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- Week 5: Paid Marketing
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Welcome back!
Hope everyone had a fantastic last weekend of July! We hope you’re ready to kick off Monday with new marketing insights— this week, we’re digging into the art of capturing eyes in a crowded digital space. With so many ads bombarding us, it’s easy to start tuning them out. How do you make sure your display ads stand out and actually grab attention?
We’ll explore how to craft compelling messages and visuals that break through the noise and turn passive viewers into active clickers.
Let’s dive in! 📲
News
What Everyone’s Talking About
Tools + Productivity
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Strategy
Battling Banner Blindness
Do you remember the last ad you saw on Google? If you’re like me and 86% of people, you probably have ad blindness— meaning for the most part, you don’t even register anything that smells like an ad.
When banner ads were new and shiny in 1994, click-through rates were through the roof, with the first live ad achieving a 44% click-through rate (CTR) over 4 months.
Unfortunately for you, those days are long gone. In fact, you’re lucky if you can top a 0.5% CTR with a Google banner ad. Users have become adept at tuning out anything that looks like an ad, most of the time without even intending to.
So how do you sneak your message past ad-blocking eyes?
For one, you can try catching viewers off-guard with unconventional placements.
Avoid “skyscraper” formats that blend into the sidelines:
and instead, opt for “above-the-fold” ads that appear front and center onscreen when a page first loads:
According to eye-tracking software, 156% more people see this “above-the-fold” content compared to “below-the-fold.”
Any creative marketer knows the importance of color for grabbing attention and conveying your brand’s personality, but it’s worth reviewing the most effective schemes:
Grab attention with complementary (opposite on the color wheel— red/green, orange/blue, yellow/purple)
Alternatively, create a clean and elegant look with monochrome schemes (different tints, shades, & tones of a single hue) or analogous colors (close together on the color wheel). Keep in mind this puts your ad at risk of fading into the background.
Also on the design end— don’t forget the importance of composition, formatting, and text layout.
We’re all aware that our attention spans are shrinking smaller and smaller by the day. For ads to stand a chance at grabbing increasingly distracted minds (thanks, TikTok), keep them simple and uncluttered:
With a cluttered and noisy ad, it’s easier to tune it out than to digest it, whereas the ad pictured above doesn’t cause any disruptions.
Stick to easy-to-read fonts and use one clear image to convey a single idea. You need to get across your value prop within a second:
Your value proposition is what the audience gets if they take the bait and click your ad. The clearer and more compelling you make this, the better.
Use programmatic advertising to mix and match different versions of your ad copy to see what hits the mark with different audience segments.
You might create multiple versions of an ad—each with different messaging or visuals—and use programmatic tools to serve these versions to distinct audience segments. The system will track the performance of each version in terms of metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement levels.
Finally, remember that size matters when it comes to ads, so avoid choosing a size and format that isn’t too intrusive to the user experience, even if they’re scrolling on mobile.
3, 2, 1 ACTION
A strong Call-to-action (CTA) spells out exactly what will happen when your audience clicks.
Action words like “buy,” “download,” or “sign up” are your best friends here. And don’t let your CTA blend in with the rest of the ad—make it pop with contrasting colors, a standout font, or an eye-catching icon.
This Oracle ad uses a strong verb (steal) and shows a clear call to action in its ad, with adjectives (effective, foolproof) to highlight the value viewers get by following through with the CTA.
People are busy, so why should they click your ad right now? That’s where urgency comes in. Think limited-time offers, countdowns, or limited quantities.
Use phrases like “limited time,” “last chance,” or “final hours” to get viewers moving.
Just for you
Ads that are contextually targeted to page content boosted brand recall by a whopping 82%. We can never overstate the impact of knowing your audience’s whereabouts when it comes to marketing, especially advertising.
Defining your target audience makes your marketing map come to life. Without it, you’re just wandering around hoping to stumble on the prize. With it, you’re zeroing in on exactly where to dig.
Get specific. What motivates your target customer? What can they afford? What emotional triggers will make them click? Use this info to fine-tune your ad targeting & put your money where ads will be the most effective.
When it comes to click-through rates, native ads outperform banners all day long (recall our newsletter a few weeks back), but display ads can still be a great supplementary traffic driver, especially if you’re retargeting.
Retargeting (or remarketing) is just showing ads to users who have previously interacted with your brand or product. Tools like Facebook Pixel or Google Ads Remarketing Tag can help place cookies on your website to keep tabs on user behavior.
Careful not to overwhelm your audience, though— set frequency caps to limit how many times an individual sees your retargeting ads in a specific time period.
AI Ads?
Creating display ads can be a whole lot quicker using AI, which can provide different iterations of an ad concept with visuals and ad copy.
AI sometimes produces images that don’t match our original vision, but tweaking the prompts is much faster than going back to the drawing board. In 2023, Heinz jumped on the hype around Dall-E to launch one of the first AI-generated ad campaigns:
The story doesn’t end there— nowadays there are tools to speed up and optimize practically every step of the advertising process. Here are some of the uses that AI is becoming highly relevant for, and will become more abundant in the future :
Click-through Rate Prediction: Advertisers use AI to guess which ads potential customers are most likely to click on. By analyzing tons of data, they can fine-tune ad placements to catch your eye just when you’re ready to click.
Conversion Rate Prediction: This goes a step further by predicting if people will not only click but also take action, like making a purchase. It’s all about turning those clicks into cash!
Sentiment Analysis: Ever wonder how brands seem to know exactly how you feel? AI reads the vibes from your posts and reviews to tailor ads that hit the right emotional notes.
Advanced Customer Segmentation: Forget basic demographics. AI segments customers based on their behavior, predicting who’s likely to buy again, spend more, or ghost your brand.
Looking Ahead
Investing in premium display ad spots can be pricey, so it’s crucial to maximize your investment by crafting ads that truly stand out and deliver results.
Higher quality ads = more value from each dollar spent.
Stay tuned for next month’s edition, where we’ll explore a fresh new theme and uncover more strategies to elevate your marketing game. See you then!
the Marketing Funnel
Week 1: Awareness
CWeek 2: Consideration
Week 3: Conversion
Week 4: Retention
Stay tuned!
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