7 Steps to Better Display Ads

Anton Ruin, CEO of Epom ad serving company offers some important advice for running efficient display ad campaigns.

Even though the online advertising industry has undergone many essential improvements in the past few years, audiences' ever-changing needs show how important it is to keep up with fresh trends in order to sustain and increase the efficiency of display ad campaigns.

Clearly, each and every display advertising campaign is a unique case, but there are several recommendations for marketers that can definitely improve overall ad performance.

Ad Concepts

It's crucial to ensure that every advertising campaign has a general concept, which is consistently reflected in each aspect of the campaign. 

Before a campaign is launched, there should be a clear vision of what it needs to deliver and how the main aim should be realized.

Ad Messages

An advertising message should be concise and appeal to the target audience's tastes, preferences and requirements. Additionally, customers are generally more responsive to witty ads, or those that use an unconventional approach to usual matters.

Keep in mind that an ad message shouldn't be violent, aggressive, offensive, or insulting to people in any way.

Ad Formats

Although a lot of marketers still use standard banners in their display ad campaigns, most surveys reveal that people respond better (70-plus percent) to various kinds of interactive and engaging rich media formats. These are claimed to attract customers' attention without irritating them.

The most beneficial rich media on display are mixed ones (e.g. expandable ads, combined with video ad content, etc.).

Ad Placements

No matter how appealing an advertisement is, it will have no impact on customers, if it's not seen. Ad placements "below the fold" are much less effective, even though they tend to be a far cheaper option.

Most analysts agree that "below the fold" ad placements should only be used, if the content is interesting enough to make the customers scroll the page down (the viewability level is then increased for 15 percent on average).

Ad Targeting

Advertising products to target customers generally results in 80 percent better audience's feedback. The set-up of targeting options is, therefore, one of the vital aspects for an efficient campaign.

Not only should the geotargeting capabilities be taken advantage of, but also behavioral ones (e.g. clients' purchase history).

Ad Optimization

It's essential that a range of available ad optimization options are applied, if a company wishes to maximize the effectiveness of a campaign at the lowest cost.

Depending on the ongoing results, being produced by particular ads within a campaign, it's easy to assign more weight to them, that is, ensure the increase of frequency of their display to customers.

Ad Variety

Even though display ad campaigns remain widely used in different segments of the market worldwide, it's always beneficial to run mobile ad campaigns in addition to those on display, as this will result in the increased audience reach and overall ad income.

The minimum increase of ad income, in case an ad campaign is run simultaneously on display and mobile, is estimated to be around 18 percent. 

Article written by Anton Ruin, of Epom