In talking about search marketing, one of the things that should come up is how to do banner advertising. You know what banner advertising is…you see it all the time when you’re on your favorite website, whether it’s CNN, ESPN, TechCrunch, Network Solutions, Best Buy, etc. They’re everywhere! They must be good, right?
Wrong.
I’ve titled this post “Understanding Online Advertising – Banners, Banners, Everywhere!” for a reason. I wanted to share with you the good and bad about how to do a banner placement. These aren’t going anywhere for some time, but recent statistics and blog posts have made it clear that there is a growing trend away from banners towards something that can generate more buzz and a higher ROI.
But first, if you’re interested in going forward with a banner campaign, then here are a few things you might want to be aware of:
- Multiple sizes: When you’re going to choose a banner, every website has different requirements – including banner sizes that they’ll take. Here are a few banner sizes that are quite common: 728×90 (leaderboard), 468×60 (full banner), 234×60 (half banner), 125×125 (square banner), 120×600 (skyscraper), 160×600 (wide skyscraper) and 300×250 (medium rectangle)
- Restricted file sizes: Once you’ve chosen the appropriate size, make sure to keep it light. A majority of the time you’re going to have your banner ad served through a publisher like Mediaplex, DoubleClick, or someone else. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has published some good guidelines on recommended sizes which publishers adhere to. Keeping them to these size restrictions will help serve them quicker and make them more accessible to everyone.
- Don’t think only static content: in the beginning of online marketing, all we had to deal with is static, non-movable content to promote our message. These days, we’re now able to have animated banners with limited movement or even flash-based, pop-up banners. More interactivity could possibly lead to conversions.
So now we know a bit more about banner advertising, let’s look at what the recent trends have to say about it:
In a study done by email marketing company VerticalResponse and posted by MarketingPilgrim.com, small & medium businesses (SMBs) are becoming more wary about banner advertising. In 2010, VerticalResponse says that SMBs will migrate towards search engine marketing, email marketing and/or social media, BUT 54.2% of those polled will not use banners this year. The report goes on to say “of those that are currently using banner ads, less than 20% of businesses with 11-100 employees reported increasing their banner spend this year (and about 7% of businesses with <10 employees).”
Here are some additional statistics from 2009 that you might find interesting from ComScore:
- Clickers are an increasingly rare group - Only 1/6th of internet users clicking on at least one display ad in March 2009
- Heavy clickers continue to account for a disproportionate amount of advertising clicks - 4% of internet users account for 67% of all display ad clicks
- Within 4 key advertiser categories we see consistently that clickers are a small group accounting for a minimal proportion of category site visitors and page views - Non-clickers show more consistent category interest than clickers
Now I’m not suggesting that you completely abandon your banner advertising program. It does seem that with way more effective touchpoints to reaching customers, companies are moving towards dropping banners from their arsenal. I seriously doubt that banners will be gone in the next five years because for most companies, placing banners on their website is perhaps the main way for them to reap any monetary benefits from it.
When you do decide to do a banner campaign, be aware that your creative and message needs to be in synch with your other marketing efforts. Don’t try and list all your information on the banner, even though you may have the flexibility with animated banners. Your banner advertising needs to have a clear call-to-action so that people will feel inclined to click on it. Be simple but creative and find that hook that will get people to really pay attention.
In fact, think about banner advertising like this: you’re going to have banners be the first thing customers will see. It’s an advertisement on a website so chances are that the deal/product you’re offering should have a story behind it. Amongst all the noise, there should be something catchy and telling about it. Just like an advertisement in a magazine, you want to basically tell the tale without giving too much information but enticing them to click for more.
So if you’re interested in having a bit more creativity in sharing the information about your product, then by all means choose to do a banner. You’re going to be able to take advantage of using Flash, multimedia, sound or a wide array of banner components to get your message across. Don’t discount them yet…banners are here to stay. Just make sure you can convert.
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