paid media: A.k.a. the en vogue term for advertising. 

We apologize on behalf of our industry. Terms change but the meaning remains the same. Paid media means buying time or space to attract eyeballs, earholes, or both. In other words, ads. Paid media falls into two, possibly three categories: traditional, digital, and social. 

Think of traditional media as the stuff you viewed before the Internet. It includes TV, radio, billboards, print, collateral (e.g., brochures), or any other old-school format. 

Social media refers to buying audiences on social media platforms. It could range from a boosted post to paying an influencer to talk about your product. (Admittedly, that could fall into PR, but we’ll keep it simple.)

Digital media pertains to, well, everything else. Banner ads, SEM (like Google AdWords), streaming audio, or even native content falls under this category. 

Here’s the 101 version of digital media. We see too many clients politely nodding because they’ve never had the nuts and bolts explained. 

In digital, we buy audiences, which is significantly more advanced than demographics. Instead of say, targeting women 25-34 in the Fargo-Moorhead region, digital allows us to find women interested in X who live in the 58104 zip code. (And that’s like the bare minimum. Digital gets bonkers fast.)

How can we buy “behaviors” and “interests?” Enter Demand Side Platforms (DSPs). DSPs use a tin-foil-hat inducing amount of data to identify people’s interests. Websites serve up ads if the user meets pre-set criteria. This is why the ads you see on a page might be completely different than someone else - even in your household. 

H2M uses two different DSPs to get the most out of Google’s Display Network as well as 60 other major networks. Once placed, we monitor performance and optimize after the algorithms do their thing.

What We Do:

  • Digital Advertising – Google Ads (search, display, video), programmatic display, native ads, streaming audio—if it's digital, we buy it.

  • Social Media Advertising – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest—we run targeted campaigns that reach your audience based on behaviors, interests, and demographics.

  • Traditional Media Buying – TV, radio, print, outdoor (billboards)—sometimes the old-school stuff still works. We plan and buy traditional media that reaches your local or regional audience.

  • Programmatic Advertising – We use Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) to buy audiences, not just demographics. Instead of "women 25-34," we target "women interested in sustainable fashion who live within 10 miles of your store." Digital gets bonkers fast.

  • Video Advertising – Pre-roll ads on YouTube, streaming platforms, and connected TV. Video ads that get seen and remembered.

  • Retargeting & Remarketing – Someone visited your site but didn't convert? We follow them around the internet (in a non-creepy way) until they come back.

Our Approach:

Paid media isn't "set it and forget it." We continuously monitor performance, optimize campaigns, and adjust based on what's working. Algorithms do their thing, but we make sure they're doing it in your favor.

We also believe in transparency. You'll know where your money is going, what results you're getting, and why we're making the recommendations we make. No black box, no hidden fees.

Why It Matters:

Because organic reach is limited. SEO takes time. Paid media gets you in front of your audience now.

But here's the thing: paid media only works if you're targeting the right people, with the right message, at the right time. Waste money on the wrong audience and you'll burn through budget fast. Do it right, and paid media becomes your best ROI driver.