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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.

I enjoyed working with Josh. Josh explains things in a way that make easily understandable for someone who is not in the marketing industry.

Working with Cougar Digital to launch a campaign for kids to support the Prosser Boys & Girls Club. I was impressed with their creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail. They helped us to achieve incredible results and bring our ideas to life!

Excellent service and good pricing. It was a pleasure working with Travis and his team. I highly recommend them!

Josh produced an outstanding web site for TRI-CITY MUSIC. He ad access to numerous resources that made for an amazing finished product. Josh also provided extensive training on how to update the website myself. I have received numerous positive comments on Josh's creation. For outstanding product and service, I recommend Josh.

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.

It was a pleasure to work with Joshua, he made us all feel comfortable despite not having experience speaking in front of a camera. I would totally recommend Josh and his team. The video was exceptional!

Cougar Digital has been extremely easy to work with. The owner and staff are all courteous and friendly. We're really happy with our experience with the whole team and their overhaul they did on our website. I would definitely recommend them if you're needing to update your website. They've been great and are always happy to help!

Cougar Digital is a top notch company. As a business owner you have to be sure that the dollars you are spending are worth the result. All too often we are promised things that never materialize. These guys deliver and they make it easy. I am not computer savvy and I'm sure asked dumb questions. They took all the time necessary to help make sure I understood and was comfortable. Great people too. Highly recommend.

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

Working with the Cougar Digital Marketing team was an absolute delight. Truly good people who are VERY skilled at what they do. Running a large regional food company, it's a blessing to work with an experienced digital team here locally, and not have to seek services in the Seattle or Portland market. I highly recommend working with Cougar Digital!

Cougar Digital Marketing & Design does outstanding work. Prosser School District has utilized their expertise on multiple occasions to assist in communicating our message. They are easy to work with and most importantly, they deliver!

Cougar Digital Marketing ROCKS! I've worked with Travis and Josh from the very beginning. These folks know their stuff and do a fantastic job with website design & promotion, digital photography and so much more. Their services are very reasonably priced and they know how to GET RESULTS. Great BANG for your marketing BUCK. Look no further that Cougar Digital - these folks will take good care of you.

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.

Cougar Digital has been immensely helpful in launching my business website. Being new to the business world, they were patient, professional and diligent in getting my website looking absolutely wonderful. They provided me with the tools to make the website impressive and productive. Further, the opportunity to have the website monitored and refined by Cougar Digital relieves me of a great deal of stress.

Josh did a great job on my headshot. He provided a timely appointment and spent the time to make sure he got the best shot. He was even willing to try several different locations. I would recommend him for anybody looking to update the professional photos.

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!

So great to have a guy like Josh and the Cougar Digital team in your corner. Professional, fast, and awesome to work with.

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

Very grateful for Cougar Digital's marketing work for my medical practice. They really helped increase my online presence and improve my ratings online. I have referred my colleagues to Cougar.

These guys are great! It's always an interesting scenario when you begin a relationship with a new company. I will say that from experience Cougar Digital is one of the easiest and highly educated companies to work with. If you have a question a quick email or call gets an answer. If you have an idea these guys will without a doubt help to the best of their ability. I'm no expert in the marketing world but Cougar Digital makes me feel like I have everything I would ever need at my fingertips. Thanks a ton guys, we look forward to our continued partnership!

We have nothing but great things to say about Cougar Digital Marketing! Travis took the time to understand our goals, worked around our schedule, and went above and beyond to make our vision come to life. Ashley was a whiz and was always available when we needed her. Our site turned out better than we imagined. Can't recommend them enough.

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!

Very helpful and easy to work with. They thought about everything that we needed on our website and it looks amazing! Very satisfied.

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.

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 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!

Love working with these guys. Thanks for making us look good!

Josh Kandle and his team did a great job educating us about the importance of up-to-date digital tools, and how quickly out-of-date solutions can hinder our on-line reach. The solutions he offered were more than fairly priced, paid immediate dividends, and I am happy to refer him to any business in need of a productive digital marketing program.

Cougar did a wonderful job with our new site. Ashley and Travis were extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. We will definitely be coming back for any needs in the future!

Great experience designing and launching my new website!

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.

Ashley redid our website. She was professional, quick, and listened to all of our requests. Thank you!

The Cougar Digital team is fantastic. We recently revamped our website. I worked closely with Faith and she was super friendly and helpful every time we talked whether it was email, phone, or in person. The whole team works together to make sure everything is perfect and taken of. They really took our needs into consideration. Thanks!

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

Josh Kandle was absolutely terrific to work with and the quality of his product is outstanding. Josh made great use of our time and was very collaborative for our project. I would highly recommend Cougar Digital Marketing they produce great product at awesome value. Cheers, George Stanley General Manager Audi/BMW Tri Cities

Josh did a great job on our logo! He even let us sit with him at his personal computer so we could be involved with the finishing touches. Thanks Josh and Thanks Cougar Digital!!

Excellent service. Creative work. They understand what you are trying to do and deliver! So enjoyable to work with them!

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

Cougar Digital provides excellent follow through on all our projects. We trust them with developing solutions for our email marketing campaigns, graphic design, and collateral creation. Their designs are used by our partners nationally. We count on them for specific website support work and they always come through for us. They are solution oriented and their upbeat, friendly customer service is unparalleled.

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!

Cougar Digital's team has provided us with fast and courteous service that is paying dividends. We couldn't be more pleased with their positive, can do attitude and would recommend them to anyone wanting to separate themselves from their competition. Aperneo thanks you as well!

Travis and his team are top notch and very professional! They kept us on tract to make our website target date with daily/weekly tasks. They made the job seamless and supported us through the whole process! Our site is interactive with our industry software because Travis took the extra time to learn what we needed to make it work. Thank you so much Cougar Digital!

These guys are top notch! Very knowledgeable and helpful!

The team at Cougar Digital Marketing are great to work with! They were very professional throughout the entire process of creating a beautiful website for me. Every member of the team I worked with was attentive to all of my questions/needs and they delivered exactly what I was hoping for in a website. I am so glad I found them!

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

Mykaela Faulconer at Cougar Digital is one of my favorite people to work with, ever, across the board. She is incredibly talented, and has done consistently stellar graphic design for me and my team at Tri-City Orthopaedic Clinic. I have never had a bad interaction with Mykaela, and she goes above and beyond to provider exemplary customer service at every turn. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work with Mykaela on a daily basis. Everyone at Cougar Digital is amazing, and I would recommend them whole-heartedly.

Cougar Digital should be your only call for web design. I would give them 6 stars if I could. #Silverline

Josh and his crew go above and beyond. He offers very personalized service and is always willing to go the extra mile. He never hesitates to come in to my office and personally show my staff how they can maximize their services. I've wasted too much money over the past few years on worthless SEO. It's great to have someone local who is accountable and provides fantastic service!

Working with Josh Kandle on several video projects was such a great experience . He is not only a real pro and easy to work with but he was also so open to all of my ideas for creativity and understood a lot of what I was looking for as an independent recording artist. i would highly recommend him and look forward to hopefully being able to do more in the future. ~ Lisa Mitts, Recording Artist Songwriter, Performer

It was such a pleasure working with Cougar Digital. Not only was the process fast and easy, the work they created is amazing! Josh gave us a variety of different options to work with after taking the time to carefully listen to our needs. He made every little detail count and really brought our vision to life. We will definitely continue to work closely as our business continues to expand. Thank you, we could not be any happier.

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.