Social media may be the darling of online marketing right now, but display advertising is the workhorse.

According to Forrester, online display is forecast to continue double-digit growth despite having been around since practically the beginning of the Internet. For advertisers who have not considered display lately, it is worth taking another look at this category. New techniques and tools are turning what used to be the billboard of the internet into brand-building machines.

Forget the Click

The first thing to know about planning a display ad campaign, is this: don’t plan your campaign around earning clicks.  The average click rate is really lousy: under 1 in 1000 viewers will click on a banner ad, according to Google. Furthermore, there is good evidence that a click-through-rate is not correlated with conversions. Metrics that have been seen to be a better indicator of success are engagement metrics such as hovers and interactions.

Plan for Brand Awareness

Plan your display campaign for building awareness, rather than just attracting site traffic through clicks. This makes sense when you consider the key elements of display ads that differentiate them from search ads.  Display ads allow for a greater degree of creativity.  They are more than just static graphics. Animation using flash or html5 allow you to create a brief narrative that catches and holds attention. Ads can be dynamic, meaning that certain elements will display differently according to information about the viewer’s location or behavior. Newer tools allow videos and smart maps to be embedded within the banner so that viewers can learn more without having to leave the page they were on.

Format limitations that you have to work within include the size and shape of the space allotted to the ad and the length of time that an animation can run -only 15 seconds without an interaction. If the viewer interacts with an ad, for example by hovering over an object, you can go on indefinitely.  Good ad creative actually entices viewers to interact, working like a small marketing funnel within the banner itself.

Get Creative

The biggest factor in the success of a display ad campaign is the quality of its creative design. As reported in recent study by Google and Dynamic Logic, the greatest variations in campaign metrics were largely due to differences in creative. Good creative will help viewers associate your value message with your brand name, so set up measurement systems that allow you to survey viewers on message association. Your message has to be very clear to get through effectively, so design accordingly. The brand or logo needs to be always clear and viewable. Don’t expect that the viewer will be paying attention from beginning to end of the animation, or that every viewer who is good prospective customer will hover or interact with the ad to receive the takeaway message.

Great for Lifting Other Methods

The most effective display ad campaigns are those that are designed to integrate with other efforts. Online and offline audiences are not separate from each other. If you have a parallel campaign running in print, on television, or even on outdoor display, make certain that the message and style are clearly related.  Seeing both channels will boost audience recall metrics. Running a display campaign alongside other channels provides lift that is arguably greater than the sum of each part. Even if you have to carve out a budget for display from other channels, the return you see back on that investment will be well worth what you give up in magazine placements, etc.

This post was contributed by Leslie Van Zee, Marketing Manager for Vantage Local. To learn more, browse the Vantage Local website.

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Today is a great day for new business
Today is a great day for new business