It’s time to take another look at online display advertising strategy now that Google has revamped its ad planner tool; now calling itself the Google Display Network Ad Planner, and eliminate site research from non-GDN sites. The role of online display can be huge if executed properly and tracked accordingly. Lead generation and lead nurturing both can be done via a targeted display campaign.
The GDN (Google Display Network) covers 2 million sites; a combination of publishers and websites that are in the Adsense program). GDN is the largest ad network, but there are countless other ad networks that offer their own method of placing ads and pricing models. Here’s a recent list of the top networks:
Additionally, here’s a good list of some of the many ad networks to consider. Many I have used myself for clients.
When dealing with ad networks other than Google, it’s important to ask the right questions as you determine which network to do business with. Such information to gather includes:
• Minimal spend
• Services offered- social- retargeting-behavioral targeting, mobile, affiliate
• Cost models- CPM, CPA, CPL
• Account Manager experience
• Attribution and view-through metrics
• Optimization technology
• Ad units and rich media
According to a B2B survey from Bizo last year, marketers see display as a priority for initiatives.
If budget allows, display should be part of an integrated marketing plan. Here are a few reasons:
1. Retargeting.
When audiences visit your website or landing pages, there’s a huge opportunity to send display banners to prospects that abandon carts or fail to convert with another enticing message. Here’s my post on retargeting I wrote recently.
2. Specific targeting.
Google in particular offers a multitude of targeting options to limit waste coverage and laser-focus a message. When planning display campaigns on Google, I can choose targeting by specific tactics, or a combination of tactics that allow very specific site targeting, called flexible reach. With flexible reach, you can easily combine multiple targeting methods together so that you ad is only shown when a user hits certain targeting combinations. Targeting options:
• Display keywords: By uploading a list of keywords, Google will attempt to place ads throughout the network where content matches those keywords, so the more specific the better. Google technology scans millions of web pages, analyzing text, language, links and page structure to make sure your ad finds the best audience.
• Placements: These are specific websites where you want to target your ads. The GDN ad planner assists in researching these placements. You can show your ad on specific web pages, online videos, games, RSS feeds, and mobile sites that you select.
• Topics: These are groups of websites organized by specific topics such as business, arts, hobbies, shopping, etc.
• Interests and remarketing. With interest categories, you can reach people based on their interests and demographics. You can find interested customers, such as sports enthusiasts, and show them relevant ads as they browse sites across the Google Display Network. This category includes remarketing lists.
• Gender and Age. Just recently, Google added these demographic criteria to allow further audience refining.
The Ad Planner assists in researching placements, topics, interests, and YouTube channels.
Here’s an example of the deep site research I can so with the Ad planner; note my sample variables. Based on this I can select specific websites or groups of sites, and export them to my client accounts.
Lead Capture and Lead Nurturing
After the placement plan is developed and negotiated, banners now need to generate leads to your landing pages. The messages should be simple, compelling, and offer am easy-to-read call to action. Promote offers, content, webinars, or free demos/trials. Here are some examples.
Additionally, think about lead nurturing. If a prospect downloads a white paper, you can serve the prospect a banner ad that offers a new piece of content that promotes a topic that complements the white paper or is more promotional as you guide the prospect through his/her buying cycle. This doesn’t take the place of email lead nurturing, but can complement the nurturing process, much like social media.
Regarding message strategy, I want to introduce Kwanzoo, a firm that specializes in interactive banner ad development for lead capture and lead nurturing. Kwanzoo not only helps create these ads, the data they capture integrates with the Google Display Network, Salesforce, and various marketing automation platforms. Below are some sample units, including polls, surveys, and opt-in lead forms.
An example of how Kwanzoo works. I have a relationshp with Kwanzoo, so if any readers want to learn more, please contact me.
Summary
Once you determine goals, which should be a mix of branding and conversion, targeting messages via online display banner campaigns should be a tactic to supplement your other inbound marketing efforts. Like anything in digital, testing is crucial. You need to test placements, targeting tactics, and offers. Once you’re able to target specific placements and keywords on good quality sites, then testing offers comes next. Then, when tracking results via Google Analytics or similar, review not just the last interaction conversions, but how display contributes to conversions from other channels (multi-channel funnel reports).
By taking some time to test, you can make online display advertising work for you to contribute to your lead and revenue increase. Here’s a link to our display advertising services.
Has display worked for you?
