Expand your digital marketing reach through optimising your display advertisements. With a range of display ad forms to choose from, each type works to project your brand to a wider audience and boost engagement.
With the growth of the internet and online media coverage, the digital advertising landscape has become vast, and the go-to marketing platform for many businesses. Whether you are just starting to advertise on the web, or have been doing so already, there are many different uses and methods to implementing digital advertising. One highly sought out tool by digital marketers is display ad marketing.
What is Display Advertising?
The main function of display advertising is to raise brand awareness through text, audio, and video based content on websites and social media platforms. Every moment people use social media, browse the web, or watch an online video, the advertisements displayed on the sides or in between feeds are display ads. While display ads are commonly used to spread brand awareness, businesses also aim to create retargeting campaigns through them.
Retargeting refers to targeting users who have visited your website and had a browse but left without completing an action such as purchasing or subscribing. Once businesses have this information, they can design their advertisements to entice these customers to come back and complete their action.
By raising brand awareness and through retargeting, display advertisements are the most effective for addressing the needs and wants of your potential customers. Through thorough data analysis and use of marketing tools, digital marketers seek to adhere to the interest pool of customers. For example, if your customer base collects sneakers and is constantly on the hunt for the latest releases, incorporating texts and visuals of limited sneakers for a giveaway deal may be the display advertisement you put on their feed.
As display ads can be used for several purposes, there are many types that each suit a specific marketing purpose. Depending on the format, it serves a unique purpose whether it be to raise brand awareness, retarget, or reach potential new customers.
Types of Display Ads
Selecting the right type of display ad format is critical in determining what message is communicated to customers. Ad formats send different types of messages to your audience, which when used appropriately, heavily impact the results of your advertisements.
Banner Advertisements
A banner ad is a straightforward, eye-catching collateral that has the distinctive features of an advertisement. Banners are usually found on the top of the landing page of a website, with visuals and texts that capture viewers’ attention. This form of display advertisement usually does not include audio or animation elements. Thus, the text and visual images should be relevant and attractive enough to catch people’s attention immediately.
Once a customer clicks on a banner advertisement, the most important thing is where they are taken to, commonly known as the landing page. Your potential customers are looking for a quick and easy navigation process through your website after seeing an advertisement. Thus, make sure the landing page includes all necessary information and any call-to-actions (CTAs). CTAs direct the user to your business’ target, whether that is to subscribe to a newsletter, make a purchase, or complete an online booking.
Video Advertisements
With an abundance of information circulating the internet, people’s attention spans have decreased over the years. An effective way to maintain and prolong the attention of customers is to use video display marketing. Although most video advertisements are seen on video content platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, or Netflix, they can still be effective on other social media networks.
A competitive advantage of video ads is the accessibility and engagement it provides for viewers. With the majority of people owning a smartphone now, video content can easily be presented to potential customers, who may even share the video with others. However, producing high quality and engaging video content can be challenging. In the fast-paced world of today, people prefer concise and direct messages in a video, so make sure to insert your product and CTA within the first few seconds. Furthermore, taking the time to make sure your video plays seamlessly on multiple devices such as tablets and smartphones will be more appealing to viewers.
Personalised Targeting Advertisements
Marketing to the general public may not attract the niche audience you are aiming for. To increase efficiency and draw more of your target audience, using personalised advertisements is an option. Personalised ads target consumers depending on their demographics and areas of interest. By collecting and analysing data from online users, such as topics they have shown interest in before, you can set a custom audience, and tailor content accordingly. This process is referred to as re-marketing, and according to Google Ads, there are 4 distinct types of personalised display ads.
An Affinity Targeting Display Ad advertises to people who have previously shown interest in your market. This can be categorised into a broader genre, for example, ‘Thai cuisine lovers’ or ‘musical interests’. Since affinity groups have room for broader definition, there are large numbers of individuals per group, allowing you to reach more people.
Similar to affinity groups, Custom Affinity Groups categorise consumers into a more specific category. For instance, within ‘musical interests,’ customers would be split into ‘piano players’ and ‘R&B singers’.
An In-market Display Ad can reach the precise group of people actively searching for products and services like yours. Although you may reach fewer people, those who see your ad have higher value and relevance.
Based on your current customers, Similar Audience advertisements target people who share a common interest or purchase behaviour as existing ones. There are many marketing tools to help you create a list for similar audiences to help widen your reach.
Interactive Advertisements
Interactive advertisements allow users to directly engage with your products through embedded features in an advertisement. An example of interactive ads is playable game advertisements. In between levels of a mobile game, there are ads that allow you to play a round of a different product, to test out a demo of the game’s interface. Providing your audience with a sneak peak of your product before making a purchase instills trust and heightens interest levels, and people are more likely to complete an action, such as making a purchase.
With the diverse options available to optimise your display ads marketing, consider your business’ main marketing objectives, and choose the optimal form to get the most out of your efforts. Whether it be to build brand awareness or to get new customers, digital display marketing is a powerful tool to incorporate into your strategy.
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