Why Use Banner Advertising?

When it comes to advertising there are many avenues that you can take. There are billboards, flyers, email marketing, and banner advertising just to name a few, and each has its own set of distinct advantages. When it comes to banner advertising, the ability for this form of marketing to provide you with prime placement can be extremely beneficial to your business.

So what exactly is banner advertising and how does it work? Banner ads are also referred to as display ads and the best way to think of them is as a type of digital billboard that uses images to attract attention. The goal of these ads is to grab attention and drive traffic to your site.

A great banner ad will grab the reader’s attention and prompts them to want to learn more about what is being advertised. They are typically brightly colored, welcoming, and use images instead of text to convey their messaging.

A Deeper Look at Banner Advertising

Banner ads can consist of either still images or animated images. A still image banner ad can be a simple photo or visual element that acts just like an ad, however, you can click on the image and are then taken to the advertiser’s page.

On the other hand, an animated banner ad is typically delivered by an ad server. The purpose of an animated ad is the same as for a still image, to drive traffic. These ads are sometimes referred to as a programmatically generated display or a sequential visual, but to keep things simple we will just be referring to them as animated banner ads.

Why Use Banner Advertising

There are quite a few benefits when it comes to using this method of advertising. The first being brand awareness. You can grow your brand’s online presence by using banner advertising, helping people be able to easily recognize your products and services. Another benefit is that this type of advertising is a way to generate leads. These ads will help build your user base by enticing people to sign up to try your product or service or even to join your email list. The last benefit that we want to touch on is that they are a great way to retarget your audience. If someone came onto your website but didn’t purchase your product or sign up for your newsletter, these will work as a reminder that they should!

Banner ads are typically located on websites with high traffic volume or websites that offer useful content. However, when choosing what website to advertise you have to consider more than just traffic volume. Our team at Focused Image works with you to find websites that are within your industry’s niche to advertise on so that your ideal customer is directly targeted.

Creating a Banner Advertising Campaign

Because banner ads are visual there are a few elements that you want to incorporate to make sure the ad is effective.

1. Incorporate a Call to Action

A call to action phrase is what invites prospective customers to learn more about your products and or services. These are the words that get them to click on the ad. Some examples of these phrases are, “Book Now,” “Get Started,” “Contact Us Today.” Adding one of these phrases to your banner prompts viewers to click on the ad and be taken to your site.

2. Use Keywords

We’ve talked about SEO and keywords before and how they can benefit online marketing campaigns.

3. Keep Things Simple

When an ad is crowded it can become overwhelming to web browsers. The most effective ads have minimal amounts of texts, one or two powerful images, and a call to action. Sometimes banner ads don’t even have text or images, but instead just a logo and a call to action. When it comes to banner advertising your ad doesn’t have to be that simple but it doesn’t have to have as much information as you may think. Just one strong sentence is typically more than enough to grab the attention of your audience.

4. Use High-Quality Images

In order to keep your banner advertising professional all visual elements, either a still image or an animated one should be high quality. Moving images are an effective way to keep ads interesting but it is important to know that static images can be just as powerful. These photos should also be brand-related and recognizable so that the images keep your company in your audience’s mind.

5. Add your Brand

It doesn’t matter whether or not you are a small company or a larger one, establishing and having brand awareness is extremely important. This is the identity that customers and potential customers associate you with. This is why including your brand colors and brand logo in your banner ad is vital to your company’s success. If you always use a light blue in your advertising and logo, you should use that same light blue in your banner ad too. If people already know your company they will recognize the ad and be more likely to click on it, which will then boost your click-through rate too!

Effective Banner Advertising with Focused Image

One of the best things about digital marketing is that the effectiveness of an ad can be easily measured. With banner ads, the best way to measure the effectiveness is by looking at the click-through rate. The Click-through rate is calculated by dividing the number of users who clicked on the ad by the number of times the ad was displayed. The number that you get is often referred to as impressions.

An example of this is that if an ad has a click-through rate of 9%, that means that out of the 100 impressions delivered the banner was clicked on nine times. The higher the click-through rate, the more effective the advertisement.

Banner advertising is a great way to put your business in front of your targeted audience and our team at Focused Image is here to help! Contact us today for more information about how banner advertising can benefit your business.