Posts Tagged ‘Display Advertising’

A GREAT time for Display Advertising! (?)

March 18th, 2009

With everyone professing the virtues of Search, I’d like to take a different view (as is my nature) and go on record stating that now is a GREAT time for cpm-based Display advertising. Why am I going against the grain on this one?  Since you asked, I’ll tell you.  But before I make my case, let me state that as an agency we have no bias towards any one type of media.  We always recommend paid search before display advertising.  But if you are suffering from a contraction in daily searches for your brand or products (as we are seeing across the board since 10/08), you probably need more reach, engagement, leads or sales.  So here’s something to think about.

First, this recession has forced advertisers to scale back on all forms of advertising and it’s widely reported that display advertising (banners, rich media) has been hit much harder than search, leaving a lot of unsold inventory.

Second, while Cost Per Action (CPA) deals are still competitive (maybe even more so today given the increasing focus on accountability) there is a lot of unsold inventory that is price on Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM).  Consequently, it has created a big opportunity to buy cpm media at much lower rates than in the past.  This has also been documented in recent months by many sources.  The price of display media is faling faster than the bubble teams in the NCAA.

Third, the drop in demand for display ads allows those who are advertising to have a much larger share of voice, and receive much more attention than in the past.  I don’t have any stats to back this up, but it stands to reason.  If you are the ONLY bank or car maker advertising, you have a pretty good chance of delivering your message now that there is much less competition and clutter.

Fourth, display media is cheaper and you now get greater visibility with your ads, you should see better performance.  It may not translate into immediate leads or sales (remember we’re still in a dark and scary place) but those who are in the market today and tomorrow are more likely to be influenced by your ads.  And that is the reason you advertise.

So if you are maximizing ROI from search and need more reach to make your numbers, look at display advertising.  P.S. – if you add display on top of search you’ll see a 20-30% improvement in conversion rates from Search.  So make sure you account for that when you are doing your display media planning.

Comments…. Questions….?  To quote the beloved Kramer (Seinfeld, not Mad Money) “Am I crazy or am I so sane that I just blew your mind?”

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Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Our Favorites!, Strategy

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The Truth About Display Advertising

January 16th, 2009

If you are reading this, you’re probably expecting to another pundit to start bashing display ads.  Sorry to disappoint you but I’m actually going to defend the proverbial step-child of online media (while 3rd party email as the proverbial adopted child).  If you are a step (as I am) or adopted (as my sister is) don’t take it personally.  This is just a metaphor…

Now back to my rant… with the meltdown in the economy and paralysis that has gripped consumers, display ads are taking a beating due to their perceived lack of effectiveness. According to AdWeek, “Forrester Research expects display ads to come under the scrutiny of tight-fisted marketers uncertain of their effectiveness.”  IMHO, the experts are taking a myopic view of the value of display.

I am not proposing that you invest heavily in display as your first buy.  Your first online ad dollars should go to paid search; that’s where you’ll get the biggest bang for you buck.  But if you are in a limited category or geographic area, Search alone may not help you make your revenue goals.  There are only so many searches every day.  And these days there are fewer than there used to be.

This is where Display ads can work very well.  As we’ve seen firsthand, adding display to your mix, after optimizing paid search, is an effective way to increase awareness and create demand that eventually results in more site traffic, leads and sales.  But unlike Search, you probably won’t see the direct link via click-thrus and conversions.  Just as billboards (though we may hate them) create awareness, so do banner ads (when properly targeted.  While Display ads may create awareness, they usually produce poor click-thru rates and even lousier conversion rates.  Most often, the impact of a good display campaign will show up in the form of a lift in branded searches, SEM click-thru rates and direct visits.  So you have to take a holistic view. Here is a chart (from a 1/09 client report) that demonstrates this concept:

For this campaign we quickly learned that search impressions were very limited. So to supplement search we started running display ads (4 weeks ago).  While some ads had decent CTRs, most of the increase in traffic came from Direct navigation, branded search and paid search.  As shown, the increase in impressions had a direct impact on site traffic. As long as conversion rates hold up, we’ll continue to invest in display. And given that Display Ad prices are falling faster than Wal-Mart closeout prices, this should become an even more attractive opportunity over time.

Caveat Emptor!  While Display does have a place in the mix, you have to make smart buys.  You need to target (demo, geo, behavioral, contextual, etc.), cap frequency and daily impressions, specify where they will (and will NOT) be served and have a good ad serving / web analytics system for reporting.  If not planned and executed well, it can be a waste of time and money.  But if done correctly, you can expand your category, increase awareness and preference, and extend ROI from your scarce marketing budget.

If you’d like to discuss or debate, comment below, contact me or look me up on Facebook or Twitter.

Peace!

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Posted in Advertising, Measurement, Our Favorites!

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