Advertising stems from the core belief that: exposure is branding, branding is awareness and awareness is money. If consumers know about a brand and associate it with a positive connotation, the efforts put forth by an advertiser, and its agency, will be a success. Conversion tracking, which seems to have taken advertising from 0 to 60, gives advertisers the ability to precisely measure the value of advertising dollars and fine-tune to increase understanding on return on investment (ROI). In that context, it’s little wonder that some second guess the value of more general display advertising.
With a background in display advertising with a large U.S. publisher, experience with a start-up focusing solely on site and search retargeting and a strenuous stint of selling cable advertising, I have gained a clearer vision of just how beneficial, and necessary, branding is for overarching campaign strategy. Unfortunately, from a monetary standpoint, search advertising seems to make the most sense while display seems to take the backseat and can be labeled as unnecessary. This surfaces the questions: How much good does display really do? I don’t get the results from display like I do with search; why keep running both?
Think of display advertising as oil to a car. A car needs oil like a brand needs display. While a car runs best with plenty of fresh oil, it can still perform its main function not having it changed regularly; just not as well. Over time, not adding new oil will essentially break down your vehicle (just like lack of display advertising will break down overall brand awareness).
Advertisers ultimately want to know how to get consumers to take action. To avoid succumbing to last ditch efforts, such as infomercials, advertisers need to bear in mind that advertising takes time. All too often I see campaigns launch and hear advertisers asking three days later how they can optimize for better performance. Put simply the answer is patience and time. Individuals’ consumption is cyclical. The purpose of branding is to get in front of a consumer even if they are not at that moment in the market for the particular product. Once the time comes, and they need that new car or laptop, they already have instilled in their mind the brand they want to buy from.
Have patience with your advertising efforts, be open to various campaign suggestions and find a high-quality partner that is on your side with the same vision to drive revenue through the ceiling and to cultivating a fruitful,long-term relationship.
