Local digital advertising makes it easier than ever for SMBs to match the presence of national brands. Even companies that have never advertised before are taking advantage of its ability to deliver prime customers at point-of-purchase.

Just one slice of this market — location-targeted mobile ads — is expected to grow from $8.5 billion last year to $26.7 billion in 2020, at which point local digital advertising spending is expected to capture 43% of mobile ad spend in the U.S., according to MarketingCharts.

But before you jump in, here are a few things you'll want to know.

What is ad blocking? From the perspective of consumers, the prospect is win-win. Not only can they bypass content they didn't elect to see, but they can save on data costs by not loading it. However, for marketers, this can seem like a zero-sum game. It's easy to get frustrated by this behavior, but taking a hard look at where ad blocking is happening (and where it is going) can help you get in front of this growing trend.

What Is Ad Blocking?

Most marketers know that ad blocking is add-on software that users seek out and download with the intent of stopping display ads from loading on a requested page. While the concept is pretty straightforward, the "add-on" part of the equation is somewhat mystifying. Many consumers simply don't bother to seek out browser extensions, making it less of a pressing issue than some marketers might fear. In fact, data reported by Fortune shows that only 6 percent of Internet users around the world are actively blocking ads. Although that figure is low, the same report shows that ad blocking is on the rise, particularly among millennials.

The trick to hosting a successful event isn't just putting on a show that people will enjoy. More often than not, it's a matter of making sure interested fans know about the event in the first place. With so much digital content competing for the attention of customers, it's easy for a promising event to get lost in the fray.

Thanks to location-based targeting strategies, digital channels have become a valuable way to address this issue and dispense event marketing materials. Brands can seek out smart partnerships and relevant advertising destinations to reach their target audience and build interest for their event weeks — or months — in advance.

If you're looking for more from Facebook advertising, you're not alone. According to Marketing Land, the percentage of retail orders from social media actually decreased from the previous year. Overall, less than two percent of holiday sales in 2015 could be attributed to social media conversions, but Facebook still remains the largest social media platform, and its capabilities offer incredible potential - even if it's not driving sales. These simple tactics will help you make the most of Facebook advertising and improve your social media marketing overall.

Converting competitors' customers into your own is an art form. Beyond being the best at what you do, you need to beat the competition at their own game. If you want your business to grow, you must constantly be seeking new opportunities. It's only logical that the most effective place to seek out those opportunities is among users who are already inclined to purchase your products and services. As the information economy evolves, there are several highly effective strategies for nabbing the competition's audiences.

Bidding on Competitors' Brand Keywords

One strategy involves going right to the source — include your competition's brand name in your pay-per-click ad campaign. You may have seen this plan in action when you're searching for a particular store or item and another brand name pops up. The challenge, however, is to keep your quality score high. Consumers looking for Best Buy may not be happy to see Bob's Computer Services pop up, and search engines will rank your ads and site lower for that. But for new businesses, or in markets where there is brand confusion, this can be a highly effective technique.

Though the death of banner ads was predicted long ago, 2016 is set to defy expectations and actually be (and you'll have to pardon the expression here ) a banner year for banner ads, as display advertising is set to eclipse search advertising for the first time ever in the U.S. According to eMarketer, marketers will spend more on banner ads than any other type of digital advertising this year. In order to fully take advantage of this blockbuster year for banner ads, take a quick look at some banner ad best practices for 2016.

No Flash, No Problem

Though Flash was an essential plugin back in the early 2000s, times have changed, and Flash is getting more outdated by the second. Almost every one of the major desktop browsers has stopped natively supporting it. These browsers' users now need to manually enable the plugin to view Flash content. Though nearly one in 10 websites still uses Flash, according to Web survey site W3Techs, Ad Age reports that if all the major browsers were to disable Flash suddenly, roughly 84 percent of banners across the Internet would not be viewable on desktop browsers. To avoid issues with Flash's decline, marketers should switch over to HTML5 as soon as possible to ensure that their banner ads are viewable for all browsers in the new year.

Earlier this year, Ad Age proclaimed, "ROI Is Dead." It's certainly true that the digital age has given rise to many more tools measuring ad engagement and tracking consumer behavior, so it makes sense to create new metrics. But where to start? The sheer number of variables — Are your customers using mobile or desktop? Are they on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook? — makes for a daunting list of factors to consider. It's tough to know what really constitutes ad engagement in this complex new marketing world.

Reaching Consumers Where They Are — Literally!

Whereas in the past, dealers had to rely mainly on commercials and flashy billboards to entice customers into their stores, today they have the added benefit of being able to reach consumers in real time right when they're in the neighborhood. As consumers continue to spend more and more time on mobile devices, it's important to reach them where they are — not only where they'll be most likely to see your message, but where they'll be the most receptive to respond to it. That means using geofencing to serve ads in social networking apps, Web browsers and other mobile applications to target consumers who are close by your dealership. You can target consumers while they are out car shopping and serve them a deal right when they're in your neighborhood.

Mobile commerce has changed the way consumers behave. Today, not only can you order exactly what you want no matter where a retailer is located, but you can also check reviews and compare prices while on the go. Even your most exotic purchases can be made remotely - except, that is, when it comes to cars.

Despite a 2015 report from J.D. Power showing that more than half (51 percent) of new-vehicle buyers use a tablet or smartphone to conduct their car research — a 70 percent increase since 2012 — car buying today still means having to visit a car dealership. But for those car dealers, it's not business as usual. For them to succeed, they have to consider their consumers' new buying habits and use of mobile devices when pursuing the sale.

In today's online shopping era, consumer activity is far from anonymous. In fact, there are tools available that allow you to track a user's online behavior to determine whether or not that user is a member of your target audience. You can then use this data to generate ad displays through a process known as search retargeting.

What Is Search Retargeting?

According to Econsultancy, search retargeting is "a form of 'behavioral retargeting' where a user of a search engine will be targeted with display ads based on their search queries." This retargeting process uses a consumer's online search history to build a user profile and present relevant ads to him or her. So, for example, if someone searched for a new couch online earlier in the week, he may see a weekend sale for a local furniture retailer show up in a Facebook ad a couple days later. Or if a consumer searched for running shoes online, she might see that very same pair of shoes in a video ad on another site.