One of the biggest problems companies face during the early days (especially) is marketing. How are they going to get their product or service in front of the eyes of their potential customer? How are they going to extend their reach? Well, one very common strategy implemented is online advertising campaigns, which, if done well can really produce some shining results.
So, how do you go about implementing an effective ad campaign? We’re going to discuss and go through all the processes you should be thinking about when it comes to starting a banner ad marketing campaign.
The Decision
First and foremost, you need to be thinking about whether or not such a campaign would be profitable for your business, after all that’s the ultimate aim. Some people have the impression that banner ad campaigns are useless, and the results are usually very bleak, but when used in conjunction with custom landing pages, custom banner ads (for each landing page) and the right targeted spots, it can produce some very good results. For example, Campaign Monitor implemented a campaign in April 2010 which they’ve extensively documented on their blog posting all the results.
Their campaign didn’t recoup the money invested in the short term, but as they point out, their strategy for monetization is much longer term, so there was no real way for them to gauge the complete results of the campaign. I personally feel that they didn’t set banner ads on the right websites, and I’m of the opinion that getting ads on smaller sites, in greater volume is a better strategy as it allows you to get more for your money (usually).
So considerations include immediate ROI (which varies depending on your monetization strategy), long-term benefits, and development or use of custom creatives, landing pages, and tracking tools.
Once you’ve decided whether or not you wish to adopt a banner ad marketing strategy, you can proceed onto the next steps.
Creating the Campaign
When developing a campaign, you have to think about a lot more than what goes on the banner ads themselves, that’s just a small portion of what you should be thinking about. Here are some questions you need to be asking yourself:
- What message am I trying to get across to potential customers?
- What’s the best way to portray or represent this message?
- Can I portray the message in a very creative way?
- What are visitors going to see when they click through the banner ad?
- What specific information and elements do I need to include in each custom landing page?
- Is there amply opportunity for visitors to build a connection to your product or service before purchase?
As you can clearly see, there’s a lot more to consider than just what goes on the custom banner ads.
It’s best to visualize and plan out the paths you want your visitors to take. Draw up a simple diagram that maps the path from start (clicking on your banner ad) to the end (signing up for free trial/purchasing product) adding as much detail as possible about each section of the process.
Now, let’s explore the likely first touch-point of the campaign, the banner ad(s) themselves.
Banner Ads
If you want to get the most out of your campaign as possible, you really need to go through and obsessively analyze and digest each part of the entire process and this includes going over the first likely point of interaction between your product/service and the potential customer, your banner ad(s).
The core function of the banner ad should be to get people to click through to the next stage of the goal (sign-up/purchase) so you really need to be thinking about ways of creating an ad that really stands out and gets people’s attention. Here are a few considerations when it comes to your set of banner ads:
- Do the colors match up with the overall color palette of your website?
- Are there similar design styles/elements adopted in the banner ads that match with your site?
- Is there a call-to-action on the banner ad (i.e. something that prompts the viewer to click through)?
- Have you got across your core message through the banner ad?
- Is the banner ad attractive?
At Elegant Banners we specialize in creating banner ads for such campaigns, so do take a look at our service if you’re really looking for an awesome set of custom banner ads.
When developing a banner marketing campaign, people tend to neglect certain elements of the campaign, such as the banners, or landing pages, but you really do need to make sure each stage is laser-targeted with little opportunity to deter from the goal.
You can read part two of this series by clicking here.
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About ElegantBanners: ElegantBanners.com is a service that designs high quality custom creatives for your ad marketing campaigns online. We create display ads for Google Adwords and all other major ad networks and our ultimate aim is beautiful, yet effective banner ads for all.
Taiyab Raja is an avid blogger, freelancer and banner designer for ElegantBanners. His passions lie in creating stunning visuals for the web, and developing great online businesses.
Want to get in touch with @taiyab? Use the contact form.
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Thank Taiyab,
A great opportunity and gave me ideas on how to design banners online marketing campaign. I will follow you on Twitter, and RSS.
To be honest, I don’t see anything besides building partnerships, to be as vital these days. The most important work that businesses should focus on in the current economy is developing channel partnerships. Media buy, advertising, internet marketing, worries about content monetization – it’s all important too, but the advertising budgets are shrinking, therefore I see strategic partnerships to be the main focus of any operation – from emerging start up to a established organization.
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Thank you for the tips! I am in the process of creating a new marketing campaign and have decided to give banner ads a go. The questions you posed are giving me a great jumping off point.
That’s great Lindsay, I’m glad you’re taking action
This is a really great article! I have found a lot of helpful information.
can u answer my some questions please……….. my questions are??????
1) what will be your strategic plan with reference to time, cost and media selection?
2)what are the logical reasons for selecting different media for the full advertising campaign?
3)what are the points you would keep in mind while making the advertising campaign so that there is no violation of the advertising ethics