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Target Your Prime Audience with Well Designed Display Ads

One of the main goals of an advertisement is to get people’s attention. Ads need to do two distinct things: get people to stop what they’re doing and take in all that the ad has to offer, and convince the consumer that clicking on the ad can solve their problems, whether that problem is the need for a particular service or the desire to purchase a particular product. This is why it’s always important to target your prime audience with well-designed display ads for the highest possible sales and the best possible results.

Why Ads Fail
Retargeted advertisements  have been proven to work - if the ads themselves meet a  few basic criteria. If a particular ad is considered to be too flashy, it isn’t very likely to garner a click-through. The opposite is also true - the chances of people clicking on an ad that they perceive to be too simple  (and therefore “amateurish”) are pretty low. The location of a particular advertisement is also very important. If your ads are showing up on a site that isn’t at least contextually connected to the product that you’re selling, people aren’t likely to be interested in those ads enough to click on them.

Why Ads Succeed
Successful retargeted ads are capable of accomplishing  a few different things. For starters, they’re able to strike a balance between “simple” and “flashy.” You want an advertisement to provide information, but not too much. Your goal is to intrigue the consumer, not overwhelm them. Additionally, ads need to be aesthetically pleasing in some way. Focus on the layout and color scheme of your ads. Make sure that the ad both looks good on its own and makes the product look good at the same time.
Targeted Ads
Ads also need to be targeted in a variety of ways to be successful. You need to take into consideration both the sites that people will see the ads on and the people who will be seeing them. In regards to the destination sites, make sure your ads are going on sites that service a similar goal. If you sell high-end electronics equipment, for example, there wouldn’t be much use in placing all of your ads on home and garden websites. For the best results, you’d want to place your ads on sites that offer similar services or sell similar products. People browsing them are likely already interested in what you’re capable of providing them. This is also known as  targeting your audience.

Additionally, you want to target the people themselves. The more specific you can get your display ads, the better your click-through results are going to be. If you sold electronics equipment, for example, you would want different ads that each targeted different types of products. Specific ads are likely to have a higher click-through rate than a single ad that’s much more general in nature and doesn’t provide the kind of information that the consumer is actually looking for.

The fact of the matter is that retargeted ads are potentially your best opportunity to get your message across to the widest possible audience. The ads themselves are the key for getting people to return to your site, but only if they’re interesting enough on their own. You only have so much space to work with, so you need to take your topic and your audience into consideration to best utilize that space.

Felicia Baratz is a freelance writer, graphic designer and social media addict living in Indianapolis, IN. As a contributor to  Technected.com, Felicia discusses new, innovative technology and its relation to the business world and social media marketing.

Photo:  scott swigart on Flickr

3 Tips for Effective Small Business Video Advertising

With the advent of the Internet, the corporate playing field is becoming more level, as small businesses now have access to advertising methods that were previously reserved for larger companies. Many small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) have begun utilizing custom video production and distribution services to extend their business outreach to targeted audiences around the world. Even though quality video advertising services are becoming more obtainable to SMEs, there are still many hurdles that a small business owner has to overcome when undertaking a video production and distribution project. The following three tips should help any small business maximize the benefits of video production and advertising solutions:

1) Be Concise and Clear during Consultations What is the message that you’re trying to convey to the target audience? Do you want to highlight specific products or services? When participating in a consultation with a video production company it is imperative to provide answers to the aforementioned questions as clearly as possible. While you may not be in charge of the technical aspect of producing your video advertisements, your goals and preferences will ultimately shape the finished product, so it is important to understand what you’re trying to accomplish before proceeding.

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Creating a Market Where There Was None

Today I read an article on Mashable about a company doing something truly innovative (it’s rarer than you’d think). The company, Solve Media, is replacing those annoying Captcha boxes with advertising.

But it’s not annoying advertising.

So instead of seeing this at the bottom of a form you’re filling out online:

 

You’d see something like this:

And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather type in a brand slogan than erstwhile foregone. Half the time I get the Captcha text wrong and have to start over.

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What Egg’s Up To

Just wanted to share some of what Egg Marketing is up to right now. We assisted authors Anita Campbell and David Langton in compiling their new book, Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design, and now we’re helping market it!

The book’s got 99 examples of brands who are getting the attention of their customers through design and visual images. I truly enjoyed exploring just how these brands did it.

We are now managing the book’s Facebook Page and Twitter stream, so send a shout out to @visualmktgbook to say hello. We’ll be highlighting the contributors as well as looking for other great examples of design in action, and we’d love your insight.

The book officially launches on September 29, although it’s available on Amazon now. I hope you’ll buy a copy!