How Your Digital Marketing Agency Puts Your Best Foot Forward Using Display Ads
The average person sees anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day.
Take a guess at where most of those ads live. It’s not billboards overlooking the highway or fliers stapled to telephone poles. It’s definitely not your wad of junk mail hawking discount pizza and oil changes. The majority of those ads you’re exposed to are on the internet, many of which are display ads.
You need display ads in your digital marketing strategy. Let’s explore why.
What is a Display Ad?
Display ads are a form of digital marketing that advertise a business, product, or service using attention-grabbing images or video. They are the digital billboards and fliers of the internet, positioned off to the side and at the very top of practically every webpage, app, and social media site you visit.
Programmatic display ads are one of the least expensive and most utilized forms of digital marketing; however, they have a way of flying under our respective radars. People are shown thousands of display ads on any given day, but only a handful are actually clicked on. The average click-through rate on a display ad is a mere 0.08 percent.
Why so low?
As savvy internet browsers, we’ve trained ourselves to only pay attention to the things that we’re looking for. People don’t read everything; they skim as they scan content for keywords or images that are relevant to the thing they’re hunting for. If a person is shopping for new running shoes, their brain has tunnel vision on the shoes they’re looking for and not much else.
Searching terms like “men’s running shoes” or “best running shoes” tells the Google search engine that you’re interested in seeing a certain type of product.
Then – almost like magic – it appears: a display ad for running shoes. Finally, something worth clicking on.
So, how does this happen? That’s the brilliance of a digital marketing strategy hard at work.
Although programmatic display ads have a low click-through rate on average, they are integral to an overall strategy and are a cost-effective way of creating brand awareness.
What Do Display Ads Bring to the Table? Are They Really Worth It?
We’re a digital marketing agency that prides itself on being transparent and upfront with our clients. Display ads definitely serve a purpose, but they can only do so much, and we always recommend combining them with other forms of marketing like paid search ads, search engine optimization (SEO), social media management, and other digital marketing solutions for an omnichannel campaign.
Now that your expectations are reasonably managed, let’s dive a little deeper into what display ads can do for you and your brand.
#1 – Programmatic Ads Give You a Ton of Exposure for Very Little Money
Exposure. Brand awareness. How do you create these? The answer – display ads. The big reason many companies (especially new ones) like display ad campaigns is that it gets their brand in front of thousands of eyeballs for very little in cash.
Display ad campaigns are bought on a cost per mille (CPM) basis, or cost per thousand impressions. The price fluctuates, but some display ad campaigns have CPMs as low as 50 cents. Even if you have a tiny marketing budget, you can create a lot of awareness for your brand using display ads.
#2 – Display Ads Are Visually Appealing (When Done Right)
Although the majority of display ads fly under the radar, there are a fair few that grab the attention of potential customers. The perfect combination of great copy and appealing graphic design can create a truly exceptional display ad.
In our experience, visually appealing display ads get more clicks. And not to toot our own horn, but we’re one of the few ad agencies in Kansas City that happen to be really good at creating those for our clients.
#3 – Programmatic Display Ads Are Targeted to a Specific Type of Customer
You probably have a good idea of who your customer base is. You know what they like and their interests. You know their approximate age, where they’re located, and if they skew mostly male or female.
The cool thing about display ads is you can use that info to your advantage. The Google Display Network allows you to target based on demographic, interests, and geographic location. Being able to specify your target audience helps stretch your marketing dollars and ensures your display ads are only served to a relevant audience.
#4 – Display Ads Allow You to Retarget
Have you ever been on a website doing some casual shopping, but then you decided not to buy anything and left? Sure, you have. We’ve all done that.
Have you ever gone to a different site and then seen a display ad from the first site that you were on beckoning you to come back? That, my friend, is an example of retargeting (aka remarketing).
Display ads are so intelligent these days that they will appear on other sites that your visitors go to. It’s like the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” Retargeting is an effective display ad campaign type to get your visitors to give your brand a second look.
#5 – Display Ads Are Measurable
Here at iFocus, we love data. We love it so much that we use it to justify virtually every decision that we make. Digital marketing in Kansas City is competitive, so we use data to outsmart the competition.
So, what kind of data do display ads give us? Quite a lot, actually.
When running a display ad campaign, we’ll be able to see how many clicks your ads are getting, how many impressions, and how many times your ads converted into a purchase. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Our analytics team can get far more granular with their analysis to paint a more comprehensive picture of how your campaign is performing and how to optimize it. You’ll see exactly where your marketing dollars are going.
Ready to Make Display Ads Part of Your Digital Marketing Strategy? iFocus Can Help!
As one of the leading ad agencies in Kansas City, we know a good programmatic display ad campaign when we see one. In order for a display ad campaign to be effective, it needs to be well crafted, expertly targeted, and consistently optimized.
Looking for a marketing agency near you that can create the perfect display ad campaign that converts impressions into leads? You’ve come to the right place.
Get in touch with iFocus Marketing today about crafting a digital marketing strategy that’s tailored to you and your brand. The best way to get started is by requesting a free discovery call with one of our business development professionals.
Brandon Tietz is a senior digital copywriter at iFocus Marketing with close to a decade of marketing experience. He has written for clients in retail, real estate, automotive, education, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer goods, and several other spaces. In addition to copywriting, he has authored books, published short stories, written for several online and print publications, and was named “Best Local Writer” by The Pitch for his debut novel. He’s currently living the dream in the ‘burbs with his wonderful wife and their two dogs, Dr. Croutons and Professor Pickles.
