The Power of Display Advertising and Why You Should Use It

Online advertising has been the go-to method businesses have been using to reach a broader audience for years. The digital advertising landscape is so vast that experts predict that the total global digital ad spend will surpass $220 billion by 2022. However, not all ads were created equal; some types of ads have been dominating the online world for a while now. Undoubtedly the most popular tool of many digital marketers by far is display ads. 

Due to their visual nature, these ads have proven to be perfect for the digital realm. But what are display ads, and why are they so effective? Also, why use display advertising in the first place? Let’s find out!

What Is Display Advertising in Digital Marketing?

Display advertising entails using text-based or visual ads on websites or social media networks to attract people to take action or simply raise brand awareness. The prices of these ads are most often calculated following a CPC model. That means you will be charged a specific amount whenever someone clicks on your ad.

Although display ads are most commonly used in programmatic advertising, brands also like to use them in their retargeting campaigns. That means they use display advertising platforms to target users who have previously left their websites without purchasing anything. That way, you entice them to come back and reconsider.

But despite their various uses, display ads remain particularly suitable for targeting potential customers still in the awareness stage of the marketing funnel. The reason is that the users seeing display ads aren’t searching for specific products and services. If they were, they’d be using a search network. That means their search intent isn’t transactional, but informational. Because of that, very few display ad impressions end up in a conversion.

What Types of Display Ads Are There?

As we’ve already mentioned, there are several different types of display ads. Here are a few of the most common ones:

1. Banner Ads — These types of display ads are the most well-known ones. They appear at the top or the sides of websites, and they got their name because they resemble banners.

2. Interstitial Ads — These ads are like the pop-up ads of old. An interstitial ad is an advertisement that appears before you can access a site’s landing page. Most users dislike these ads because they prevent you from opening a website before closing the ad. Also, these types of display ads are most often used on mobile devices.

3. Rich Media — These are interactive ads that can engage users in different ways. For instance, rich media ads might be an interactive video, poll, a button, or similar. 

4. Video Ads — Video advertising is all the rage in the digital marketing world nowadays because videos offer an interactive experience for the users and plenty of possibilities for advertisers. There are two most prominent video ad formats: instream and outstream video ads. The former appears in the shape of pre-, mid-, or post-roll ads on videos, whereas the latter usually manifest in the form of a video player appearing somewhere on a website. Here’s how that looks: 

Now that you know what display advertising is and the different types of display ads out there, let’s address our original question — why use display advertising?

6 Benefits of Digital Display Advertising

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of display advertising. Why? Because display advertising provides outstanding benefits for your business. If you don’t use them, you’ll miss out on a cheap and effective way to grow your brand. But don’t take our word for it; here are six reasons you should use display advertising:

1. It Has Outstanding Reach

If you consider that Google Display Network alone reaches 90% of all internet users, the incredible potential of display advertising should be clear as day. Few other mediums out there can achieve the reach that display advertising has. That is why it is one of the most popular digital marketing tactics out there.

2. It Is Excellent for Raising Brand Awareness

This type of marketing is best suited for businesses looking to build brand awareness. Why? Because these ads are rarely placed in front of users looking to make a transaction. However, display ads are also cost-effective, making them an excellent choice for building an audience.

So when you combine all of the above, you have yourself a potent tool for getting your brand’s name out there. And let’s not forget to mention that you can even exclude your ads from sites you don’t want to be associated with. This high degree of brand-safety advertisers get is why so many turn to display advertising. 

3. It Captivates Your Audience

Instead of sticking to plain old boring text, these ads utilize engaging visuals. These help you grab your users’ attention and draw it to your brand. You also have plenty of possibilities when designing these ads. So don’t be afraid to play around a bit and experiment!

4. It Gives You Plenty of Targeting Options

The technology behind display advertising allows marketers to target specific people with their ads. That has proven to be a real game-changer in the digital realm and is the primary reason so many businesses are flocking to this type of advertising. Regarding the different targeting options you’ll have at your disposal, here are a few:

1. Contextual Targeting — This option entails targeting your customers based on their search engine activity and search history. With contextual targeting, you can place your ads in front of people who have searched for relevant keywords and increase your chances of achieving conversions.
2. Placement Targeting — This type of targeting includes choosing websites you wish your ads to appear on. You can let Google ads show up on any sites you like, but having the option to restrict or even “favorite” some sites is invaluable. That way, you’ll be able to include or exclude them in your follow-up campaigns. 
3. Demographic Targeting — This option is perhaps the most useful because most brands cater to narrow target audiences and age groups. This kind of ad targeting lets advertisers distribute their display ads only to people who meet particular criteria such as age, gender, location, interests, language, etc. That allows brands to maximize the effectiveness of their advertising budget by delivering their ads only to the people most resembling their target persona.
4. Behavioral Targeting — This type of targeting uses your people’s search history and online behavior to serve ads to users with relevant interests. Behavioral targeting is one of the most popular targeting methods nowadays because it gets advertisers’ ads in front of the people most likely to buy.

5. It Has Various Pricing Options and Low Costs

One of the best perks of display advertising is its flexibility in payment options and its low costs. The two most common paid search engine ads you have at your disposal (we’ve already mentioned one of them) are Cost Per Impression (CPM) and Cost Per Click (CPC) ads. The latter is more popular, though, since you only have to pay for each person that clicks on your ads instead of on a per-impression basis. But overall, both of these methods are cost-effective compared to more traditional advertising forms, so you can’t go wrong with either.

6. It Offers Excellent Tracking Options

An essential part of every marketing strategy is adapting when necessary. That is why insight into your campaign’s performance is vital for success. And display ads offer just that! With these types of digital ads, you’ll be able to know the exact number of impressions and clicks your ads receive. That will allow you to re-evaluate your tactic on the fly and adapt your strategy. 

Will You Incorporate Display Advertising in Your Strategy?

Were these reasons sufficient to make you consider using display advertising in your next marketing campaign? If the answer is yes, all you have to do is decide which types of ads you’re going to go for! Will it be traditional banners with a display ad network? Maybe you’d like to go with rich media ads? If you want to stay on top of the latest digital trends, why not go for in-banner video ads? Whichever you choose, we’re sure you’ll get an excellent ROI!

If you happen to settle for video ads and don’t know where to start, we at Brid.TV can help you. Our state-of-the-art HTML5 video player and CMS can help you monetize your video content with instream and outstream video ads. Brid.TV also offers advanced monetization features like video header bidding and ad pods to help publishers maximize their revenue. 

Join our platform today and take your video monetization efforts to the next level.

Want to learn more about our platform and what we offer? Send us an email, and let’s organize a live demo to help you get started!