Is Display Advertising Dead?

I’ve often heard Marketers mention that they’re unable to optimize their display campaigns to perform as well as their Paid Search campaigns. This has led some of those Marketers to believe that their banner ads are ineffective. While this could be true, they may be jumping to conclusions without having all of the pertinent data.

When it comes to effective demand and lead generation, it’s not necessarily a good idea to think of it simply as last-click, first-click or distributed. There are other important factors such as view-throughs. View-throughs are important because they assist in actual conversions by providing intangibles such as brand recognition. Without the view-throughs and awareness of the promotion and brand, the conversion may not happen. However, many organizations are not equipped to realize this potential. It can be solved for by implementing multi-channel and multi-touch data attribution tools which track all campaigns (digital and traditional) and utilizes formulas and proprietary algorithms to accurately weigh the value of views, clicks and ultimately the conversion itself across all marketing channels and devices.

We should also consider how consumers feel about banner ads. They are often identified as being synonymous with malware – and not to mention annoying. And more often than not are totally irrelevant to the consumer. To make display impactful, it should be carefully targeted to the appropriate audience and not cast as a blanket online.

On your next digital campaign, try combining a content article with a relevant banner ad to see an incremental lift in clickthroughs. Be sure to ad contextual text ads in the mix as well.

So as far as display advertising being dead, no it isn’t. It should simply be looked at through a different lens, as it’s further up the marketing funnel than PPC. Create your display advertising strategy to achieve upper to mid-level funnel brand recognition. Couple on the use of bidding and targeting tools to create bottom of the funnel lead generation conversions.