Why Advertise With Display Ads

Have you ever visited a website but then had ads for that particular site following you across the internet? That company is implementing what are known as Display Ads!

Display Ads are graphic images that are used to advertise a product or service through Google’s Display Network. Commonly known as Banner Ads, Display Ads function differently than text ads because they are not found in search results. They can be found on billions websites and apps, and appear in many shapes and sizes to attract the user to take a specified action.

The Power of Re-Targeting

Re-targeting, also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that can help keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they have left your site. When used with Display Ads, your visual advertisements become a constant reminder of your business to increase both awareness and conversions.

For example, on ecommerce or shopping site a user may place something in his or her cart and then leave the site without purchasing. Ads can then be used to advertise exactly what that user placed in his or her cart to get them to complete the purchase that they left before.

This is a highly efficient method to keep those products top of mind for the customer. Until they clear their browser’s cookies, they will continue to receive ads targeted directly at them. More times than not, this will lead them to ultimately purchasing the product they originally abandoned.

The “Rule of 7”

Known as the “Rule of 7”, it’s a common adage in the marketing community that a consumer must see, hear, or interact with an advertiser’s message at least 7 times before they’ll take action. This theory was developed by the movie industry in the 1930’s when they discovered how many times a consumer needed to see their promotions to interest them into seeing their film.

Today, consumers are bombarded by messaging in every aspect of their life. From TV, print, social media, radio, digital – it can be overwhelming at times. However, studies have shown that the premise of the “Rule of 7” still holds true. While nowadays, 7 impressions over a month’s time may not be enough to become relevant in the consumer’s eyes, the principle of serving consistent messaging repeatedly does help increase the awareness, perception, and brand recall in the consumer’s mind.

How Do I Cut Through the Noise?

The key to rising above the noise is by creating a thoughtful content strategy. No longer are long, text heavy advertisements the best method of capturing the consumer’s interest. According to a study done by Microsoft in 2015, the average consumer has an attention span of 8 seconds. That is one second less than a goldfish! Therefore, your ad must quickly communicate your message before losing their attention.

People remember only 20% of what they read but 80% of what they see. So, in your 8-seconds of attention, wouldn’t you rather have an 80% chance of the consumer retaining your message? A well thought-out display ad can provide you that opportunity. when implemented properly.

Increase Awareness of Your Brand to Consumers That Matter

Making consumers aware of your brand is the first step to developing lifelong customers. This can be accomplished through a Display Brand-Engagement campaign. A campaign based on brand-engagement builds awareness and positive associations with your company and its products and/or services.

Part of the strategy for the campaign is to purposefully serve ads to those that are actually interested in your products or services. This can be done with affinity audiences. Unique to Google Display Ads, affinity audiences utilize Google’s vast array of consumer insights and data to target individuals based on a holistic picture of their lifestyles, passions, and habits. Those within a designated affinity audience have demonstrated a qualified passion in a given topic, allowing advertisers to reach the people that matter most with their products or offerings.

For example, if a TV network is wanting to promote their new comedy sitcom, they can use the “TV Comedy Fans” affinity audience to reach relevant viewers. Because of Google’s wide reach, there are affinity audiences to reach nearly any topic segment (see the full list of them here!).

If your products or services don’t fall into a specific affinity audience, display ads can also utilize custom affinity audiences. Custom affinity audiences can take visitor data from similar websites (such as direct competitors) and relevant keywords to target ads towards those individuals.  This can be a great way for new brands in niche industries to introduce their products alongside major brands, providing consumers an alternative option for a product they already are known to purchase.

Beyond affinity audiences, Google Display Ads can also target consumers based upon detailed demographics, life events, CRM data, similar audiences and based off a user’s previous purchases (custom intent). You can learn more about these features here.

How To Start Advertising With Google Display Ads

Anyone can start advertising with Google Display Ads, but there are many factors that need to be considered in order to develop a successful campaign. Contrary to belief, Google Ads is not a set-and-forget-it sort of deal. It is a constantly varied, ever changing advertising platform. Those that see it as a set-and-forget type of outlet will find that their advertising endeavors won’t produce positive results. The best way to get the most out of a Google PPC campaign is to have a targeted, ever-evolving strategy that requires constant tweaking and adjustments to result in a high return on investment (ROI).

It is for this reason that, unless you are a PPC pro, we suggest hiring a Display Ads management service, such as Boost Creative. The team at Boost Creative are up to date on all the best practices of digital marketing, Google Ads, and have experience optimizing accounts to provide clients the best ROI possible. We are Google Partners, meaning we have a proven track record of success – verified by Google themselves! Contact us today if you are interested to learn how Boost can help your digital marketing efforts.