Businesses often focus their advertising efforts on the giants—Google, Facebook, and Instagram. While these platforms are highly effective, they can also be competitive and costly, especially for smaller businesses. However, a growing number of unconventional advertising platforms offer unique ways to engage with target audiences, often at a fraction of the cost. In this blog, we’ll explore several of these unconventional platforms and how they can be leveraged for effective digital marketing.
- Reddit: The Front Page of the Internet
Reddit might seem like an unlikely advertising platform at first glance. Known for its user-driven communities, often fiercely skeptical of overt marketing, Reddit offers a powerful, niche advertising platform for brands willing to be authentic and engage with specific audience groups. The key to advertising on Reddit is understanding the culture of the “subreddits” (topic-specific communities) and aligning your content to appeal to those communities’ values and interests.
Reddit offers self-serve ads and promoted posts, allowing advertisers to target users based on their activity and the subreddits they frequent. The platform’s advantage is the granularity of its targeting, enabling businesses to engage deeply with niche communities rather than casting a wide but shallow net. It is crucial, however, to make sure that your content adds value and resonates with the culture of the subreddit to avoid backlash.
Best for:
– Brands targeting niche communities or specialized interests.
– Companies offering products that cater to specific subcultures (e.g., gaming, technology, fitness).
- Quora: Knowledge Sharing Meets Brand Promotion
Quora, a question-and-answer platform, is another underutilized resource for digital advertising. The platform’s users come to seek answers to specific questions, making it a goldmine for brands looking to establish authority and trust.
Quora’s advertising options include sponsored answers and targeted ads based on user behavior and question categories. For example, a software company can target users interested in questions about productivity tools or coding challenges. This gives advertisers the chance to promote their solutions directly in a context where users are actively seeking advice or insights. Quora also allows for retargeting, so you can continue engaging with users who have previously interacted with your brand.
Best for:
– B2B and SaaS companies looking to build authority and trust.
– Brands offering expert insights or complex products that require explanation.
- Pinterest: A Visual Search Engine for Products
Pinterest may be less of an “unconventional” platform than others on this list, but it remains underutilized by many businesses despite its potential for generating high-intent traffic. Pinterest users often visit the platform for inspiration and discovery, particularly for lifestyle products such as home decor, fashion, food, and travel.
Pinterest offers several ad formats, including promoted pins, videos, and product pins that link directly to e-commerce sites. One of the unique aspects of Pinterest is that content remains evergreen—pins can continue driving traffic for months or even years after they are posted, unlike social media platforms where content has a short lifespan. Additionally, Pinterest has a powerful search functionality, and users are often in a purchasing mindset when searching for inspiration or products, making it an excellent platform for advertisers.
Best for:
– Brands with visually appealing products or services.
– Businesses in industries like home improvement, fashion, food, or travel.
- Waze: Location-Based Mobile Advertising
Waze, the popular navigation app, provides a highly targeted and hyper-local advertising opportunity. For businesses that rely on foot traffic or serve a local market, Waze ads can place your brand directly in front of drivers near your location.
The platform allows advertisers to create location-based pins, similar to Google Maps, which can be triggered when users are nearby. Additionally, Waze offers “zero-speed takeover” ads that appear when the driver is stopped, ensuring minimal distraction. These ads are ideal for restaurants, retail stores, gas stations, and any other businesses that depend on local, drive-by traffic.
Best for:
– Local businesses, such as restaurants, retail, and service-based companies.
– Brands looking to capture local traffic in real-time.
- Nextdoor: Connecting with Local Communities
Nextdoor is a neighborhood-focused social network that allows businesses to engage with local communities directly. It’s a fantastic platform for businesses that want to build trust and establish themselves as part of the local landscape. Users of Nextdoor often rely on recommendations from neighbors, so there’s an element of social proof built into the platform.
Nextdoor allows for targeted advertising based on location, which is highly effective for local businesses, real estate agents, home service providers, and others that operate within a specific geographic area. The platform’s Local Deals feature enables businesses to promote special offers to nearby customers, making it an ideal space for running promotions or seasonal campaigns.
Best for:
– Local service providers, such as real estate agents, home repair, and cleaning services.
– Businesses looking to build trust and relationships within specific neighborhoods.
- Spotify: Audio Ads for the Streaming Generation
With the rise of streaming services, audio ads are becoming an increasingly effective way to reach younger, tech-savvy audiences. Spotify, with its massive user base, offers brands the opportunity to run audio, video, and display ads between songs on its free-tier service.
One of the unique aspects of Spotify advertising is its ability to target users based on mood, activity, and playlists, giving brands a way to connect with audiences in specific contexts. For instance, a fitness brand might advertise on workout playlists, while a travel company could target users listening to vacation-themed playlists. With more people turning to audio content during commutes, workouts, and other daily activities, Spotify ads offer an intimate and engaging format for reaching audiences.
Best for:
– Brands targeting younger demographics or tech-savvy consumers.
– Businesses that can align their messaging with music, moods, or activities.
- Twitch: Advertising to Gamers and Streamers
Twitch, the leading live-streaming platform primarily focused on video gaming, has exploded in popularity over the past few years. While the platform is known for gaming, it has also expanded into other areas, such as live events, music, and even just chatting streams. Twitch offers brands the ability to advertise via video, display, and sponsorships during live streams.
The key to successful advertising on Twitch is understanding the platform’s culture, which is community-driven and highly interactive. Brands can sponsor popular streamers or events to reach large, engaged audiences, or they can advertise directly through video ads that play between streams. Twitch users are highly loyal to their favorite streamers, so brands that align with those influencers can see strong results.
Best for:
– Brands targeting young, tech-savvy, and highly engaged audiences.
– Companies in the gaming, tech, or entertainment sectors.
- Discord: Building Communities and Driving Engagement
Discord, originally built for gamers, has evolved into a platform where all types of communities gather, from tech enthusiasts to educators. It’s essentially a combination of voice, video, and text chat, making it a versatile platform for brands to create their own servers (communities) or sponsor existing ones.
Discord provides businesses with the ability to engage directly with audiences in real time, which is invaluable for building loyal communities. By creating exclusive spaces for discussion, content sharing, and product feedback, brands can foster deep engagement. Brands can also sponsor popular Discord communities, adding value without being intrusive. Because Discord users tend to be highly engaged, the platform can help brands build a strong, active presence in a niche market.
Best for:
– Brands with strong community or niche market appeal.
– Businesses that want to engage directly with customers in a conversational format.
- Snapchat: Capturing the Moment with AR and Filters
While Snapchat might seem past its prime compared to Instagram or TikTok, it remains highly popular among younger audiences. Snapchat’s unique advertising formats, such as sponsored lenses, geofilters, and augmented reality (AR) experiences, offer brands a way to create highly engaging, creative ads that go beyond static images.
Snapchat ads can be targeted based on age, gender, interests, and location, allowing businesses to connect with a younger, mobile-first audience. Brands that experiment with AR experiences can engage users in ways that feel fun and personal, leading to higher engagement and brand recall.
Best for:
– Brands targeting Gen Z and younger millennials.
– Companies that want to experiment with immersive, interactive ad formats.
The Wrap
Advertising on unconventional platforms can be an excellent way for businesses to stand out in a crowded digital space. While giants like Facebook and Google dominate, these lesser-known platforms offer targeted, cost-effective ways to engage with niche audiences. The key to success on these platforms is understanding their unique culture and audience, as well as delivering authentic, valuable content that resonates with users.
Whether you’re a local business looking to connect with your community, a brand seeking to engage with gamers, or a company wanting to target specific interests, these unconventional platforms can provide a significant competitive edge. In the end, experimenting with new channels could lead to higher engagement and better ROI than sticking with the status quo.
RBOA is a digital marketing agency with a 40-year legacy of creativity, smart strategy, and fresh thinking that delivers award-winning communications and successful results. We provide clients with a unique, omnichannel blend of advertising, social media, digital marketing, and web design services.
If you are interested in learning more about digital marketing for your organization, we hope you will reach out to RBOA to schedule an exploratory call.