Advertising

Advertising refers to the methods and strategies used to draw public attention to a product or service. Its main goal is to highlight the usefulness, benefits, and features of interest to potential buyers. While it is most commonly applied to promote particular goods or services, advertising also serves a variety of other purposes, with commercial promotion being the most widespread.

In commercial contexts, advertisements often strive to boost sales by building a “brand,” which links a product’s name or image with certain desirable traits in the consumer’s mind. Conversely, ads that aim to drive an instant purchase are categorized as direct-response advertising. Beyond consumer products, many non-commercial groups—such as political parties, advocacy organizations, religious bodies, and government agencies—use advertising to spread their messages. Charitable organizations may rely on free promotional tools like public service announcements. Advertising can also function to reassure investors or employees about the stability and success of a business.

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Advertising agency

An advertising agency, also known as a creative agency or ad agency, is a company that specializes in designing, planning, and managing advertisements, along with other forms of marketing and promotion, on behalf of its clients. Typically, an ad agency works independently from its clients, though it may also function as an in-house department that offers an external perspective to support the sale of a client’s products or services. Agencies often oversee broader marketing efforts, including brand development and promotional strategies, which may extend to driving sales.

Common clients of ad agencies include corporations, small businesses, non-profits, and private organizations. These agencies are often contracted to create and distribute advertising campaigns across different platforms, such as television, radio, online media, outdoor advertising, mobile campaigns, and augmented reality (AR) marketing.

Digital advertising

Online advertising—also called digital marketing, internet advertising, web advertising, or online marketing—is a method of promoting goods and services through the Internet to reach audiences and platform users. This form of advertising covers search engine marketing (SEM), email campaigns, social media promotion, various types of display ads (such as banner ads), and mobile advertising. Increasingly, ads are distributed through automated systems that place them across websites, media channels, and platforms, a process referred to as programmatic advertising.

As with other advertising formats, online ads typically involve a publisher, who incorporates the ads into their digital content, and an advertiser, who supplies the ad material. Additional players may include ad agencies that design and manage campaigns, ad servers that deliver and track the ads, and affiliate marketers who independently promote products or services.

Amazon advertising

Amazon stands as one of the largest online marketplaces. Its popularity among digital shoppers is so strong that many remain loyal to the platform and rarely consider purchasing products elsewhere.

With Amazon’s dominance comes intense competition among sellers. As a result, Amazon Advertising continues to expand, and sellers need a well-structured, adaptable strategy to maximize their return on investment (ROI).

Social media advertising

Social network advertising, often called social media targeting, refers to a range of online advertising and digital marketing practices that focus on social networking platforms. A key element of this approach is that marketers can leverage users’ demographic details, psychographic profiles, and other forms of data to deliver highly tailored ads.

This method combines different targeting techniques—such as geographic targeting, behavioral targeting, and socio-psychographic segmentation—to identify precise audience groups. Other important factors include the likes, comments, shares, and follows that users engage with on social platforms. Using this information, advertisements are placed according to insights drawn from user profiles.

Facebook advertising

Advertising on Facebook can attract a significant number of followers and create opportunities to guide users to your website or online store. While Facebook is an effective platform for most businesses, certain types of businesses should especially leverage Facebook and online advertising to maximize their reach.

Advertising on Facebook is one of the most effective ways to promote an online shop. Facebook ads allow you to precisely target specific audiences while presenting different campaigns to the users you want to engage. Running Facebook ads for e-commerce stores also provides valuable insights into which products or services are most likely to capture attention and generate clicks.

Online advertising

Online advertising, also referred to as digital marketing, Internet promotion, or web marketing, is a type of marketing that leverages the Internet to showcase products and services to audiences and platform users. It encompasses email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media promotion, various forms of display ads (such as banner ads), and mobile advertising. Increasingly, ads are delivered through automated software systems that operate across multiple websites, media channels, and platforms, a method known as programmatic advertising.

Similar to traditional advertising channels, online advertising usually involves a publisher, who incorporates ads into their content, and an advertiser, who provides the ads for display. Other participants may include advertising agencies, which create and place the ads, ad servers that deliver the ads and track performance, and affiliates who independently promote products for the advertiser.

False advertising

False advertising occurs when someone publishes, transmits, distributes, or otherwise makes publicly available an advertisement containing a false or misleading statement, made either deliberately or recklessly, to promote the sale of products, services, or property. It is considered deceptive if the advertiser intentionally misleads the audience rather than simply making an accidental error. Many governments implement regulations and legal measures to restrict false advertising.

Sulfur, known for its antifungal, antibacterial, and keratolytic properties, was historically used to treat acne, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, dandruff, pityriasis versicolor, scabies, and warts. An 1881 advertisement falsely claimed it could treat rheumatism, gout, baldness, and gray hair.A 1897 newspaper featured three advertisements for male sexual health. One promised “perfect manhood” with guaranteed results, while another claimed it could quickly cure nervous conditions or generative organ issues, including insomnia, back pain, seminal emissions, and more.

Programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising refers to the use of technology to automate the buying and selling of digital ads. It delivers relevant ad impressions to audiences through a fully automated process in under a second.

This approach leverages automation and machine learning within parameters set by advertisers to purchase digital ad space across websites, mobile apps, video platforms, and social media. It optimizes ad delivery by analyzing various signals, such as user behavior and shopping habits, to reach the right audience with the most effective message.

PPC advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an online advertising strategy designed to bring visitors to websites, where advertisers pay publishers—such as search engines, website owners, or advertising networks—only when their ad receives a click. This differs from traditional advertising models, which often require upfront payments regardless of user interaction.

PPC is most often linked to major search engines like Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and Amazon Advertising. In these platforms, advertisers typically compete by bidding on keyword phrases that match their target audience. When users click on ads (which may be text-based search ads or shopping ads combining images and text), advertisers pay the set cost per click. By contrast, many content-based websites prefer to charge a fixed fee per click rather than rely on a bidding structure.