target users based on their history on Quora.
2. Microsoft advertising
Formerly known as Bing Ads, Microsoft ads is a great way to reach people on Bing. Microsoft Advertising runs on Yahoo and AOL and offers a couple of free options as well.
With Microsoft Advertising, you can do the following;
Increase ad engagement
Encourage foot traffic to your local store
Generate more phone calls
Sell products online
Increase conversions
It also offers Ad products such as;
Ad extensions
Conversion tracking
Dynamic search ads
Shopping campaigns
Shared budgets
3. Amazon
Yes. You read that right. Amazon is not just a platform to sell and buy products, you can run ads on it as well. However, do note that the competition is cut-throat and your margin may take a hit when you sell and advertise on Amazon. So, you will have to make adjustments to your ad model accordingly.
Amazon offers targeting features and an amazing reporting system that can help you tweak your strategy.
In general, Amazon is a great place if you are looking to increase brand awareness and generate more sales.
4. AdRoll
AdRoll is designed to target potential shoppers who are most likely to convert.
It employs IntentMap- a solution that tracks over 1.2 billion shopper profiles with trillions of intent data points and makes over 80 billion AI predictions every day.
You can use AdRoll to run online ads, email marketing campaigns and website promotions to create a great customer journey. It also has a robust reporting system that includes multi-touch attribution.
Additionally, AdRoll integrates with popular platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify and BigCommerce that can help you create and run your own e-commerce store.
5. Taboola
This is a native form of an advertising platform and stands out from other advertising platforms. It recently merged with Outbrain and together form a powerhouse of an online advertising option. Both together help you target the right people, gain more exposure and offer a reporting system that will help you adapt your marketing strategy.
Native advertising is a way to promote content on somebody else’s blog. The ad format appears more like the content on the hosting website. A disclaimer makes it clear that the content is an ad.
Additionally, Taboola allows you to use creative formats including social, video or content ads. You can also automate your optimization strategy using its smart bidding feature.
6. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great option if you are in the B2B space. It is the best place to find leaders and business owners who can be your potential customer pool. It boasts of over 630 million active professionals on its platform.
Giant companies such as Lenovo, Intel, and American Express use LinkedIn Ads to promote their brands successfully.
LinkedIn offers advertising options such as;
Sponsored InMail
Sponsored content
Text ads
Video ads
Dynamic ads
Carousel ads
It also offers amazing ad solutions such as;
Lead generation
Conversion tracking
Contact targeting
Website retargeting
Audience network
LinkedIn is now owned by Microsoft, so you can benefit from their big data platform as well as the targeting possibilities when you run ads on LinkedIn.
7. Infolinks
Infolinks is a smart ad platform that uses a sophisticated algorithm to present relevant ads to users. It has over a billion users across the globe. Some of its customers are Digitas, Medicomm, McCann World Worldgroup, MEC, and Starcom Mediavest Group.
You can also use Infolinks to reach international users.
Infolinks allows you to do the following;
Choose from several ad units
Select from among several advanced targeting options
Track the results
Optimize your strategy
Run search and display ads
8. Reddit
This is an online forum for user-generated content.
Reddit has heavily improved its feature set in 2019 and it offers forums for just about any subject. Here, people can “upvote” other’s posts if they like it or “downvote” it if they don’t. Content with the most numbers of“upvotes” tend to surface at the top of people’s feed.
Interestingly, Reddit allows you to create your own post and run it as an ad. It will show up with an “Ad” disclaimer next to it. However, if your headline is catchy enough, people may read your content and even help you get a few additional customers.
Well-known brands such as Audi and L’oreal have used Reddit effectively.
Leverage Reddit and you are sure to appreciate the results.
9. BuySellAds
If you want to reach people in high-tech, BuySellAds is your go-to ad platform.
It is a self-serve platform that helps you target designers, developers, and niche tech audiences.
BuySellAds offers you some attractive features such as;
Display ads
Native ads
Podcast ads
Content ads
Email ads
Some of its clients are Rollbar, Hello Sign, Storyblock and Circleci.
10. Spotify
This platform allows you to do audio advertising on Spotify ads. Although the production cost for audio might be on the higher side, the Spotify ad platform allows you to make your own audio, which includes a voiceover. This may help bring down the cost.
Spotify ads allow you to target potential customers at unusual times as millions of people use Spotify to listen to music and podcasts while working out, driving to work, cooking, cleaning and relaxing.
Final words
It is recommended that you go through the list of alternative ad platforms mentioned above and select the one that works best for your business. Chalk-out a strategy and run ads that highlight the benefits of your brand. Do a few tests and trials before sticking to what works best for you. That’s it!