From banner ads to pop ups: display ad­ver­tis­ing is un­avoid­able, and every internet user, whether using a desktop or mobile device, en­coun­ters it on a daily basis. As the original means for online ad­ver­tis­ing, display ads have undergone a drastic trans­for­ma­tion in recent years. Thanks to real-time auc­tion­ing, re­tar­get­ing strate­gies, and the arrival of other new tech­niques, this tra­di­tion­al form of ad­ver­tis­ing is still an integral part of a robust marketing mix. Find out more about the basics of display marketing, the latest trends that are driving the industry, and the growing re­sis­tance against ad blockers.

Display marketing: de­f­i­n­i­tion

The term display ad­ver­tis­ing en­com­pass­es all marketing tech­niques that involve graphic elements within the ad­ver­tise­ments. These include video and animation as well as more tra­di­tion­al media, like banners and images.  

The most important players in display marketing are ad­ver­tis­ers and pub­lish­ers. Ad­ver­tis­ers seek to promote their companies, products, or services, while pub­lish­ers offer up their resources (ad space) in exchange for money. Different ad­ver­tis­ing forms are booked via a display network on third-party websites. These ads are then displayed according to the terms and con­di­tions that were agreed upon by both buyer and seller prior to the purchase. But before this step can be carried out, a thorough target group analysis needs to be done in order to make sure that the ads are displayed in the proper en­vi­ron­ment.

Goals of display marketing

The goal of most ad­ver­tis­ers is to provoke a reaction from their viewers. Online, users most often end up reaching the ad­ver­tis­er’s site or a specific landing page by first clicking on some sort of ad­ver­tis­ing material. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, a well-po­si­tioned ad can help influence a company’s overall rep­u­ta­tion. This is where we really see striking dif­fer­ences between display ad­ver­tis­ing and SEA and SEO strate­gies. While search engine marketing mostly revolves around texts, display marketing deals primarily with images. The visual character of ads both in­di­vid­u­al­ize and strength­en the image of companies and their brands.

Forms of display marketing

There’s much more to display ad­ver­tis­ing than just your good-old-fashioned banner ad. In addition to methods like banners and buttons, graphical elements, like text, image, or video content can also be used. There’s a dif­fer­ence between display ads and mobile ads, with the latter format being used for mobile devices. Here’s an overview of some typical ad­ver­tis­ing forms used in display marketing:

  • Banner: the sizes of banner ads can vary, and they can feature static, animated, or in­ter­ac­tive designs. An overview of different types of banner ads can be found here.
  • Pop-up: ad­ver­tis­ing screens that ‘pop up’ when a user carries out a specific action, like scrolling over a certain word. This method relies on JavaScript.
  • Pop under: works the same way pop up ads do, but appears after a website has been closed.
  • Layer ads: unlike pop ups, which open a separate window, layer ads cover a site’s entire content.
  • Content ads: these are banner ads that are embedded directly into the content of a page.

But this is only a small sample of the different types of display ads, as display marketing offers an extensive arsenal of different formats that vary from one another in more ways than just an ad’s form, size, and position. Depending on which ad­ver­tis­ing strate­gies a company pursues, in­ter­ac­tive ad­ver­tis­ing, sto­ry­telling marketing, or cross-media marketing can also play sig­nif­i­cant roles.

Billing models for display ad­ver­tis­ing

The prin­ci­ples behind display marketing function in a similar way to those of the print ad­ver­tis­ing sector: ad­ver­tis­ers book ad­ver­tis­ing space and the publisher then runs an ad there. The billing process used for display ad­ver­tis­ing is more exact; here, different pa­ra­me­ters are involved. If cal­cu­lat­ed according to the per­for­mance marketing model, then the CPM (cost per mile) is used. In theory, the ad­ver­tis­er pays in units of 100 in­di­vid­u­als who’ve been exposed to their ads. Recently, success-based billing models have become more common; these only require ad­ver­tis­ers to pay when users click on an ad or finalize a purchase or contract (CPS).

Typical billing models for display ad­ver­tis­ing are:

  • CPM = cost per mile
  • CPC = cost per click
  • CPL = cost per lead
  • CPS = cost per sale  

Chal­lenges of display marketing

Launched over 20 years ago, the first banner ads had CTRs (click through rates) of 44%. No doubt many ad­ver­tis­ers long for these golden days, as today’s average CTR is only a measly 0.1%–meaning that out of 1,000 users, only one person will end up clicking the display ad. The main reason for this is that users have become de­sen­si­tized. Some marketers refer to this phe­nom­e­non as banner blindness. Ad­ver­tise­ments, es­pe­cial­ly poorly designed ones, are im­me­di­ate­ly neg­a­tive­ly perceived by viewers, and this is es­pe­cial­ly true for pop-ups.

The rise of ad blockers has put a further dent into the vis­i­bil­i­ty of run-of-the-mill banner ads, which has made display marketing an in­creas­ing­ly difficult practice. But instead of proph­e­siz­ing an end to display ad­ver­tis­ing, experts are beginning to observe a change in the quality and ef­fi­cien­cy of ad­ver­tis­ing.

Native ad­ver­tis­ing and video ads

One par­tic­u­lar­ly important fad that’s trending nowadays is native ad­ver­tis­ing. Embedded in editorial content, the current direction of online ad­ver­tis­ing is one that in­creas­ing­ly seeks to appear credible while still remaining discrete to viewers. Mobile ad­ver­tis­ing in par­tic­u­lar has been quick to adopt this strategy. This is due to the con­straints that the smaller smart­phone screens put on the vis­i­bil­i­ty of tra­di­tion­al banner ad­ver­tise­ments. User behavior for mobile devices also doesn’t lend itself as well to banner ads as tra­di­tion­al desktop search patterns. This is where native ad­ver­tis­ing can be a viable solution.  

A further shimmer of hope for display marketing is the use of videos as marketing in­stru­ments. The boom in video ad­ver­tis­ing seems to be main­tain­ing its course, and in-stream video ads have proven to be par­tic­u­lar­ly promising. The latter feature functions by running ads before or after the desired content is played.

In terms of quantity, automated ad­ver­tis­ing markets seem to be es­pe­cial­ly lucrative sources of growth. A recent flood of ads, and hence an increase in supply, has driven down prices and resulted in more and more websites being bombarded with ads. Pro­gram­mat­ic ad­ver­tis­ing and real-time ad­ver­tis­ing are key to more efficient campaigns. Higher ad­ver­tis­ing costs are com­pen­sat­ed for through better quality, less scatter loss, and increased vis­i­bil­i­ty.

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