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Digital Advertising

Your future customers are online. Are they finding you?

Whether you're starting from scratch or starting over, you're in the right place.

  • Are your competitors showing up more often than you?
  • Are you spending money on advertising without a real picture of what's working?
  • Are you unsure where to even start with digital advertising?
  • Do you have a strategy behind your ad spend, or are you just guessing?
  • Bottom line: Is your business growing as fast as you want it to?

Digital Advertising Strategy

The platform isn't the problem — your strategy is.

We hear two stories a lot:

"I've never done this before."
You know your customers are online. You just don't know where to start, what to spend, or which platforms actually make sense for your business.

"I've tried it and it didn't work."
You ran ads. You got reports. You got impressions. You didn't get much else — and you're not sure what went wrong.

Both are more common than you'd think. And both point to the same root problem.

Two colleagues discussing project on laptop

Digital Advertising Strategy

Running ads without a solid strategy is a waste of your marketing dollars.

A real marketing strategy means: 

  • Knowing exactly who you're trying to reach

  • Understanding where they are in their buying process

  • Saying the right thing at the right moment — not just showing up

Done right, digital advertising keeps your business visible from "I've never heard of them" all the way to "I'm ready to buy." That's what we build.

team blog

How Digital Advertising Works

The best strategies reach people throughout the customer journey.

The old sales funnel is dead. Real customers don't move in a straight line — they search, get distracted, come back, read reviews, ask a friend, and eventually decide. But even in a non-linear journey, there are distinct moments where the right ad can make a real difference.

The goal isn't to push people through a funnel — it's to be there at every moment that matters, however they get there.

Awareness: They don't know you yet.

Before anyone can choose you, they have to know you exist. This is about showing up for the right people before they're even actively looking — so when the need hits, you're already familiar.

Consideration: They're looking around.

Now they have a need and they're researching. This is where being visible when someone searches for exactly what you offer becomes critical — and where staying in front of people who've already found you keeps you in the running.

Research & Discovery They're going deep.

They're comparing options, reading reviews, visiting websites, asking for recommendations, and circling back again. This stage can last days or weeks. Businesses that stay visible throughout this loop are the ones that make the short list.

Decision They're ready to act.

All that visibility pays off here. The right message at the right moment — a strong offer, a clear next step, an ad that speaks to someone ready to decide — can be the difference between them choosing you or your competitor.

Loyalty They've already bought.

This is where most businesses check out. But a customer who's had a great experience is one of the most valuable audiences you can advertise to. They refer people, come back, and keep your brand alive in conversations you'll never see.

Want to dig deeper?

We wrote an in-depth blog post about how the modern customer journey works. 

Marketing Budget Calculator

How much should you spend on marketing?

Laptop displaying online business budget calculator.

Why Cougar Digital Marketing?

13+ years of campaigns built around real goals.

We're not a national agency routing your account through layers of people. We're a local team with a genuine stake in seeing the businesses here succeed.

  • Campaigns built for your specific goals

    Because there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all digital advertising strategy.

  • Direct access to your team

    No account managers, no handoffs. Direct access to the team actually running your campaigns.

  • Honesty and transparency above all

    Real numbers, plain-English reporting, and real transparency when it comes to what's working and what isn't.

  • A partner, not just an agency

    We're invested in what happens after the campaign goes live — not just in delivering a thing and moving on.

360 auto team 2022

Digital Advertising Case Study for a Tri-Cities Auto Repair Shop

What happens when you pair a new, modern website with a hyper-focused Google Search Ads strategy?

leads in the first year alone

Online Advertising Platforms

The right tool for the right moment.

There's no "best" platform to run digital ads on. There's the right one for your goals and where your customers actually spend time.

Google Search Ads

You either show up when someone searches for what you offer, or your competitor does. High intent, low waste — this is the most direct form of digital advertising there is.

Facebook & Instagram Ads

Reach the right people before they're ready to buy — and stay connected with existing customers and warm leads while you're at it. Powerful targeting, wide reach, full funnel.

YouTube Video Ads

Video lets people get a feel for who you are in a way static ads can't. YouTube puts that in front of a large, targeted audience at exactly the right stage.

Streaming TV Ads

Streaming TV ads put your brand in living rooms with digital-level targeting and none of the traditional TV price tag. Most of your competitors aren't here yet.

Display Advertising

Targeted ads served across thousands of sites and apps, based on who your audience is. Built for longer buying cycles where multiple touchpoints matter.

AI-Optimized Campaigns

The latest AI-driven ad tools automatically optimize placements, audiences, and spend across multiple channels at once. Powerful when guided by the right strategy — flat-out wasteful without it.

125+ 5-Star Reviews

Don't take our word for it.

Josh was quick to reply and great to work with. I would highly recommend and look forward to the next opportunity we get to work with him.

Had a great experience working with Josh! Super easy to work with and really knows his stuff - especially when it comes to lighting and editing for interior shots. The photos turned out amazing, with just the right vibe we were going for. We ended up adding a few extra shot requests last minute, and Josh had no problem fitting them in. He also helped with staging, which made a big difference, and the drone footage was a great bonus. His pricing was very reasonable for the quality we got. Great value for money. We’ll definitely be hiring him again for future shoots!

We recently Had Travis and his team build a custom website for our Boat Dealership. Nixons Marine.. Josh, Nick and Travis were awesome. We got tired of the common dealer site and they hit it out of park with our website. What a great project!! Thanks So Much for making it easy..

Fantastic service! Cougar Digital gave me very professional one-to-one couching! This is making a significant impact on my projects!

Our website turned out great! Nick was super easy to work with really made the process a breeze. Josh was our photographer for our website, after seeing the results from the first shoot we had to schedule for another! The pictures turned out better than imagined. Josh did a great job staying out of our crews way but managed to catch all the action with great detail. 10/10 would recommend to anyone!

Josh and Cougar Digital did an amazing job on a video for an event. We were super proud to show it to donors and had a wonderful response by community members regarding the video. Well done Josh and Cougar Digital!

I originally had a very basic logo for my business, but after Travis, at Cougar Digital, kicked it up a few notches, now it really stands out! I have used them for a number of graphics projects since, including business card and rack card designs and I am always impressed with what they produce! They are very easy to work with as well.

I honestly don't know where to start. My partners and I could not be happier with the process from start to finish working with Ashley and Cougar Digital Marketing. It was an absolute pleasure working with Ashley and I would recommend her to anyone who is looking to either create a website for their business or enhance their current one like we did. The service and pricing we experienced completely exceeded our expectations.

Thank you Cougar Digital. Over the past couple of years we have worked with Cougar Digital for rebranding, website updates, new logo, updating our business card and promotional material. They also produced an amazing testimonial video - so much fun working with Josh and his team to create this. I can’t begin to express how happy we are with the work Cougar Digitial has completed for us over the years. They are professional, punctual, very creative and so easy to work with. Looking forward to our partnership for years to come. I would highly recommend Cougar Digitial. Our team at New Leaf Creations is thankful for all of your amazing work and looking forward to working with Cougar Digital in the future.

Had a great experience working with Josh! Super easy to work with and really knows his stuff - especially when it comes to lighting and editing for interior shots. The photos turned out amazing, with just the right vibe we were going for. We ended up adding a few extra shot requests last minute, and Josh had no problem fitting them in. He also helped with staging, which made a big difference, and the drone footage was a great bonus. His pricing was very reasonable for the quality we got. Great value for money. We’ll definitely be hiring him again for future shoots!

I have been working with the team and Cougar Digital now for almost five years and I genuinely love working with them. They have become such valuable partners on the marketing side of our business. I can't recommend them strongly enough!! I would give them 10 stars if I could!!!

Very easy to work with and extremely professional. Cougar Digital was able to take our vision and make it a reality as well as making it easy and seamless. I would highly recommend Cougar Digital to anyone!

Cougar digital has been an awesome! Basin Pacific Insurance could not be more happy about the work that they have done, the personal experience, and the creative ideas! Keep up the good work! Josh Toner/ Basin Pacific Insurance

We've had a great experience working with Cougar Digital. We purchased a package deal with a new logo, photography and web design for the Grace Brethren Church of Sunnyside. Nick and Josh were both great to work with. We've had a lot of positive feedback on the work they've done.

We had an amazing experience working with Josh at Cougar Digital for our excavation company's new website. He was extremely professional, detail-oriented, and made the entire photo shoot and drone footage process seamless. The quality of the photos and drone shots exceeded our expectations, capturing our work in a way that truly showcases our expertise. Josh's professionalism and creative eye made a huge difference, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Highly recommend him and Cougar Digital for any photography and digital needs!

Great company, great people. Vision matched customer expectation!

Cougar Digital Marketing & Design assisted us in developing a logo for our apple fruit development project. Their creativity, knowledge, guidance, and patience through the process was remarkable. We are very happy with the resulting concept and image. We highly recommend Josh and Travis at CDMD for your media marketing needs.

Cougar Digital answered the phone, literally. During a company name change, we reached out to multiple design and marketing groups from the Tri-Cities to Walla Walla to Spokane. Although we'd left messages with each vendor, Cougar was the only one courteous enough to respond. After a couple consultations, Joshua Kandle, Director of Marketing took charge of the design of our new company logo. With patience and professionalism, he listened to our concepts and following a series of modifications, he created a logo that is printed on millions of labels and boxes that're shipped globally. The logo is headlined on our website and our email, along with being printed on our work garments. Digital art might be easy with today's technology, but without Joshua's patient nature and ability to listen to our ideas, the incredible logo wouldn't have been possible. Vehemently I recommend Cougar Digital. They're professional yet personable. They're communicative and driven while remaining patient.

Cougar digital marketing is a fantastic company for your online marketing needs I had couple estimates on building my website cougar digital was one of the highest but their knowledge and responsive put them apart from other marketing companies which is why chose them best dollars I've spent for my business is here

Josh did a great job making a couple of highlight videos for me. Easy to work with and prompt service

Cougar Digital took my website to a whole new level! They are very professional and knowledgeable and did excellent work. They also filmed a few videos for me that turned out amazingly well! They were very responsive to what I wanted and envisioned and were extremely patient with me. I would highly recommend them to anyone!

It is always a pleasure working with Cougar Digital, especially with Josh and Mykaela. It's been a very good partnership with them. Very professional, always available for any questions or inquiries. Looking forward for more years of partnership.

This team is awesome! they truly have most things figured out and thought through before you walk through the door. And the unknowns are easily resolved with their level of professionalism! We cant say enough about Ashley the design manager and Josh the photographer! They both made the process fun and easy and we were constantly surprised by the “WOW” factor! Thank you all and we look forward to future growth for both our small businesses.

Greatly appreciate the work that Josh and the Cougar Digital Marketing team did for our organization. We had a vague vision and they were able to make it better than we could have imagined. Appreciate their flexibility to work with us on a short turnaround and their suggestions for making the best video possible.

Josh was fantastic to work with! He took Real Estate photography photos on the 14th, and had all of them beautifully edited and back to me in 24 hours! Highly recommend his services!

Cougar Digital has been great to work with! With their support we have seen significant improvement with our marketplace campaigns.

I used Cougar Digital Marketing for a personal Christmas gift in 2024. Josh was professional, friendly, and helpful throughout the whole process from setting up location and time for photos, to helping me through the purchasing process to get the photos printed. The Christmas gift was my father's favorite this year-- thank you , Cougar Digital Marketing!

Cougar Digital worked closely with us to create a website for our business that truly reflects our vision. They dedicated time and effort to ensure every detail aligned with our goals, and the end result exceeded our expectations. We’re extremely happy with the final product and appreciate their commitment to quality.

Shared my vision in words and they were able to make a masterpiece on print!

Working with Cougar Digital on our logo design was fantastic! Their creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail brought our vision to life, delivering a result that exceeded our expectations. Highly recommend their team!

We highly recommend Cougar Digital Marketing for their exceptional marketing services. We used them initially to build our new website for our commercial and residential General Contracting company, and we signed on with them for future partnership hours. We have been pleased with the seamless results Travis's company has provided us. The team's collaboration and communication with the website designer, Ashlie, the marketing guru, Josh, and the photographer, Mykayla, were ALL GREAT. Having these marketing resources under one roof has made our transition from our last website company, much easier than expected. Their prompt availability and amazing support made the entire experience enjoyable. We are extremely satisfied with the results and grateful for their partnership and guidance!

My class and I had a great time learning from Josh about his background, experience in design and video, and creative process. Thank you so much for volunteering!!

Always a pleasure to work with the Cougar Digital Marketing & Design team! They excel in creativity, effectiveness and efficiency.

Josh created a style guide for us to help with consistency throughout our agency. He did a great job creating the guide with little information. He did a great job explaining everything to us. He went above and beyond troubleshooting a zip file issue. Our services with Josh Kandle were 5-star service! He was kind, patient, thoughtful with his work and helpful with creativity in our style guide as well and assisting with technical difficulties. Thanks again Josh!

I really love the team approach with Travis and the group, they are very professional, organized, and skilled at what they do. I wish I had employed them for my website and advertising years ago. I regret spending so much money trying to do it on my own or with cheap services that took my money and did nothing. I feel like they are MY team, and I feel I'm not alone trying to achieve my business goals to get my services out to the public.

Ashley is very easy to communicate with and quick to respond when you have questions. Ashley is very attentive to your ideas. My website gets very high compliments.

Had a great experience with Cougar Digital. We lost our photographer last minute and called Cougar Digital and they stepped up and really did a bang up job for us. Plus their WSU Alum and that added good fun to the shoot. Super appreciate these guys and recommend them to anyone. #AGENT509

If you need a website. Call these guys and you won't be disappointed. You'll be surprised at how affordable they are and with the great LOCAL customer service they provide. These guys know their stuff.

I am the Office Manager of a business that badly needed a website reworked. I knew that Cougar Digital was up to the task, but I was unsure of my own Manager. He really didn't want to go through the steps to work with anyone on anything like a website. Nick was fabulous (as in over the top) in his Customer Service skills with a very hard to work with man. The professionalism of Cougar Digital, coupled with the patience and skills of Nick, provided my Manager with everything he needed to get a new website. The website is beautiful and I am one very pleased customer. I will always go to Cougar Digital for all of my marketing needs.

Josh Kandle was excellent to work with on remaking our branding guidelines, etc. He was helpful, patient and his work was outstanding. Thanks Cougar Digital and Josh for making this process so great.

I would highly recommend Cougar Digital Media! They worked with us on creating the exact vision we had for our website, they worked around our schedule to make sure the website matched our vision. Working with Nick went as smoothly as it could go, he went above and beyond with his creativity!

Josh was easy to work with. He returned my calls and emails promptly! And he did amazing job. I will not hesitate to reach out to him again for up coming projects!

Cougar Digital has been an outstanding company to work with. Excellent customer service, response time & product! Highly recommend!

Service is the difference!! Ashley is super sharp and ahead of the curve but the real value is access and responsiveness. Other providers I have had were great until they got paid then very slow to respond to updates and changes I needed. Ashley is lighting in a bottle and handles updates and changes with urgency as well as keeps us informed of new emerging opportunities to consider. Highly reccomend. It would be a Mistake not to give her a meeting before deciding who to partner with.

Travis and his team are amazing. They were quick to communicate, completely understood what we were looking for, and delivered an amazing product by the deadline requested. We can’t recommend them enough!

We love Cougar Digital! We have worked with them on various projects - rack cards, posters, banners, even a couple commercials. They're friendly, helpful, creative, and truly and do great work. We would recommend them to anyone!

Travis, Josh and everyone at Cougar Digital have been super to work with. They have become a partner in our business. Our web design and online media presence has greatly improved by implementing their recommendations. They go the extra mile.

Josh and the Cougar Digital team did an amazing job with a drone video production that included narration. The quality of audio and video show a professional production level. I appreciate the attention to detail and quality of work by the Cougar Digital team.

It has been a pleasure working with Cougar Digital. From managing our ads, rebuilding our website, and maintaining our Google reviews, we have been more than satasfied. We also have no problem getting a hold of them with any questions we may have or help we may need. I highly recommend them! Thank you, Alison and the rest of us at Columbia Basin Satellite & Electric

We absolutely loved working with Cougar Digital on the launch of our new website and throughout several incredible photo shoots. From start to finish, their team was creative, responsive, and truly understood our vision.

Digital Advertising FAQs

Questions? We've heard 'em all.

If you’re thinking it, there’s a good chance someone else asked it too. 

How much should I budget for online advertising?
How will I know if my ads are working?
How soon will I start seeing results?
Why do I need different types of ads? Shouldn’t one be enough?

Digital Marketing for Busy Professionals

Learn more. Grow faster.

Quick, useful reads to help you think bigger and market smarter.

Free Digital Marketing Consultation

Let's talk about your online advertising strategy.

No hard pitch. Just an honest conversation about your goals and whether we're the right fit.