In order to run a successful display advertising campaign it’s important to maximize your ROI. Otherwise, your performance will be minimal and you can even lose money in some cases. While there are a seemingly infinite amount of techniques and strategies out there, let’s discuss some of the primary ways to get the most out of your display campaigns and turn visitors into customers. Based on the success our advertisers have seen, the following tips should help optimize your campaigns.
1) Offer a Coupon or Special Deal
Typically, offering a potential customer some type of deal where they feel like they are getting special treatment can do two things. First, it increases click-through rates by peaking their interest. Secondly, it should help increase your conversion rates because a discount or other special offer tends to improve the likelihood of a potential customer becoming a paying customer. Think about the Groupon model, would Groupon be where they are at today if their emails offered 5% or 10% off a local product or service? You don’t have to offer 75% off (and lose money) in order to reel in new customers (those are typically the customers you don’t want anyway), but offering somewhere in the neighborhood of 10%-30% off could go a long way to building up your long-term client base.
2) Stand Out with Great Flash Creatives
Display Banner Ads, unlike search text ads (where visitors are looking for a product or service you offer), are being served to an audience who is going to a website for content, not ads. The typical banner ad allows for 15 seconds of animation, and yet advertisers are still going for the quick fix and throwing up static jpegs and/or gifs and wondering why they are not getting good click-thru rates. The bottom line is static banner ads do not perform as well as Flash because Flash draws the attention of the visitor away from the content they are reading and to the banner where you want them focused. Even with a great offer, non-flash ads will not be noticed simply because they are static. By leveraging both flash and a great offer, your CTR and conversion rates will be higher.
3) Outwit Your Competition with Clear USPs and CTAs
It’s important that you know what makes your products or service stand out in comparison to those pesky competitors. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) should be clear to the viewer and stand out in your banner. For example, if you are selling a product and with a 90 money-back satisfaction guarantee, and your competitors don’t, then you should have that in a burst throughout your banner. If your company is service based, for example, cell carriers, and you offer truly unlimited data, then make sure that you position that clearly in your banner. Your Call To Action (CTA) should also be crystal clear, especially on the final slide of the banner. If you are selling products on your site, then it’s very important that you have a defined call to action that beckons the advertiser to click thru to your lander, like BUY NOW>> or GET 15% OFF! >>. The CTA should be in a clearly defined button, and that button should be the focal point on the final frame of your flash banner ad.
4) Landers Are the Keys to Conversions
Even with a great flash ad, and a special offer clearly defined in your Call to Action (button), the ultimate key to success is to make sure that you have a landing page that matches the unique selling proposition and the offer in the banner. Ultimately, a great flash banner ad can get visitors to click thru to your lander, but in order for a good % of them to take action, it is critical to have a landing page that matches the offer and the banner. For example, if you are offering up to 70% off sale items, then make sure that the lander is your sale page and that there are items on that page with discounts as high as 70% off. A lot of companies out there have banners that go straight to their home page, this is a mistake. These days, people do not have time to search around on your site to get to what they are looking for, it’s very important that your lander matches the banner they are clicking on. Landers should also have clearly defined Unique Selling Propositions which lists the features and benefits of the product you are offering, and they should have clearly defined Calls To Action. If you are trying to get people to buy on the page, have a button that says BUY NOW, if you are trying to get people to call you, have a CTA like this, Call To Speak to Our _____ Experts with the 800 number below the CTA. Having great landing pages is just as much of a factor in the ROI equation as having a great banner.
5) Use Highly Targeted Ads & Go Above the Fold!
To get the most out of your display advertising campaigns, it’s also important to get your ads in front of people within your specific demographic. Otherwise, it’s like throwing arrows in the dark and hoping you hit your target. To achieve this, you should spend some time brainstorming exactly what segment of the population you want to reach. Once you have a clear understanding of who your audience is, choose targeting options that fit into your demographic plan of attack. There are several display products that are great for targeting a specific audience, including Remarketing, Vertical Targeting, Behavioral Targeting, and more. Also make sure that you go with the above the fold option when planning out your next display campaign. Flash Ads that are below the fold, which can include appearing all the way at the very bottom of a landing page, are not effective! Most people do not scroll down, so having your ads appear above the fold regardless of the targeting will give you a much higher chance at having a good CTR, which leads to higher conversion rates, and better ROI.
