Keep the faith in display advertisement

Display is here and here to stay

Many marketers have lost faith in display advertising. The detractors say it is “branding” that folks no longer pay any attention to. I am here to tell you to that it is very much still viable form of advertising that every business should consider regardless of if they are B2C or B2B. Below are 5 reasons why display is here and here to stay.

 

  1. It is an Opportunity for a Good First Impression (pun intended)   These days your brand often gets its “first look” from prospective customers or clients online.
  2. Consciously or subconsciously when your brand is in front of people, it builds trust. Eventually, when that person forms a need after seeing your brand repeatedly, it is more likely to be considered than one they have never heard of or seen.
  3. It is a Powerful Overall Branding Tool
    As long as you take into account basic best practices for display advertising it can not only send traffic, but send traffic that is targeted and relevant to your marketing plan. It is important to consider your target audience, publisher’s site, your messaging, optimization efforts and overall strategy to bring them back after the initial visit.
  4. It is Retargeting’s Best Friend
    That initial traffic that is sent is just the first step (or first touch) with your brand and messaging. Once on-site, marketers can utilize tools like retargeting through services like Adroll. It allows a business to not only stay in front of it’s audience off-site, but also segment down based on the site-map from where the bounce occurs. This allows the messaging to be very granularly targeted based on last seen site content, making the opportunity for a return visit much higher.
  5. It is Cost Effective and a Solid ROI
    As long as the publisher sites, potential network runs, and retargeting vendors are researched diligently; display can be one of the best deals out there for marketers; even for businesses on a tight budget. A well thought out set of direct buys with a deep retargeting effort can fill all parts of the funnel and keep your web-site order forms and/or sales people busy.
  6. It Touches on All Points of Attribution
    Display is not only a branding effort, but an important marketing channel that can hit on many point along the path of attribution. What other channel can be the first, middle and last touch for a company/brand? Depending on your campaigns goals, display can play an integral role in getting both conversions (sales leads) and direct sales (ecommerce).

Display advertising allows for flexibility regardless of the goals of the spend, whether they are focused around “wide net” network media buys or “laser beam” focused retargeting efforts. It has been and remains a viable form of digital marketing, both for driving traffic and direct conversions. What types of display have you tried? What worked, what flopped?