As the internet is becoming increasingly more visual, integrating display advertising into a marketing campaign is now more important than ever. A well-executed display ad campaign can have resounding success for brand awareness, generating sales leads, and selling products directly to a target market. In this post, I will address the basics display advertising, it’s versatility, and the benefits of including them in online marketing campaigns.
What is Display Advertising?
Display advertising is a form of online marketing that uses image-based ads. These ads are often referred to as banner ads that contain a strategic combination of images, logos, and minimal text. For each display ad creative, it is important to create three sizes, 160×600 pixels, 300×250 pixels, 728×90 pixels.
Why are Display Ads Important?
By 2017, Forrester Research estimates that online marketing spend will reach twenty-eight billion dollars, growing seventeen percent each year. Display advertising can be used to build brand awareness, reach potential new prospects, and help close sales that didn’t originally convert.
Design for the Audience
When designing and developing display ad creative, it is important to establish the objective of the campaign and the market it will target. With the limited amount of space available on display ads, they can easily become cluttered and busy, which end up distracting the user. The most effective display ads are tailored for the audience, reflect the brand, and include these elements:
- Use a brand-centered color palette to build brand awareness
- Keep copy to a minimum, a solid display ad will have no more than two messages
- Create a clear call to action with straight-forward, simple messaging that encourages the user to learn more and inevitably click on the ad
- Incorporate relevant imagery to the ad. Whether it’s a real-life action photo, or a bright colored background with simple artwork, both are value-added imagery
Target the Correct Audience
Display advertising offers extensive reach combined with advanced targeting. A wide net can be cast to reach a selected audience virtually anywhere they navigate on the web. The advanced targeting of display ads can be attributed to the rise of big data and the collection of search queries, interests, and websites visited by a user.
Display ad targeting can be done in a few ways:
- Serving ads on websites that provide content relevant to the target market
- Serving ads based on keywords and search queries (cheap bachelorette party supplies, best camping flashlights, etc.)
- Serving ads based on gender, age, and geographical location
- Serving ads based on interest groups (women’s health, college sports, etc.)
- Serving ads to either mobile, tablet, or desktop users
Stay in Front of Your Audience with Remarketing
Marketers and sales professionals can more effectively close the sale cycle through remarketing. It is a tactic that uses targeted display ads to stay in front of customers and close a sale that didn’t originally convert. E-Commerce websites can greatly benefit from this tactic by serving display ads featuring a specific product that a visitor wasn’t ready to purchase. This tactic keeps the product and the brand in front of the potential customer, increasing the probability that they will return to your website when they are ready to purchase.
For example, after an e-commerce site implemented display ads to their PPC campaign, they saw a 125% increase in the average price of items purchased and a 39% increase in quantity of items sold per transaction.
Whether you are a small, brick-and-mortar business or a large E-Commerce website, display advertising is a valuable tactic that should be incorporated into online marketing campaigns. Remember to keep the design simple, the messaging concise, and precisely target potential customers. As more and more consumers flock to the internet to research and buy products or services, make sure your business capitalizes on potential customers through targeted display advertising.
