How to Win The Battle Against Banner Ad Blindness
For years, marketers and brands have been up and arms about banner ad blindness.
Many believe that banner ads simply don’t work. They think impressions don’t matter. Ads are next to invisible, and no one clicks on them.
But, these marketers and brands are wrong -- and they could be majorly missing out by believing this myth.
Why Do People Believe in Banner Ad Blindness?
It’s easy to see why people believe in banner ad blindness.
There are a lot of reasons that lead to this thought. And, there are actually a lot of cases where banner ads are in fact ineffective.
- Many brands talk about banner ad blindness because they want you to use their platform. Most banner ad blindness conversations are spearheaded by businesses to explain why their platform or offering is better.
- Many brands and marketers don’t understand banner ads. This idea is also driven by companies who have been doing online advertising incorrectly for years or have been burned by wasting ad dollars on ineffective campaigns.
- Many brands and marketers use banner ads without a strategy behind it. Digital marketing is flooded with "wanna-be" type agencies where people think because they can run a Facebook ad campaign, they can be the next digital marketing company. They know how to set up an ad, but they don’t know how to strategical set up an ad.
But the truth is -- you can create big results with banner ads… if you know how.
Why People Aren’t Blind to Our Banner Ads
A majority of our clients use display advertising, and they are very effective and produce results that are much higher than the industry average.
Why is that?
Because we deliver ads on channels that matter.
Brands and marketers that don’t see results from banner ads are more than likely doing it wrong. They’re using Google display ads to seed their banner ads on random sites across the web. Or, they’re placing promotions on websites and blogs that are irrelevant to their target audience.
We use banner ads with a more strategic approach.
We cut through banner ad blindness by placing display ads only on web pages that have extremely relevant content and a highly targeted audience.
We operate hyper-local content websites, organized by city, that are useful, engaging and relevant for local readers. We then help our local business partners get exposure on those channels by using targeted banner ad placements.
For example, our display ads for St. Petersburg restaurants are placed on a page that is all about local St. Pete restaurants. And, our display ads about real estate in Tampa are used in articles about where to live in Tampa.
This approach has brought success to our clients in the form of more clicks as well as more business.
Our data proves that our ads are effective because they drive actual results for our clients. Ads that run on our site drive more quality traffic to our customers. Even if it’s less traffic than say a Facebook or Snapchat ad, it creates better results for less ad spend.
We Know It’s Not All About Banner Ads
When people say that millennials are blind to advertising or prefer businesses that don’t regularly advertise, it's mainly because those businesses are not advertising in the right places and in the right way to reach that demographic.
If someone asks you, would you go to a business because you saw their advertisement? Of course, your answer will be “no.” We don't like to be advertised to at all.
But, data shows that advertising still works and drives conversions and assisted conversions for all demographics.
It's just where and how to best reach target audiences that has changed. We know that targeted ad placement is an effective way to reach audiences. We also know that targeted ad placement isn’t the only tactic needed to converted audiences into buyers.
We make our ads more effective because we pair them with other targeted strategies.
We combine them with tactics such as:
- Content creation (articles, videos, photos)
- Social engagement
- Email and text communication
- Demand drivers (coupons, special offers, events, exclusive parties)
- And even more advertising (video, targeted/retargeted, search)
We create meaningful and effective ways of driving advertising spend because we use a holistic approach that targets, captures, and keeps audience attention by using multiple marketing channels -- not just banner ads.
How We’re Making Local Marketing Even More Relevant
We know that banner ad blindness isn’t a complete myth that should be written off or ignored. While we’re still finding success in this space, we know we need to keep evolving to keep up with changing online habits and usage.
Our journey moving forward will be shifting to incorporate other strategies such as native ads where promotional content fits natural in with media that our audiences love to consume. We will continue to add new strategies to our holistic, multi-channel approach to digital marketing so we remain the best solution for local businesses looking to connect with interested local customers.
Find out how our comprehensive approach to marketing can help your brand stand out in your local market. Contact us to talk about your brand and area and see how we can help you grow your visibility and build your brand authority.
