How Display Advertising is Evolving - The Great American Small Business Challenge | The Great American Small Business Challenge

This article was written by Ted Dhanik

Now that mobile has become a greater factor in web browsing, digital marketing has evolved to meet the challenge. There are new ad sizes, new kinds of placements, and new ideas on creatives. Other settings have changed how marketers can connect with their audience, and how they purchase ad space. As digital marketing changes, one is left with the choice to adapt to these new standards or leave money on the table. Here are some of the most important changes coming to advertising.

Changing Objectives

With so many new options to display advertising, the goals have changed. No longer are things as simple as closing the deal. Brand awareness is an important concept that drives much of the spend on banner ads. That means more money is being spent on placements that put a company logo in view of the audience. There are also more options on demographic targeting, so businesses can explore different groups of people to see which ones are most likely to convert. That opens the door for different types of sales. Marketers may find one group more susceptible to information, for instance, while others want to purchase immediately. New tools for testing and traffic distribution allow businesses to hit those crucial targets.

Creative Enhancements

There are more rich media ads in advertising than ever before, so many businesses are experimenting with dynamic banners. These banners use moving parts to draw a user’s attention toward something. Mobile has also become a factor, as more users access sites from web-enabled devices. Mobile marketing requires thought on size and shapes that are slightly different from a standard website. There are also high definition animations, made possible by increases in bandwidth. All of this adds up to a more engaging banner advertising experience.

Ad Space

Purchasing ad space for banners used to be fairly complicated. It involved a business ordering ad space from a website, after going through an evaluation process to determine which sites receive enough traffic to make the investment worth it. There were no targeting settings, and there were no scheduled delivery. You bought in bulk, and got what you paid for. Today, Demand Side Platforms have simplified the exchange on the marketer side. Ad networks sell targeted traffic in bulk, so advertisers can pay for impressions and find the segment of their audience that will actually make their campaign profitable.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the president and co-founder of engage:BDR, and a prominent guru in the direct marketing space. Ted Dhanik has over fifteen years of experience branding businesses online. Find more advice on using display advertising from the blogs of Ted Dhanik.