How Highly Targeted Display Ads Benefit You...

Remember the "old days" where pop up ads and banner ads ruled the internet? You couldn't visit a site without having 2 maybe 3 pop up windows appear in front of the page content you so searched so hard to find. It ended up getting to the point where many of us were so annoyed by these ads that we started using pop-up-blockers. With the use of pop-up-blockers, the use of these ads diminished and their existence slowly faded.

Over the last few years, there has been a resurgence of these banner ads which are now called "Display Advertising".  However, these ads are very different from the ads in the "old days". Back in the day, ads were rarely relevant to the content on the page you had navigated to and thereby garnered hardly any attention from the people seeing the ads. Now, display ads are much more advanced and highly targeted even to the point where 2 simultaneous visits to a site could be served two categorically different ads.

Today, display advertising relies on 3 main focus areas of targeting when serving ads. The first of these being Content Targeting. Most systems or ad servers will place ads on sites that are highly relevant to the category an advertiser might fall into. An example of this could be a large national pharmacy chain might want to create and place ads to build awareness around their current flu shot offering. They would want to place advertising on sites that would have large traffic volume and the content of the site could be health related or even focus on a particular season. This kind of targeting could potentially place ads in front of users who are looking for information pertaining to the Flu or treating symptoms of the Flu. This could also potentially target those people who stay informed about seasonal allergies and different strands of the Flu virus. Placing ads in such a relevant environment could be the equivalent of opening the box of a freshly made pizza in the middle of a conference room full of hungry people....You get the idea!

The second type of targeting in display advertising is Location Targeting. In keeping with the example mentioned before, that national pharmacy chain might want to localize some or most of their ads to appeal to a specific audience in a certain geography. This is called "Geo-Targeting". Such targeting can be effective to grow sales by market or even limit offers or discounts to certain areas. It can also be used to target an audience in an area affected more by a situation or circumstance. Lets say that Chicago, IL is currently experiencing an outbreak of the Flu that is increasingly becoming an epidemic. Our national pharmacy chain might want to focus a particular set of advertising and offers that would appeal to an audience of people in Chicago who are taking preventative measures to avoid catching the Flu. Combining geo-targeting with focusing on relevant content can increase the potential for conversions and may even generate sales that otherwise might not have occurred.

The third type of targeting is Behavioral Targeting. Today, ads can be served to users who exhibit a particular behavior either relevant to a category or specific service. A user's internet history is taken into consideration and can aid in determining if and when an ad should be served. Again, keeping with the same example of a national pharmacy chain. Our national pharmacy chain is still placing ads for Flu shots. Their goal is to target people who have the propensity to take action on a website, have an interest in health related topics, and have maybe recently searched or visited a site with information specific to a flu shot. Using cookies and other tracking mechanisms, display ads today can target at this granular level.

Imagine a campaign that would target users through each of the 3 methods mentioned above. A campaign like that could have the potential of being effective in targeting a user within driving distance of one of your locations, who has been researching products or services you offer, and is at the point where they are ready to connect or make a purchase.

In most cases, display advertising is used to build awareness and get searchers into the sales funnel. Other media such as Pay-per-Click ads and IYPs push a searcher farther along the process until they are on a site and ready to engage with the business they have learned so much about. If you aren't placing highly targeted display ads and you are only buying impressions on a slew of sites that get a high amount of daily traffic, you are probably wasting a lot of money. Using the targeting methods mentioned above will assist greatly in improving the ROI you are currently seeing from your display programs. With any display program, you should have an SEM pay-per-click campaign in place to compliment your efforts and build a strategy for Search Engine Optimization to be sure that you are visible to searchers as they move through the buying process.

For assistance with building an effective strategy, contact The Local Search Agency. We offer industry leading Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and Local Listings Management services with tracking and reporting capabilities that are virtually unmatched in the market place.