The Evolution of Display Advertising

Digital Display advertising refers to the promotion of products or services through display ads on digital platforms such as websites or mobile apps. Over the past two decades, digital display advertising has revolutionized the way businesses reach their target audiences and has become a cornerstone of modern marketing

The history of digital display advertising dates back to the early days of the internet, when banner ads were introduced in 1994 by Wired Magazine’s digital arm, known as “HotWired.” There were 12 different brands that participated in this new program including AT&T, Volvo, Sprint, and Zima, just to name a few. As display ads have evolved through the years, they now go across all devices, appearing on websites or apps, using different targeting strategies

Display Ads, or Banner Ads as they are sometimes referred to, are the some of the most easily identifiable ads out there. Here is a look at the traditional Display Ad Sizes

Some people say that these ads aren’t bought anymore. However, the truth of the matter is that 84% of marketers are still investing in banner display ads. Part of the reason why is probably due to the targeting capabilities

Behavioral Targeting with Display Ads targets people based on their previous behaviors and what they’ve shown interest in online. Keep in mind that these ads get served across all devices (laptop, desktops, smartphones, tablets, and even gaming devices). As consumers online, we leave a trail of breadcrumbs on what our interests are by where we go online, what we search for, what we buy, the apps we use, etc. All of that data is collected and puts us into different behavioral buckets that businesses can then select to target

For example, here are some (just a fraction of the 100,000+) general targeting categories available

Currently, 76% of marketers are failing to use Behavioral Targeting data for their online targeting. This is a huge opportunity for you to educate your clients how important it is

The next targeting strategy available is Keyword Targeting. With Keyword Targeting, we are showing your ads on webpages and apps that contain keywords related to your business. Here, we aren’t showing your ads on Google, we’re showing them to potential customers on websites that people click to that contain your keywords. Our keyword campaigns have the capacity to utilize up to 500 keywords

You may have heard the phrase A.I., or Artificial Intelligence. This is a targeting strategy that Display campaigns can use to take advantage of the machine learning that’s available to them. With this strategy, as the campaign is executed, data is constantly collected (every minute) and analyzed about who is engaging with your ad: clicks, conversions, browser type, device, ad size, and more. Once the data is analyzed, the machine learning then starts to serve your ad to more people like the ones who have engaged with it. The longer the campaign, the smarter the A.I. gets, and the more targeted the ads become

A foundation in digital marketing is Retargeting. With Retargeting, we are taking advantage of traffic that comes to your website. As traffic comes to your website and leaves, we are following them and showing them your Social Mirror Ad on other apps and websites that they go to (still across all devices). With the function of all digital ads driving traffic to your website, our goal is to stay top of mind by adding Retargeting to most ad campaigns

Lastly, we introduce Custom Audience Matching and Lookalike. One of the newest strategies employed by Display, it’s become a huge success. Think about all of the data you collect about your customers. You may collect their emails, their addresses, and/or their phone numbers. We can take that data and find those customers when they go online. Then, we show them your Display Ad when they are browsing across apps and websites. This is a perfect way to stay in front of previous customers, current customers, or even prospects whose information you’ve collected. As I mentioned, we also can create a Lookalike Audience to those on your list as well, and then serve ads to that new audience

With all of the types of digital ads out there, why do marketers keep coming back to your standard Display Ads

1. Targeting – as mentioned above, marketers can target by demographics, locations, interests, and behaviors to find the right audience.
2. Measurable – the ability to track these campaigns and look at impressions, clicks, and conversions, as well as being able to use this info to optimize their campaign.
3. Cost-effective – Standard Display Ads are generally found on the lower end of CPMs out there.
4. Flexibility – Ad creative can easily be created or modified.

If your company is looking for a great way to brand yourself, as well as create eye catching graphics that can draw your potential customers, Display Ads could be your answer.