Did you know that 90% of searchers haven't made their mind up about a brand before starting their search?

This is one of the main reasons that online advertising is so competitive. That ever-increasing competition is just one of the challenges that brands face when they do online advertising (and we'll dive into this more below).

Yet, advertising is a vital component of any business's marketing strategy. So, you might be wondering, “What are some other advertising challenges and how can we overcome them?”

In this post, let's review the advertising challenges experts think brands could face in the next year and discuss how to overcome them.

1. Reaching the right targeted audience.

The adage goes that advertising (and marketing in general) is about reaching the right audience, with the right message, at the right time. But reaching the right audience is getting harder and becoming a challenge for advertisers.

Valentina Turchetti, the co-founder, managing director, and head of content at YourDigitalWeb, says, “Even if brands use retargeting and advanced audience funnel creation, they have to pay attention to Apple's tracking changes where users can choose not to see advertising. Since users using Apple devices can decide to say ‘no' to advertising, business results can be lower compared to those of previous months or last years.”

How to overcome this challenge: While this could impact results on certain advertising campaigns, it's important to remember that the industry will shift to adapt to this challenge. In fact, it could mean that brands will rely on more native advertising options, and/or focus on advertising to loyal customers. These are just a couple of ideas, but as it becomes harder to reach the right audience, advertising strategies will need to shift. Additionally, you can use products and services like Terminus, LeadsBridge, and AdRoll to integrate your advertising with your CRM and find more customers.

2. Allocating enough budget.

Another challenge that advertisers will face in the future is allocating enough budget. Budget is usually a challenge in the marketing and advertising world of small to midsize companies, but this challenge will begin to impact larger companies as well.

Turchetti adds, “Advertising is not just an option anymore: brands have to allocate a budget for it. Depending on which channel the target uses, brands have to run campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Google Ads, and so on. The organic reach will be lower in the following months. Don't forget that Facebook&Company are companies – I mean – they do business and monetize especially with ads, so their goals will be pushing brands to do ads. More and more.”

How to overcome this challenge: Turchetti's conclusion makes more and more sense as social media organic reach gets lower and SEO results become more volatile. The best way to combat this is to show the data to your leadership and executive team who makes budgeting decisions and increase your overall advertising budget. 

3. Scalability.

Of course, another advertising challenge that brands face is scalability. You'll need to run online campaigns that can grow with your company.

Turchetti says, “It's not just about creating a performing campaign. The issue is to make your campaigns scalable to grow the business efficiently. I think that landing pages are and will be the key for conversions. Let's suppose brands create perfect high-converting campaigns with a targeted audience, they run A/B tests, they understand which CTA suits best for every campaign: that's not enough.”

How to overcome this challenge: So, what do you do? “Brands have to work hard on creating, testing and running powerful landing pages, differently addressed to different groups of targets and marketing channels,” Turchetti advises.

4. Competition.

As we discussed above, online advertising is competitive. That competition makes it challenging for brands to reach the right audience in the right way.

Lewis Goldstein, the president of Blue Wind Marketing, says, “As more brands enter the online advertising space, the competition will become fiercer and fiercer.”

How to overcome this challenge: Goldstein recommends getting to know your audience on a deeper level. He says, “This will force advertisers to take a deeper dive into customer motivations by getting to know how they think (logic) and feel (emotion).” The better you know your target audience, the easier it will be to create effective advertising campaigns.

5. Relying on one marketing channel.

Online advertising doesn't exactly feel like an option at this point. However, a huge challenge in the advertising industry is to rely on one marketing channel.

Goldstein comments, “With the recent outage that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp experienced, it's never been more clear that relying on one marketing channel – even if you've mastered it – is an unwise move. Keep in mind you're playing in their sandbox and have to play by their rules.”

How to overcome this challenge: The best way to overcome this challenge is to strategically consider what channels you advertise on. Goldstein says, “This is why it's smart to diversify the channels you use so you'll be prepared for all seasons.”

6. Downplaying the power of emotions.

In recent years, we've seen a wave of nostalgic and emotional content playing a large role in the advertising industry. While you might think this is just a trend that's going away, think again.

“Appealing to customers by using solely logic and forgetting the essential role emotion plays leaves a lot of money on the table. Ultimately people buy products and services because they feel like it's the right thing to do,” Goldstein reminds us. “Emotion has been scientifically proven to drive decision-making behavior. Bottom line, when properly executed, this leads to more and more conversions, sales, and revenue.”

How to overcome this challenge: To overcome this challenge, rely on the science that proves that emotions drive purchasing decisions. Use this data to inform your advertising campaigns so you can connect with your audience in the most effective way.

The world of advertising is always changing, and new challenges crop up as technology evolves. But, it's important to think about these challenges, review ways to overcome them, and be adaptable with your advertising strategies.