What Is Indirect Advertising?

Date First Published: 28th October 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Advertising

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 6/10

Learn more about what indirect advertising is in this article.

Indirect advertising is a form of online advertising when businesses use unobvious forms of advertising to promote their products or services, such as simply displaying an image of their product or service rather than being promotional or using a CTA, such as ‘Buy now’ or ‘Check out now’. It is the opposite of direct advertising when a business directly asks potential customers to buy a product or a service and uses promotional and convincing language. Direct advertising focuses more on conversions, whilst indirect advertising focuses more on brand awareness and creating a sense of familiarity amongst potential customers. Indirect advertising is a long-term strategy, which means that the efforts will continue to have an impact in the future.

Examples Of Indirect Advertising

Examples of indirect advertising are:

• Affiliate marketing - Since these often only include links without a description, this is a type of indirect advertising as the affiliate is not being that promotional. If someone makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission from the sale.
• Referral programs - Referrals can help attract more customers. If a customer clicks the referral link and signs up, the publisher will earn a small commission.
• Social media pages - Simply posting content on a social media page is a form of indirect advertising.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Indirect Advertising

• This type of advertising is much less likely to be intrusive to potential customers. More content can be posted without the risk of irritating potential customers. Direct advertising can cause customer's mailboxes to be flooded with promotional content and sometimes, the best way to remind them of products or services is to indirectly promote them. This can help to build brand reputation and increase trust.
• It is much less expensive than direct advertising.

• This type of advertising is much less likely to generate conversions than direct advertising. It may take time for a business to generate new customers when they indirectly advertise and is often not instant.
• Because it is a long-term strategy, it requires constant attention and businesses need to be constantly working on it.
• It can be harder to track performance as businesses are not targeting their ads towards specific customers.