Implementing a marketing strategy without paid digital media is like going into battle with a bow and arrow in the age of precision-guided tools. Sure, you might get by for a while, but you’re limiting your business’s true growth potential. The ever-expanding media landscape makes it harder for your message to break through organically, but it also offers more ways than ever to amplify it. Paid media helps you promote your content, expand your reach and strengthen both your owned and earned media efforts. Here’s what to include in your paid digital media plan:
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as material in an online publication that resembles the publication’s editorial content but is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote the advertiser’s product. Originating decades ago in print publications, sponsored content is a tried and true form of paid media that now expands to online journals or magazines, blogs, podcasts and other mediums. When done effectively, it provides a new audience for your business to reach as well as third-party credibility for your message. In 2025, sponsored content frequently appears on industry podcasts, influencer newsletters and even TikTok and Instagram Reels, offering modern ways to reach specific audiences.
When it comes to sponsored content, the source of the content is just as important as the message your company is trying to deliver. Of course, you still want a quality article, feature or blog post that showcases one of your employees or the business as a whole. However, your efforts will be fruitless if the publication fails to reach your target audience or tap into a new market. Do your research and focus on business journals, magazines or other media outlets that will be seen and consumed by prospective clients and business partners.
Social Media Advertising
Your company’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and other social media platforms are already a viable channel for driving traffic to your website. Maintaining a consistent schedule of new content is essential, but incorporating social media advertising will significantly enhance your results. Before you start launching ads across all networks, determine which channels offer the most bang for your buck. Each platform comes with its own unique audience, so your messaging should be tailored accordingly—for example, an ad that resonates on LinkedIn may not suit Instagram’s visual-first, casual environment.
Don’t just assume LinkedIn would be the best place to start, given its status as a professional networking site. Take a look at the engagement numbers from the most successful posts on your business’s various social channels. Where are members of your audience spending most of their time? Where are you seeing the most likes, comments and shares? Where are your followers and prospects having conversations? Social ad platforms often offer AI-powered targeting tools that help refine your audience selection and ad performance with greater precision. Because social media ad costs fluctuate across platforms, start by testing Facebook and Instagram for cost-efficiency, and evaluate expanding to TikTok, LinkedIn or others based on performance. Many social ad platforms now offer AI-powered creative optimization and predictive audience targeting to improve results in real time.
Native Advertising
Similar to sponsored content, native advertising fits the style of the surrounding content on a page to make it seem “native” to that site. However, often including a catchy headline or explanation to encourage clicks on the link, native advertising appears more like traditional advertising than its counterpart in sponsored content. The most effective native advertisements are those that seem indistinguishable from the rest of a page’s content. These ads frequently include mobile-first and app-based placements that adjust dynamically to the style of the host platform.
Think about the last time you perused an online marketplace like Amazon for a new phone case. You were likely presented with dozens of options to choose from just on the first page of results. Many of those results, likely positioned on the top or side of the page with a “sponsored” disclaimer, were examples of native advertising. You may have even clicked on one of them, proving the worth of native advertising. For those brands, the proximity to the top of the page makes it much more likely to be seen by shoppers, while the similarity in style to other listings draws attention. You may also notice native ads appearing seamlessly in TikTok feeds or within Instagram’s Explore tab, where they blend into short-form video content.
Pay-Per-Click
Reaching members of your target audience and driving them to your business’s website is the ultimate goal of your marketing strategy, and pay-per-click is one of the most effective paid media practices for accomplishing this goal. Advertisers pay a fee each time someone clicks their ad in exchange for a promoted link. While paying for each time that someone clicks on an advertisement and reaches your page may seem costly, it doesn’t come close to reaching the value of new business. In fact, Google and other search engines will even charge less per click if the ads and landing pages are beneficial and satisfying to users. Building first-party data lists, like email subscribers and previous website visitors, is now critical for retargeting, especially as privacy updates have reduced the effectiveness of third-party tracking.
Google Ads is the most popular form of pay-per-click advertising and while there are many factors that will determine the success of your campaign, it starts with the right keywords. By researching and compiling the most relevant keywords associated with your company, you can put yourself directly in front of a market that is already searching for topics related to your business. Over time, incorporating these keywords in your ads and content marketing efforts will improve your Google Quality Score and businesses with higher Quality Scores get more ad clicks at lower costs. With regular monitoring and campaign refinement, you’ll ensure you’re reaching the right audience at the right time — without overspending.
Display Ads
As one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, display advertising has been around since the mid-1990s and remains one of the most popular to this day. Relying heavily on images and videos to promote a product or service through visuals, display ads can be found on many websites in the form of banners, images and text ads. While they also appear on a different site than that of the advertiser, display ads are different from native advertising because they are designed specifically to stand out rather than blend in with the rest of the content. In 2025, display ads are often used for retargeting and can now appear across mobile apps, connected TV, and in-feed social placements, expanding their reach beyond traditional web banners.
Over time, users have become accustomed to display ads and many have installed ad blockers, but improved contextual targeting and first-party data strategies have helped display ads remain effective. Display ads can appear on a number of different websites, allowing you to reach a new audience that may not know about your company. Or, they can be targeted to appear on specific websites to generate interest among members of your target audience. Display ads can also help keep your business top of mind for visitors who’ve already engaged with your site or content. Most importantly, clicks, impressions and conversions from display ads are all measurable, meaning you can assess your campaign based on the results and make changes as you see fit.
Just as the most successful content marketing strategies include many different types such as byline articles, infographics, videos and case studies, the best paid media plan is one that utilizes multiple techniques. Your business might see results from just one native ad or sponsored story the same way you might see results from one blog post, but don’t limit your potential for more traffic, engagement and meaningful new business leads by ignoring the other strategies.
If you’re ready to create a paid digital media plan or want to improve your current results, our team is here to help.