This article was written by Ted Dhanik
Display advertising is a powerful marketing channel that funnels users to a landing page. It uses banners that display your logo, along with a prominent call to action. Using methods like retargeting, companies are able to shift more ad spend into banners and net higher gains for the investment. Here are some of the top benefits of using display ads.
Brand Recall
One of the biggest advantages to banner advertising is customer recall potential. Banner ads feature prominent logos and great deals, helping to brand a company by association. For example, some mortgage ads use gif image banners to give the user engaging visuals. Because the banners move, they are eye catching and draw attention. Couple that with a logo, and the user’s eyes will take in the sights without even noticing. This small, psychological effect can bring great value to companies long term. The more users see your brand, the more likely they are to perceive it as reputable.
Costs
Companies with a small budget convince themselves that paying for traffic is too expensive, when in fact, it is the opposite. Paying someone to manage your website for SEO serves the same goal as paying for traffic. Paying a marketing manager serves the same goal as paying for traffic. In fact, the manager may still outsource some operations to other companies. Paying for traffic is actually a benefit, because you have the option to pay for only the traffic that will be beneficial to you. Use targeting settings, like geography and demographics, to narrow down your potential audience until you’re only pitching to people who want to see your products.
Offline Sales
Branding also carries the hidden benefit of increasing your offline sales through recognition. Even if you don’t run a brick and mortar store, you can still use the branding potential of banner advertising to sell products through search marketing. Make sure that your domain aligns with your advertising, so when a user searches your brand, he finds your domain. Then, create a home page that guides the user to complete a conversion. There are also a growing number of users that are comfortable with sharing personal information, and making purchases online. As a result, more companies are shifting resources toward affiliate programs to turn their most vocal customers into sales people. Banners can only help expand that avenue of revenue.
Bio: Ted Dhanik is a marketing guru with fifteen years of experience in direct marketing. As the co-founder of engage:BDR, Ted Dhanik specializes in lead generation for web businesses. Find more advice on banner advertising from the blog of Ted Dhanik.