What Types Of Display Ads Should You Run? — Part 1

Published in

Inside Revenue

8 min readOct 18, 2018

The Beginner’s Guide

Display advertising is a type of online advertising that focuses on delivering a variety of different ad types to users across the general web, including banner ads, rich media ads and more. Unlike text-based ads, display advertising relies on elements such as images, audio and video, to communicate an advertising message.

According to eMarketer, Facebook and Twitter will take 33% of the display ad spending market share by 2017. This still means that 67% will be used on general web advertising, with Google’s display campaigns reaching 80% of global internet users, it is important to know which ads you should run to achieve the best results. Desktop display advertising has eclipsed search ad buying in 2014, with mobile ad spending overtaking display in 2015.

In this article set, I want to go over the ad types that you would use on AdWords Display and Adroll, two popular platforms that you can use to get your ads onto the general web.

“The better your lead gen is, the less dependent you are on the quality of your salespeople & process” — Aaron Ross ( Author of fromimpossible.com and predictablerevenue.com) @motoceo

In this article I will cover:

#1 What Are Different Display Ad Types?

#2 Why Should I Care About Different Display Ad Types?

#3 How Can Different Display Ad Types Help Me Hit My Company’s Revenue Targets?

#4 What Should I Watch Out For When Running Different Display Ad Types?

Let’s dive in…
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#1 What Are Different Display Ad Types?

Display advertising is the action of serving communications on websites or apps through the use of banners or other ad formats made up of text, images, flash, video, and audio. The main purpose of display advertising is to deliver general advertisements and brand communications to site visitors. It is important to remember we are not talking about search or social media ads.

Online display ads can appear on select websites across the internet. They can be more useful for certain marketing goals than others, eg increasing brand awareness. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of using display advertising before deciding whether to create your own display campaign. Below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of display advertising:

Advantages Of Display Advertising

Display Ads Are Visually Appealing
One of the first benefits of display ads is that, because they are graphic content, they can be designed and styled. Regular SEM ads (Search Engine Marketing ads) are text only and with character counts, limiting how effectively and quickly you are able to capture attention and convey your message. With display ads, you can use graphics, video, audio, and your company’s branding to stand out to users and attract their attention.
Display Ads Support Brand Awareness
The visual component of display ads also benefits your business by facilitating brand awareness. With a PPC ad, users have to read the text on the ad and then click through to a landing page to learn about the business and its offer. Since display ads are branded and styled, often with an offer, a user can gather information on your brand simply by seeing your display ad, no click necessary.
Effectively Target With Display Ads
When advertising online, it is important to target the people most relevant to your business. Just as with SEM and Facebook Ad targeting, you can create specific parameters for your display ads: which sites they appear on, which geographic area they appear in, which demographic or niche market they appear to. For example, a car dealership can target people of driving age who live in their zip code and are visiting auto-related websites. The benefit of targeting your display ads is that you can maximize your spend.
Increase Your Visibility With Display Ads
Although display ads target specific audiences, this does not mean they limit the visibility of your business online. Display ads give you the ability to appear on websites that are not only highly trafficked, but which are also related to the offer of your ad. Display ads benefit your business by getting you in front of a high volume of the right people, even if they’re not searching for your product or service.
Display Ads Provide Data
It is important to be able to measure your marketing activities, such as by using Google Analytics, to track their performance. Display advertising platforms offer this benefit to your business. With the data they provide, you can know exactly how many times your ad or ads have been clicked on, and seen, and on which sites they’ve appeared. Being able to track your investment allows you to ensure that you are getting the most out of it.
Display Ads Support Retargeting
In addition to standard targeting capabilities, display advertising also allows for retargeting. With retargeting, you can put your ad in front of people who have previously visited your website. This is a way to reach out to people who have expressed interest in your business, and who could still be considering your offer.

Display ads benefit your business by reaching more members of your target audience and in a more impactful manner. Start taking advantage of imagery and relevancy today with this effective advertising strategy!

Disadvantages Of Display Advertising

Lower Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Display ads typically have a lower CTR than search or social ads.
Lower Conversions
A lower CTR also means lower conversions, such as sales and registrations. When users see your ad, they aren’t actively looking for your products or services, so they may not be ready to buy. Display ads are more suitable for long sales processes than for selling high volumes.
Ad Avoidance
While your impressions may be high, you can’t guarantee that users paid attention to your ad. Ad blocking tools can also stop users seeing your ads.

#2 Why Should I Care About Different Display Ad Types?

Display advertising can be crucial in your marketing strategy, as it is one of the best ways to get your brand in front of audiences across the web. Display and banner ads are most effective when you leverage the channel in a way that makes sense for both your business’ specific goals and the tone of native site or platform. Below I want to show you a few stats that can show you what success on display ads can mean for your business:

Native ads are viewed 53% more than banner ads. (Source: Dedicated Media)
A retargeting campaign from Magoosh Online Test prep generated $58,608 in attributable revenue. At a total cost of $11,000 the campaign resulted in an ROI of 486%. (Source: Retargeter)
Users who are retargeted to are 70% more likely to convert. (Source: Digital Information World)
Heineken Light reached 54% of audience — 35 million people — in just three days using video ads on Facebook. (Source: Facebook)
Airbnb achieved an engagement rate of over 4% for one of their Promoted Tweets. (Source: Twitter)
32% of consumers said they would share a native ad with friends and family, versus 19% for banner ads. (Source: ShareThrough)
Native ads that include rich media boost conversion rates by up to 60%. (Source: Social Times)
Julian Bakery saw a 35% increase in conversions and a 330% increase in impressions on the Google Display Network. (Source: Google)
71% of publishers received no major complaints from readers for featuring native ads, while 29% received minor backlash. (Source: Digital Content Next)
After one year of leveraging Targeted Status Updates on LinkedIn, ADP’s Company Page followers doubled to 85,000. (Source: LinkedIn)

So, when looking at the above stats, you can see that display ads can be very beneficial to your business. But what ad sizes should you use? Should you use Image or HTML ads? Below is an image to help you choose the best design balance for your ads to aid in your strategy’s development.

The 3 most popular sizes that are used on Display are 160x600, 728x90 and 300x250. So how do these measure up against each other in each of the industries above. Here are the results:

Internet And Communication
728x90–22%
300x250–13%
160x600–12%
Retail Trade
728x90–25%
160x600–19%
300x250–12%
Software
728x90–28%
336x280–10%
160x600–9%
Education
728x90–34%
160x600–12%
300x250–10%
Web Services
728x90–41%
300x250–14%
740x280–10%

As you can see above, the 728x90 leaderboard ad size is the outright favourite, with every 3rd ad being a leaderboard ad. In 2017 the most frequently seen ads were 300x250 and 336x280 but these did not perform even close to as well as the 728x90 ads, as can be seen in this Google research.

#3 How Can Different Display Ad Types Help Me Hit My Company’s Revenue Targets?

Web advertising has been around for many years, it is crucial to any business that wishes to get their brand in front of their potential or current customers. Many people know about display advertising but it is important to know all the ad options you have to ensure you select the option that will best serve your needs.

In my next article, I will go through the types of ads that are available to you on AdWords and Adroll. This will assist you in your display advertising efforts. Read it here, “What Types Of Display Ads Should You Run? — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide)”.

Partnering with AdRoll, Preferred Hotels & Resorts launched demand generation campaigns to reach prospective vacationers who hadn’t yet heard about Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ destinations. These campaigns drove brand awareness and brought new traffic to the website. A complimentary demand generation program used retargeting to engage users throughout their vacation research process and offer promotions to drive bookings. — Read More Here

#4 What Should I Watch Out For When Running Different Display Ad Types?

Using your display ads effectively can help any business increase their brand recognition and can introduce you to potential new business. It is for this reason that I have compiled my article, “What Types Of Display Ads Should You Run? — Part 3 (The Advanced Guide)”, to share some tips and best practices for display ad types and advertising on the display networks.

“ The further you are away from understanding your customers and your market, the less your chances are to successfully build something that hits a nerve, and serves the customer.” — Steli Efti (CEO of CloseIO) Steli Efti

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In my next article, “What Types Of Display Ads Should You Run? — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide)”, I will cover the types of display ads that are available on AdWords and Adroll.