Platforms like Meta continue to dominate the social media advertising scene, especially with Facebook rebranding to Meta several years ago in order to better integrate its acquisition of Instagram. Meta continues to power advertisers’ core advertising strategies as the platform develops and innovates, bringing a top-the-of-the-line ad performance. Here’s what you need to know if you want to add Meta as part of your strategies as well.

What is Meta advertising?

Meta advertising through the years

Meta advertising has been around for more than a decade, dating back to 2004 in the platform’s infancy stages when it offered ‘flyers‘ and bits and pieces of ad space to companies in exchange for a small financial cushion to get the platform off the ground. 

However, it wasn’t until 2007 when Facebook officially launched its ‘Facebook Ads’ platform which allowed businesses to create individual profiles as well as “social ads” which were ads that combined social actions from a user’s friends (such as recent purchase of a business review) with an advertiser’s message. 

Several years later, it introduced ‘Sponsored Stories’, a desktop ad program that placed paid ads directly on users’ news feeds as well as expansion to mobile ads. By 2014, Facebook rolled out its three-level advertising campaign structure, offering “campaigns” and “ad sets” on top of standard ads. 

Campaigns consisted of overarching plans that correspond to specific advertising objectives and were designed to help users optimize and measure results of individual ads. 

Ad sets, on the other hand, are subsets of a campaign that could feature their own budgets and target separate audience segments. Facebook ads expanded its ad formats, featuring eight separate advertising options such as: photo, video, stories, Messenger, Marketplace, carousel, slideshow, collection, and playable content. 

With the rebranding of Facebook to Meta, new technology and trends will bring new formats to explore and familiar processes to refine.

How does it work?

At its core, meta ads are ads served to users based on their previous interactions and behaviors online. They leverage data collected about individuals’ browsing habits, search history, and other online activities to deliver ads that are highly relevant and personalized. 

Meta ads make use of ‘cookies’. When a user visits a website or engages with an online platform, a cookie is placed on their device. This cookie collects information about the user’s activities (such as the websites they visit, the products they browse, etc.). This data is then used to create a comprehensive profile of the user, which includes their interests, preferences, and demographics. Advertisers can then use this information to target specific groups of users who are most likely to be interested in their products or services.

However, with the deprecation of third-party cookies by companies like Apple and Google in early 2024, Meta has taken it upon themselves to create more in-house data integrations in its platform via the Conversions API.  The Conversions API is designed to create a connection between an advertiser’s marketing data from an advertiser’s server, website platform, mobile app, or CRM to Meta systems that optimize ad targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes. In other words, the Conversions API tool helps advertisers use their own marketing data to optimize ad targeting, and is built to honor people’s privacy preferences without it being dependent on browser technologies that collect third-party cookies. 

Meta ads also utilize advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze and interpret the collected data. These algorithms are constantly improving and evolving, allowing advertisers to deliver highly targeted ad campaigns that generate better results. 

Another important feature of meta ads is retargeting. This strategy involves showing ads to users who have previously interacted with a brand or visited their website. By reminding these users of their previous interests, retargeting aims to bring them back into the sales funnel and increase the chances of conversion.

Forms and types of Meta advertising

Meta ads offer various ad formats and placement options. They can be displayed on social media platforms, search engines, mobile apps, and websites, ensuring maximum reach and visibility. According to Meta, there are five main types of Meta ads:

• Image: this type of Meta ad consists of one image that usually contains a call to action and an attached link;
• Video: these types of ads are in the form of videos which make content more easily digestible and eye-catching for the user;
• Carousel: carousel ads showcase up to 10 images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link;
• Instant Experience: a fullscreen experience that opens after someone taps your ad on a mobile device;
• Collection: features multiple products and opens as an Instant Experience when someone interacts with it. Customers can discover, browse, and purchase products from their phones in a visual and immersive way;

PDFSimpli’s carousel ad shows its product features on each panel

In addition, there are other types of Meta ads that derive from the five main types:

• Slideshow ads: slideshow ads use images and videos (usually a minimum of 3 and up to 10 images or videos) to portray a story in slideshow form, appearing as videos cycling through slides and transitions. Slideshow ads can help illustrate a complicated sequence or simplify a complex process;
• Dynamic product ads: these are typically image or video ads that often change or are tailored according to users’ browsing habits, often used for re-marketing as you are promoting a product to already interested customers;
• Lead form ads: these ads direct users to a fillable form Fields are typically customized to obtain specific data that marketers want from users;
• Collection ads: collection ads entail a cover image or video with several products showcased under the cover image. When a user clicks on one of the images or videos, it will open the Instant Experience ad and show the rest of the product collection;
• Event ads: some brands make use of the “Events” feature on Meta to promote and advertise certain events and products, offering a unique way of showcasing their brand;
• Messenger ads: messenger ads appear on the messenger feature of Meta (typically in between your conversations). Users will see a call to action that will end up in the destination you set when create the messenger ad;
• Marketplace ads: marketplace ads make use of Meta’s marketplace feature and are typically used for businesses wanting to reach more people who are browsing in the marketplace. Ads in the marketplace will both show in the marketplace as well as in people’s news feeds and will display a “Sponsored” label on the ad;
• Stories ads: stories ads are Meta ads that make use of the “Stories” feature, providing a fast and natural full-screen and vertical view of the brand’s ads;
• Poll ads: these make use of polls (typically appearing at the bottom of photos and videos) on the “Stories” feature, offering brands the opportunity to engage with the users;

Why invest in Meta advertising?

Meta continues to be a popular form of online advertising for marketers worldwide as evidenced by the consumption of users and ad spend by companies on the platform. According to Insider Intelligence, Meta still accounts for 75% of US ad dollars spent on social media for 2023. 

In addition, Facebook accounts for more than half (54.6%) of Meta’s $51.35 billion in US ad revenues this year. Furthermore, Meta and Instagram are still the kings of social spend compared to TikTok’s 9% social spend. 

With the mass variety of ad forms and the vast user reach on the platform, it offers a lot of flexibility and customization options for marketers that are tailored to their goals and ad purpose. Whether it’s lead generation or increasing brand awareness, there’s an option and format that marketers can use in Meta that will optimize their goals and results and fully reach their ad potential. 

Additionally, Meta offers the option to let you reach specific target audiences, using demographics and characteristics (such as age, gender, location, etc.) to reach the right audience.  

Another reason to invest in Meta advertising is how cost-effective it is to utilize their ad platform. According to a 2022 study made by Brandwatch, Meta or Facebook is the second cheapest platform in terms of average cost per click compared to the other three major social networks when using their ad platforms. Marketers often get better value-for-money advertising on Meta compared to other online platforms.

Facebook has a cheaper average cost-per-click compared to others (Source: Brandwatch)

Challenges of Meta advertising

As with any online ad platform, there are challenges and things to keep in mind when investing in Meta advertising. These challenges can often pose difficulty for advertisers to fully take advantage of the platform’s benefits and capabilities and therefore, need to be part of their considerations when investing in Meta advertising. 

Privacy in data

Privacy violations can lead to data falling into the wrong hands. The use of data for nefarious purposes such as theft, identity issues, and cyberbullying is increasing. 

According to statistics from Pew Research, 54% of Americans have made adjustments to their privacy settings for their accounts, particularly in light of multiple alleged antitrust violations. There have been incidents of pop-up ads and spam content that lead to phishing, identity theft, and data privacy violations that makes users cautious of opening and checking out ads on social networking platforms. 

The laws of privacy with Meta have overarching effects on all stakeholders in the process. The revelation in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica used personal data from Facebook to profile millions of Americans played a significant role in the passing of California’s comprehensive consumer privacy law, known as CCPA. As a result, Meta has been fined €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) by European Union regulators for violating EU privacy laws by transferring the personal data of Facebook users to servers in the United States. That said, Meta users have a tendency for wariness when clicking on ads on the platform. Therefore, advertisers need to find ways to ensure their ads are legitimate and trustworthy enough for users to engage with them.

Usage of data by powerful AI technology

AI systems are designed to learn and improve by analyzing large amounts of data. As a result, the amount of personal data collected by AI systems continues to increase, raising concerns about privacy and data protection. 

Transparency in the use of personal data by AI systems is essential. Individuals must be able to understand how their data is used and have the ability to control the use of their data. This includes the ability to opt out of data collection and request deletion of their data.

Increased prejudice and discrimination on social media

Many ads (both digital and non-digital) have been under fire for not having an appropriate and fair message, often perceived as discriminatory and prejudicial – whether it was the advertiser’s intention or not. Such discriminatory content can be based on factors such as race, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is essential to ensure that all advertising collateral on Meta is tailored to diverse data and tested regularly to avoid bias and discrimination. 

Limited A/B testing potential on Meta

Meta doesn’t allow for features such as ad rotation, making A/B testing difficult and not the most optimal on the platform (unlike other ad platforms that explicitly offer A/B testing). While it does have a built in A/B test option, it would take a long time to arrive at statistically significant results without a large spend.

Advertising trends in Meta

With the advertising world constantly evolving and innovating, Meta more so grows and shifts alongside its user base as new trends emerge. Here are just some of the recent advertising trends and priorities on Meta.

Retail taking priority

Retail has been the largest ad spending vertical in 2023, accounting for 27.9% of US digital ad spending. This has led social networks to put their own retail networks at the top of their priority list, with Meta is placing continued emphasis on their Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC+), (which focuses on lower-funnel ads in order to attract advertisers looking for a steady revenue source). 

The rise and integration of AI technology on Meta

AI has also been a priority for Meta, with the company launching its AI Sandbox in May of 2023, providing advertisers with a testing environment to experiment with emerging AI-powered tools. These include an automated background generation tool for product images and an automatic resizing tool, so that images can more easily be made to fit Meta’s ad formats. While advertisers aren’t keen to jump on the generative-AI bandwagon, Meta is hedging its bets with this new suite of tools. 

Ad supply is soaring

Ad supply is not on issue on Meta’s platforms in 2023. In fact, its ad supply is oversized. In Meta’s Q2 2023 earnings call, the company declared it had sold 34% more impressions than in 2022. These impressions were also sold at a 16% lower rate. This massive increase in impressions is in large part because of ads being sold on previously under-monetized surfaces. Surfaces like Instagram’s search results and Reels, both of which have been largely successful with users this year, even though they have not performed as well as expected. 

Uncertainty towards Threads as app improvement continues

After Meta launched Instagram Threads in July 2023, the app saw about 100 million user downloads in just five days after its launch. However, Threads’ engagement saw a huge drop by a whopping 79% since July. According to eMarketer, however, Threads users are continuing to climb steadily, in pact with new Instagram users. 

Projected rate of change of Threads users in the U.S. for 2023-2025 (Source: eMarketer)

This comes as Meta continuously develops and improves its app, bringing in new features such as rolling out a web experience for Threads, testing keyword search for New Zealand, Australian and Spanish markets, and conducting focus groups to digital creators to better understand the market. That said, advertising on Threads could likely be a window of opportunity and future development for the up-and-coming social networking app. 

Programmatic advertising on Meta

Programmatic ads are popular on Meta. According to Media Radar, of the 17,400 companies that advertised on Facebook in April of 2021, only 543 purchased direct digital ad space, the remainder opted for a programmatic approach. 

Meta already makes it incredibly easy to include their ads in your programmatic approach; Facebook ads purchased directly from Facebook’s ad inventory, are delivered programmatically. But Facebook ads can also be bought through a separate DSP or journey advertising platform, making it easier to include Meta ads as part of a larger, more holistic programmatic strategy.

Tips on successful Meta advertising

In the ever-evolving advertising landscape, staying ahead of the game is crucial for businesses that want to maximize their reach and impact. Here are some tips to help you navigate the world of Meta advertising:

• Understand your target audience: defining your target audience is key to a successful advertising campaign. With Meta’s detailed targeting and lookalike audiences, as well as demographic and interest-based filters, you can precisely reach potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. 
• Utilize multiple placements: To maximize your exposure and reach, consider utilizing multiple placements within a single advertising campaign. Meta offers a wide array of advertising placements, including Facebook stories, Instagram reels, and audience networks.
• Optimize for mobile devices: With increasing users accessing social media platforms like Meta through their smartphones, it’s essential to ensure that your ads are responsive, visually appealing, and user-friendly on mobile devices. Test different ad formats and creatives to determine what works best for mobile users and tailor your campaigns accordingly.
• Implement retargeting strategies: Retargeting campaigns on Meta are highly effective in converting potential customers into buyers. With dynamic product ads and the ability to retarget specific audiences based on their actions (such as video views or interactions with your website) you can remind potential customers about your products or services and encourage them to take action.
• Monitor and optimize campaign performance: To make the most out of your Meta advertising, regular monitoring and ensuring optimal performance is key. Keep a close eye on key metrics like ad engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. Use A/B testing to experiment with different ad formats, messaging, and targeting options. By continuously analyzing the performance of your campaigns, you can make data-driven decisions and refine your strategies to achieve better results over time.
• Make use of automation tools: Different iterations of the same messaging also play a vital role in delivering relevant messages to specific audiences. Meta has a set of automation tools that can be used for the best advertising results. Meta’s AI systems allow advertisers to target ads based on user responses and trends identified through an algorithm.
• Utilize conversion tools: Advertisers should measure the impact of ads, quantify the value of marketing mix modeling, and use A/B testing to compare different strategies. Meta has rolled out its Conversions API to create a direct connection between marketing data and their own platform to improve campaign performance and measurement. Conversions API bridges data in Meta’s system with accounts that complete an action. Complement the API with Conversion Lift to measure ad performance as well.

Examples of Meta ads

Intuit Mailchimp’s image ad of its email marketing platform

Intuit Mailchimp’s image ad with an attention-drawing headline

Intuit Mailchimp does a good job of drawing viewers’ attention with its eye-catching graphic and its direct headline and ad copy. It concisely states what the product is, a benefit to using their product (“141% more revenue”),  and a clear call to action (identifying customers’ needs and converting more customers with shopping triggers). 

Adobe’s event ad of its Creative Cloud sales promotion

Adobe’s “Creative Cloud” event ad shows a limited-time offer to students

Software companies such as Adobe use event advertising to boost sales at specific points of the year and promote their brand and products on periods that matter the most to them. This event ad is showcasing a limited-time promotion aimed at students, citing savings of up to 65% on Creative Cloud app purchases and offering an additional free month of subscription throughout the month of January.  It expressly shows what the promotion is and until when the promotion takes place (“through Jan 29th”) and has a clear call to action (“Get offer”).

American Express’ video ad for its Cobalt credit card

American Express advertises its Cobalt credit card through a video ad

American Express launched a Meta video ad promoting its line of Cobalt credit cards. The ad’s video grabs attention to its viewers with eye-catching benefits (“earn 5x the points”, “up to $125 per month towards dinner out with friends”) that entices that viewer to apply. Its call to action is very clear and direct as well.

Final thoughts

Meta has proven itself to be a powerhouse in today’s digital advertising space. Its advanced capabilities and intuitive tools for creating impactful advertising have given companies and advertisers the resources they need to thrive in this ever-changing world. It’s no surprise that Meta advertising is here to stay and by utilizing the social media phenomenon as part of your strategies, you will be able to create more meaningful and results-driven advertising.

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The advertising industry is constantly pushing boundaries, seizing opportunities on untapped channels and platforms, and executing strategies to engage audiences like never before. Platforms like video games are often considered a consumer pastime – but they are also a new horizon for digital advertising.

In-game advertising has existed for decades but very few marketers realize its potential or the value it can bring both brands and consumers. eMarketer suggests there are approximately 184.6 million video game users in the United States alone, representing a sizable untapped audience for most brands.

With gaming being a notable part of everyday lives and modern society, it offers a significant opportunity for brands to offer compelling and engaging advertising, having a meaningful impact on potential consumers. Here’s why in-game advertising is one of today’s biggest marketing trends.

In-game advertising defined

In-game advertising (IGA), as the name suggests, involves the use of ads or the promotion of brands at any point of a game (this can be pre-, mid-, or post-game). In other words, it is a type of digital advertising that displays image, video, or audio ads inside video games themselves. Game developers often sell ad space in video games through which brands can promote themselves in a more integrated, seamless game environment. This provides a more engaged experience for consumers instead of typical in-app advertisements, pop-ups, or banners commonly seen in mobile games. In essence, IGA is programmatic advertising for video games.

Investing in IGA can help brands achieve more visibility, and is an effective way to differentiate their brand by using advertising channels where competition may still be low. IGA’s flexibility and adaptability let brands optimize their campaigns in real-time – making it easy to create custom-made advertising messages and campaigns without disrupting the flow and gameplay of consumers. 

In-game advertising is also a great way to collect user data. Marketers can refine and improve their advertising messages and strategies by gathering specific customer metrics and information like time spent playing video games, the gamer’s profile, location information, and more.

Typically, IGA involves certain stakeholders and key market players. These include (but are not limited to): demand-side platforms (DSP) or sell-side platforms (SSP), data platforms (like Google, Amazon, and Facebook), game streaming broadcasters (like Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Gaming), video game creators and publishers, and other digital content publishers like (like YouTube or Spotify).

Forms of IGA

In-game advertising has been around for decades, dating back to 1978 when the text adventure video game Adventureland promoted its new game Pirate Adventure on the microcomputer. IGA has evolved since then, transforming into the various forms and types of in game ads used today. Here are some of the main forms of in-game advertising:

Static in-game ads

Static in-game advertising involves placing ads on stationary elements, like a virtual billboard or poster. These are usually strategically placed to attract a player’s attention without disrupting gameplay. One key feature of static in-game ads is that once it has been added to the game, it cannot be changed. Static ads are most commonly used in sports, racing, and open-world games.

Dynamic in-game ads

Interstitial ads are interactive ads that cover the entire screen, often  during the game’s natural pauses (like a break in between levels). The purpose of interstitial ads is to ensure they interrupt a user’s gaming experience as little as possible.

Native banners

Native banners are embedded and added as part of the game’s content and blend seamlessly into the background for an unobtrusive ad experience.

Contextual ads

Contextual ads are placed in environments where the site content is similar and more relevant to the audience. These ads make use of a set of topics and keywords related to their digital media source, which then use algorithms to match the ad with relevant content.

Rewarded video ads

Rewarded video ads are meant to reward users for watching a full-screen ad (these are usually around 15-30 seconds long). This incentivizes users with bonuses like in-game currency, extra lives, or bonus content. Developers saw user retention increase by 62% after introducing rewarded video ads and 71% of video game players prefer in-game video ads over in-app purchases. 

Playable ads

Playable ads are interactive video ads that give users a glimpse of what a game is before they decide to download it. By implementing playable ads, advertisers can expect lower uninstall rates and increased user retention. 

Advergaming / gamevertising

Advergaming (sometimes referred to as “gamevertising” or advertising in games) refers to games specifically designed to promote a brand. It involves incorporating advertising elements directly into the game such as the integration of brand promotions, product placements, or interactive advertisements within the gameplay. 

These games often involve collaboration between game developers and the advertisers through which the advertiser’s brand is integrated into the game as a form of sponsorship. Some of these elements usually include sponsored in-game events, challenges or levels, customization options, or additional game modes that showcase the advertiser’s brand or content. 

Product placements (putting products and brands directly into video games where players will see or “use” them) and sponsored game content (integration of a brand or product into game content)fall under this category as well.

A few examples of these are: 

• Activision Blizzard Media’s Playables are branded stand-alone mobile app games.
• Chex’s Chex Quest was a first-person shooter PC game included in Chex cereal boxes back in 1996. It has since been remastered as Chex Quest HD which is playable for free on Steam. 
• Fortnite hosted a virtual concert for rap artist Travis Scott where he premiered his new song. This event also offered in-game rewards like exclusive Travis Scott customization options, loading screens, and more. 
• Monster Energy drink and a poster for the AMC TV series Ride with Norman Reedus are both seen in the 2019 video game Death Stranding. 

Benefits of IGA vs. traditional marketing

In-game advertising is proven to have various benefits and advantages in contrast to traditional marketing. IGAs are generally perceived as more organic compared to the presence of pop-up and banner ads. Having interactive components also leads to both brand recognition and consumer participation. Geo-targeting, real-time ad moderation, and rapid rollout of ad creatives are other benefits of IGAs.

In addition, brands can increase brand awareness and engagement by showing ads to users in a much more natural, seamless way without disrupting the user’s gaming experience. A study commissioned by Broadband provider TalkTalk shows that in-game advertising delivered an uplift in purchase intent by as much as 12%.

In-game advertising also results in longer attention spans for gamers. In-game ads are shown to result in an average gamer attention span of 29 minutes vs. the 17.5 minutes per thousand impressions in online advertising. They also result in a higher average dwell time of 13%, compared to the 1.6% for online advertising, and a greater interest rate. In-game ads were viewed by up to 96% of study participants and over eight in ten (84%) felt that the ads were suitable for the in-game environment.

Another benefit to utilizing in-game advertising is being able to tap into the huge target consumers and target certain audiences that other brands may not necessarily think of promoting to. The regular gamer has diverse typologies and segments that brands can access and engage with: 

• They can be casual gamers who usually play games on their smartphones or tablets, mainly women 33 years or older. 
• They can be convivial gamers who typically play on their gaming consoles once or twice a week, often enjoying the social dimension of gaming. 
• They can be the committed gamers, who are generally characterized as young men between the ages of 15-19 who play at least once a day on their PC 
• Or they can be the geek-techies, often male students who usually play on their last-generation gaming console but also on more than 19 devices. 

Challenges of in-game advertising

Considering the ever-changing world of in-game advertising, as well as the industry’s increasing regard and utilization of it, it makes sense that IGA also comes with its own set of unique challenges and barriers. 

One common challenge is user attitude when seeing and encountering ads during gameplay. Players tend to become frustrated and upset if the ads disrupt enjoyment or flow. Such disruption could lead to lower user retention and lesser engagement, defeating the purpose of the in-game ad. 

Another challenge is the constant need to engage and stimulate gamers’ minds and attention; gamers are even more susceptible to ad fatigue, often getting bored very quickly by seeing the same ads repeatedly. 

Furthermore, a study by eMarketer shows the majority of video game players in the U.S. are more receptive to in-game ads that do not disrupt their gameplay and prefer ads that are related and relevant to the content of their game of choice. 

Thus, targeting, frequency, and content are crucial for a successful IGA campaign. For brands utilizing IGAs, ads must be non-intrusive, constantly engage with users with relevant content, and preferably offer rewards or incentives (like in-game currency, or bonus game content).

Notable examples of in-game advertising

Nike and Puma’s contextual advertising in NBA 2K22

Virtual Concepts collaborated with athletic sportswear brands Nike and Puma to place their logos in the popular sports video game NBA 2K22. Its contextual relevance completes the gaming experience since both Nike and Puma are popular and relevant amongst professional and amateur athletes. It also helps to drive brand awareness and brand recall for gamers.

Fortnite collaborates with Jordan

The popular shooter game Fortnite collaborated with athletic brand Jordan back in 2021. Players could complete and unlock customization options from the popular brand such as the Air Jordan XI Cool Gray, and other clothing options inspired by the Jordan brand. The MVP got access to a virtual museum, a basketball court to test your abilities, and an immersive video that advertises the Jordan brand.

Forza Horizon’s gamevertising of real-life car manufacturers and movies

Forza Horizon, a popular racing and driving console video game, gives players options to drive and use actual makes and models of popular car manufacturers such as Audi, Ford, Dodge, and more. In addition, Forza has also released limited edition cars featured in films like the 2023 Barbie movie.

The future of in-game advertising

With the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) releasing new standards for in-game ads in June 2022 (affecting intrinsic ads in particular), there seems to be an uptick in development for intrinsic ads which could unlock console advertising. These ads are situated in 3D environments as part of the game world. ​​Ad platforms like Anzu and Bidstack are collaborating with console makers to develop technology for programmatic intrinsic ads. 

In addition, Metaverse worlds are also looking at including ads. Roblox, for instance, is interested in building a full ad platform. VR gaming developers are also looking at developing intrinsic ads – especially with the new IAB standards. 

Another window of opportunity for game developers and advertisers would be free-to-play games on consoles. Once ad makers have the ad tech ready, the free-to-play console games are prime candidates for programmatic advertising. 

In-game ads for subscription-based gaming is another possible opportunity for marketers. With Netflix, Google, and Apple launching and developing their line of subscription gaming, premium games could be another avenue for advertisers to inject their brands into video games. Game streaming services like Twitch are also areas where advertisers can explore programmatic in-game advertising.

Final thoughts

It comes as no surprise that in-game advertising is here to stay. It will also continue to become more and more prevalent as the world of video games expands and develops. With more innovations in video gaming comes the growth of its user base. A new study by Statista shows five out of ten people will be mobile gamers by 2025. 

This increased video game consumption is a window of opportunity for brands and advertisers wanting to capitalize on in-game advertising, making it the next game changer for the marketing and advertising industry.

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What is media buying?

One of the key elements of media buying is identifying the target audience. This involves understanding the demographics, interests, and behaviors of the audience that a brand wants to reach. By knowing the target audience, advertisers can select the most relevant media channels to deliver their message.

Programmatic advertising has revolutionized the media buying process. It utilizes automated technology and data-driven insights to optimize real-time ad placements. Advertising agencies commonly use a demand-side platform (DSP) to manage programmatic media buying. It enables advertisers to set their campaign goals, select the relevant channels, and leverage real-time bidding to place ads on supply-side platforms (SSPs). With the advent of digital advertising, media buying has become more precise, allowing advertisers to reach their desired audience at the optimal time and lowest cost possible.

Media buying vs. media planning

Media buying and media planning are two integral components of the advertising process, both crucial for a successful marketing campaign. While they may sound similar, there are distinct differences between the two.

Media planning focuses on the strategic aspect of the campaign. It involves identifying the target audience, understanding their preferences and behaviors, and selecting the most effective media platforms to reach them. Media planners work closely with marketing teams to develop a comprehensive plan that aligns with the brand’s goals and objectives. They conduct market research, analyze industry trends, and evaluate various media options to determine the optimal channels and placement strategy.

On the other hand, media buying is the tactical aspect of executing the media plan. Once the media plan is in place, media buyers negotiate and purchase the advertising space or airtime on behalf of the advertiser. They work with advertising agencies, media sales representatives, and various platforms to secure the best rates and placements for the campaign. Media buyers also focus on maximizing the return on investment for the advertiser by strategically positioning the ads and optimizing their performance.

Successful advertising campaigns require both thorough media planning and savvy media buying. By understanding and leveraging the strengths of each function, advertisers can optimize their marketing initiatives and drive the desired results.

Stages of media buys

Media buys consist of several stages that advertisers go through to ensure optimal results for their advertising campaigns. These stages help advertisers strategize, execute, and evaluate their media buying efforts.

The first stage of media buys is planning. This involves defining campaign goals, target market, and marketing budget. Advertisers work closely with their marketing teams to develop a comprehensive plan that aligns with their objectives. This step includes conducting market research, analyzing industry trends, and identifying the most suitable platforms and channels to reach the target audience.

Once the planning stage is complete, the next step is negotiation. Advertisers collaborate with media sales representatives, advertising agencies, and various platforms to secure the best rates and placements for their ads. Negotiations involve determining the pricing, ad placement, and any additional features or benefits.

After the negotiation stage, comes the execution stage. Media buyers place the ads on selected channels and platforms. They ensure that the ads are positioned strategically to maximize their performance. This includes considering factors such as the target audience’s demographics, interests, and behavior, as well as the optimal time of day for advertising.

Following the execution stage is monitoring and optimization. Media buyers track the performance of the ads and make necessary adjustments to improve results. They analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, click-through rates, and engagement metrics. By closely monitoring the campaign, media buyers can identify areas for improvement and refine their strategies to optimize the campaign’s effectiveness.

The final stage of media buys is evaluation. Advertisers assess the overall performance of the campaign against their initial goals. This includes analyzing the return on investment (ROI) and determining the campaign’s success in reaching and influencing the target audience. Evaluation allows advertisers to identify strengths and weaknesses, gather insights for future campaigns, and make data-driven decisions.

By following these stages, advertisers can maximize the impact of their media buys, reach their target audience effectively, and achieve their campaign goals.

Media buying tips

Media buying is a crucial aspect of any successful advertising campaign. It involves making strategic decisions about where and when to place ads in order to maximize their impact and reach the target audience effectively. To help you navigate the complex world of media buying, here are some essential tips to keep in mind.

Define your target audience

Before diving into media buying, it’s important to define your target audience clearly. Understand their demographics, interests, and behaviors to ensure that your ads are reaching the right people. This targeted approach will help maximize the effectiveness of your campaign.

Set clear campaign goals

Determine what you want to achieve with your advertising campaign. Whether it’s brand awareness, lead generation, or sales, setting clear campaign goals will help guide your media buying strategy. Align your goals with your target audience to create a compelling message that resonates with them.

Research the market

Conduct thorough research to understand the media landscape and identify relevant channels to reach your audience. Look for the platforms, publications, or websites that your target audience frequently engages with. This research will help you select the most suitable media outlets for your ad placements.

Seek out advertising agencies

When making buys of substantial size, a marketer should consider partnering with advertising agencies that specialize in media buying. These professionals have the expertise and industry connections to negotiate the best deals and secure optimal ad placements. They can also provide valuable insights and recommendations to enhance your media buying strategy.

Establish a budget 

Determine your marketing budget and allocate a portion specifically for media buying. By setting a budget, you can prioritize your spending and make strategic decisions about which channels and platforms to focus on. Remember to leave room for flexibility to take advantage of unexpected opportunities that may arise.

Monitor and analyze performance

Regularly monitor the performance of your ad placements and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs). This data will help you understand the effectiveness of your media buying strategy and make informed decisions for improvement. Adjust your campaigns based on the insights gained to optimize your results.

Stay up to date with industry trends

The media landscape is constantly evolving, so it’s essential to stay updated with the latest industry trends and innovations. Keep an eye on emerging platforms, technologies, and media buying strategies to ensure that your campaigns remain effective and relevant.

By following these media buying tips, you can maximize the impact of your advertising campaigns and achieve your marketing goals. Remember to stay focused, be adaptable, and continuously refine your strategy based on data-driven insights. With the right approach to media buying, you can reach your target audience effectively and generate the desired results

Challenges of Media Buying

Media buying can be a complex and challenging process, with several key obstacles that advertisers and agencies must navigate. Understanding and overcoming these challenges is crucial for a successful media buying strategy.

One significant challenge of media buying is identifying and reaching the right target audience. In today’s fragmented media landscape, where consumers have countless options and platforms to choose from, it can be difficult to pinpoint the most effective channels to reach your desired audience. This requires extensive research and data analysis to determine which platforms and channels are most relevant and impactful for your target market.

Another challenge lies in the ever-evolving nature of digital advertising. As technology continues to advance, new programmatic channels and tools emerge, making it challenging for advertisers to keep up with the latest trends and techniques. Constantly staying updated and adapting to new channels and strategies is crucial to remain competitive in the digital advertising space.

Furthermore, measuring and optimizing campaign performance can pose a significant challenge. Monitoring and analyzing key metrics such as conversion rates, engagement rates, and return on investment (ROI) requires robust tracking capabilities and advanced analytics tools. Without accurate and actionable data, advertisers may struggle to make informed decisions and optimize their media buying efforts effectively.

Budget constraints are also a common challenge in media buying. Determining an appropriate marketing budget can be difficult, as advertisers have to balance their campaign objectives with the costs of media space and buying tools. A limited budget may restrict the reach and frequency of advertisements, potentially impacting campaign effectiveness. Advertisers must find innovative ways to maximize their returns within their budget constraints.

Lastly, the increasing competition in the advertising industry poses a challenge for media buyers. With more advertisers vying for limited advertising space, the demand and costs can skyrocket. Finding the right opportunities and securing prime placements can be highly competitive and require strategic negotiation and relationship-building with publishers and advertising networks.

Media buying presents several challenges that require careful consideration and strategic planning. Overcoming these challenges necessitates a deep understanding of the target audience, staying updated with the latest trends and technologies, implementing robust tracking and analytics, effective budget management, and adept negotiation skills. By addressing these challenges head-on, advertisers can optimize their media buying efforts and achieve their campaign goals.

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Journey advertising is a transformational shift in how marketers and companies reach their consumers with personalized, targeted messages unique to each stage of the marketing lifecycle.

What is a customer/consumer journey?

A consumer journey is the path of interactions or steps a consumer has with a product, service, or brand on the way to making a purchase. The route includes understanding how they found the website or platform, their shopping habits, and their behavior patterns along the conversion process. 

Consumer journey mapping requires marketers to paint a picture of how a user or consumer may behave or react in the real world using traffic data, analytics, research, testing, and evaluation. The buyer’s journey matters because they are the final decision-makers in purchasing decisions.

What is journey advertising?

Journey advertising is the method of reaching consumers at important moments along their journey with relevant messaging and creative content to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. The consumer’s journey starts from when they first interact with the brand, to making a purchase, and to continued brand advocacy. 

Journey advertising is extremely customer-centric and allows marketers and brands to react to consumers in real-time. By responding to individual consumer behaviors and buying patterns, journey advertising shapes the buying experience with relevant engagement. It marries buyer personas with product capabilities and establishes awareness around the brand. 

What is journey marketing?

Journey marketing can be defined as the approach marketers take to understand user interactions with the brand at every critical point in their journey. A journey marketing strategy comprises online ads, OOH ads, TV/print ads, social ads, PPC, blog, email, and other activities undertaken to optimize and improve the consumer journey. 

A journey-based ad strategy is a series of ad campaigns that focus on the touchpoints and stages of the customer journey. Tracking and targeting abilities improve greatly with journey advertising. Advertisers can think beyond conversions to the point of recurring revenue and retention. You can bring audiences closer to becoming customers with every ad- form, click, page view with the right tracking pixels and targeting. 

What platforms do you use for journey advertising?

Journey advertising works across platforms. There are many channels that can  journey advertising such as email, web, SMS, social, apps, in-store displays, and even DOOH. 

These are the most popular journey advertising formats: 

• Display ads 

• Video ads 

• Native ads 

• Audio ads 

• Digital out of home ads 

• Connected TV ads 

How do you target audiences for journey advertising?

Audience targeting is an integral part of journey advertising. Information is gathered from multiple sources to identify, segment, and target audiences. The common sources of data include 1st party data and 3rd party data segments that help identify new audiences. Cookieless targeting (by focusing on first-party data) makes it easier to target gen z, multicultural, and other new audiences. The movable middle audience can be targeted to influence their buying behavior and patterns. 

Customers can be targeted with the brand at various points in their buying journey. Audience journey mapping helps segment audiences based on stage, persona, touchpoint, scenario and more categories to meet their specific goals.

What are the benefits of journey advertising 

Journey advertising goes beyond programmatic advertising in finding new audiences based on past data. By delivering the right message to a buyer at the most opportune time, they are more likely to pay attention to the product or service. There is increased retention and engagement. 

These are the prominent benefits of journey advertising that help businesses meet specific needs:

Improves relationship with consumers

Journey advertising helps brands build a relationship with the consumer. When consumers see an ad with content that addresses their pain points, they are more likely to click it. As their journey progresses, relevant ads help them build a relationship and develop loyalty with the brand even before an actual product demo, request for more information, or cart purchase. 

Active engagement over annoying advertising 

Consumers are swamped with information and advertising content that can annoy them through repetition and incorrect targeting. Journey advertising helps engage consumers in a meaningful way. They see relevance in the product or brand and continue to engage, simultaneously helping advertisers with retargeting campaigns. 

Understanding audiences better 

When advertisers utilize journey advertising, they can craft better buyer personas. There is a better understanding of the audience which can influence how ads are made, the tone and language, and more, leading to increased conversions. This boosts efficiency and creates better targeting as an end result. 

Effective tracking and measuring campaign performance 

Journey advertising allows companies to define, monitor, track, and measure the effectiveness of campaigns in a better manner. Advertisers can make data-driven decisions with metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer retention rates. Creating content that engages can improve campaign performance and identify areas of improvement. 

Correct targeting of customers 

Journey advertising helps marketers address consumer pain points with the right information. Once the buyer persona is clear, it is possible to target customers better and boost ad efficiency. Journey-based advertising campaigns can help retarget the information to relevant consumers and adapt the strategy accordingly.

How does journey advertising influence one’s marketing funnel?

Journey advertising influences marketing decisions as a marketer can watch audiences move through their journey in real-time. In turn, stages of the marketing funnel can be linked to specific touch points an engaged user encounters through journey advertising. 

As the audience progresses towards purchase, marketers can tailor their approach and personalize the process for users.

Journey advertising helps detect and identify weaknesses and concerns in the consumer journey and contextualize results relevant to the user search. 

All of these facets of journey advertising ensure success by making certain the interconnected pieces work at every step. 

illumin – Journey Advertising Platform 

illumin is a journey advertising platform that empowers marketers in their journey planning, execution, and reporting process. The state-of-the-art ad-tech platform takes consumers from a stage of awareness to conversion and beyond. 

illumin is the only journey advertising platform that aligns how marketers think with modern technology that connects customers from awareness to engagement and conversion in a singular view. The journey canvas is the heart of the illumin platform and allows users to easily customize their ad campaigns as they see fit on a hassle-free, drag-and-drop interface.. 

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What is ad fatigue?

Ad fatigue is a phenomenon that occurs when individuals are exposed to the same advertisement repeatedly and start to lose interest or become immune to its message.

When an ad is initially launched, it tends to generate high levels of engagement and interest. However, over time, the target audience may become desensitized to the ad, leading to a decline in click-through and conversion rates. This decline in engagement can be attributed to several factors.

One factor that contributes to ad fatigue is the “banner blindness” phenomenon. This term refers to the tendency of internet users to ignore banner ads or display ads due to a phenomenon known as selective attention. As individuals are exposed to an increasing number of ads, they become more adept at filtering out irrelevant or intrusive content, including advertisements.

Moreover, the repetitive nature of advertising campaigns can lead to a decrease in audience interest. Audiences may grow tired of seeing the same message repeatedly and start to overlook or actively avoid the ads. This is especially true when the target audience is exposed to the ad multiple times within a short period of time.

Ad fatigue can also occur when ads are shown to the same custom audience repeatedly. While targeting specific audiences can improve click-through rates initially, it can lead to ad saturation over time. As the same group of individuals repeatedly sees the ads, they may become less receptive and less likely to take the desired action. In a way, it becomes a “content fatigue” for them as well.

So, how do you spot ad fatigue?

Ad fatigue can be a silent killer for your advertising campaigns. It slowly creeps in and silently diminishes the effectiveness of your ads, resulting in lower click-through rates, and conversion rates, and ultimately impacting your return on investment. But how do you know if your ads are suffering from ad fatigue? Here are a few key indicators to look out for:

Declining click-through rates

One of the first signs of ad fatigue is a decline in click-through rates. If your ads are not generating the same level of interest and engagement as they did initially, it may be a clear indication that your target audience is getting tired of seeing the same message over and over again.

Decreased conversion rates

Another telltale sign of ad fatigue is a decrease in conversion rates. If your ads are not driving the desired actions, such as sign-ups, purchases, or downloads, it may be time to evaluate whether your target audience is still responding positively to your advertising efforts.

High-frequency metrics

Frequency metrics refer to the number of times an ad is shown to an individual. If you notice that your ads are reaching the same audience too frequently, it could be a sign that they are becoming desensitized to your message. The rule of thumb suggests that showing an ad more than three times to the same audience within a short period of time can result in ad fatigue.

Lack of engagement

Engaged audiences are more likely to interact with your ads and take the desired action. If you notice a decline in engagement metrics, such as likes, shares, comments, or time spent on your ad, it could be indicative of ad fatigue. When people grow tired of seeing the same content repeatedly, they are less likely to engage.

Negative feedback or comments

Keep an eye out for negative feedback or comments from your target audience. If people express disinterest or frustration with your ads, it is a clear signal that they are no longer finding value in your messaging.

To effectively combat ad fatigue, it is crucial to proactively monitor these indicators. Regularly refresh your ad content and creative assets to keep your messaging fresh and relevant. Consider testing different ad formats, such as image ads, slideshows, videos, or interactive ads to maintain the interest of your audience. Additionally, leverage audience segmentation and targeting options to reach new and engaged audiences who have not yet been exposed to the creatives to prevent creative fatigue as well.

How to avoid ad fatigue

Ad fatigue can be a significant challenge in the world of digital advertising. As audiences are constantly bombarded with various ads, it’s essential to find ways to keep your messaging fresh and engaging. Which of the following would not contribute to ad fatigue? Well, here are some strategies to help you avoid it and maintain optimal campaign performance:

Regularly refresh your ad content

One of the main reasons for ad fatigue is repetitive messaging. To combat this, it’s vital to regularly update and refresh your ad content. Consider changing the visuals, copy, or calls to action to breathe new life into your advertisements. By providing your audience with fresh content, you’ll keep them interested and engaged.

Utilize different ad formats

Experimenting with different ad formats can help prevent ad fatigue. Instead of relying solely on static image ads, try incorporating videos, interactive ads, or even immersive experiences like virtual reality. These dynamic formats provide a fresh and captivating experience for your audience and can help maintain their interest.

Optimize your targeting

Reaching the right audience is crucial for preventing ad fatigue. To avoid saturating the same audience with your ads, make use of audience segmentation and targeting options. By reaching new and engaged audiences who haven’t yet been exposed to your ads, you’ll have a better chance of capturing their attention and avoiding fatigue.

Test different messaging and creative strategies

A successful campaign relies on continuous testing and optimization. Experiment with various messaging and creative strategies to see what resonates best with your target audience. Conduct A/B testing to compare different ads and determine which ones perform better. By constantly refining your approach, you’ll be able to prevent ad fatigue and improve overall campaign performance.

Monitor performance and adjust accordingly

To avoid ad fatigue, it’s important to monitor key performance indicators regularly. Keep an eye on click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement metrics. If you notice any decline, it may be an indication that your ads are experiencing fatigue. Be prepared to make adjustments promptly, whether it’s refreshing content, changing targeting parameters, or altering your creative strategy.

Keep up-to-date with industry trends

The digital advertising landscape is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices will help you avoid ad fatigue. Keep an eye on industry news, attend conferences or webinars, and network with other industry professionals. By staying informed, you can adapt your strategies to meet the ever-changing demands of your target audience and spot potential situations before they adversely affect your campaigns.

Final thoughts on ad fatigue

By implementing these strategies, you can effectively combat ad fatigue and maintain the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. Remember, keeping your content fresh, relevant, and engaging is key to capturing and retaining your audience’s attention. With a proactive approach, you can ensure that your ads continue to deliver results and drive success in your digital marketing efforts.

To combat ad fatigue, it is essential for marketers to constantly refresh their ad content and creative assets. By creating fresh, high-quality, and relevant content, marketers can capture the attention of their target audience and prevent them from growing weary of the ads. Additionally, implementing a creative strategy that includes a variety of ad formats, such as image ads, slideshow videos, and display ads, can help maintain audience engagement.

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The importance of contextual targeting lies in its ability to provide relevant content to users and increase the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Instead of solely relying on user data or behavioral targeting, contextual targeting ensures that ads are shown within the context of the user’s online experience.

Contextual advertising works by using sophisticated algorithms and programmatic advertising platforms to scan websites or app content. By analyzing the keywords, phrases, and themes present on a page, the system determines the most appropriate ads to display. For example, if a user is reading an article about laptops, contextual targeting can display ads related to laptops, accessories, or other relevant products. This strategy makes it more likely that users will engage with the ads, as they are aligned with their current interests or needs.

What is contextual targeting?

Contextual targeting is an advertising technique that involves placing ads on websites based on the content displayed on those web pages. The aim is to ensure that the ads shown are relevant to the user’s immediate interests or needs. Rather than relying on individual user behaviors or interests, contextual targeting uses keywords, topics, location, and other factors to determine which ads should be displayed to them.

Contextual targeting ensures that ads are shown within the context of the user’s current online experience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion. This method not only maintains user privacy by not relying on personal information or tracking individual behaviors but also lets brands reach a wider audience by targeting users based on relevant content.

Contextual targeting vs. behavioral targeting

Contextual targeting and behavioral targeting are two popular strategies in the world of digital advertising. While they both aim to reach the right audience, they differ significantly in how they achieve this goal.

Contextual targeting involves adjusting ad content based on the context of the website where the ad is being displayed. It focuses on analyzing the web page’s content to understand its purpose and theme, then delivers ads that align with that context. This method ignores user behavior and focuses solely on the content, ensuring that ads are relevant to the immediate context and maintaining user privacy.

In contrast, behavioral targeting relies on user behavior and browsing history to tailor ad content. It tracks users’ online activities, collects data, and uses it to create user profiles. These profiles are then used to deliver personalized ads based on the user’s interests and preferences. However, this method raises privacy concerns as it requires the use of third-party cookies and involves tracking users’ online movements.

While behavioral targeting may offer more personalized ad experiences, contextual targeting has its own advantages. Contextual ads are often more cost-effective as they don’t rely on the collection and analysis of extensive user data. Additionally, contextual targeting is more privacy-friendly, as it doesn’t require tracking of user behavior.

What are the benefits of contextual targeting?

Contextual targeting or contextual marketing in digital advertising, specifically display advertising, offers several benefits for both publishers and advertisers.

For publishers, contextual targeting lets them sell their inventory at a higher price. By understanding the context of their website’s content, publishers can offer advertisers relevant ad placements that align with the users’ interests and intentions. This increases the value of the ad space, attracting advertisers that are willing to pay a premium for targeted placements.

Furthermore, contextual targeting enhances the user experience. By delivering ads that are aligned with the content the user is consuming, publishers can ensure that ads are relevant and valuable to the user. This improves user engagement and satisfaction, ultimately benefiting the publisher in terms of increased user loyalty and prolonged website visits.

Contextual targeting also helps publishers monetize their first-party data. By analyzing the themes and topics of their content, publishers can gain insights into their audience’s preferences and interests. This data can then be used to create audience segments that advertisers can target, allowing publishers to offer more valuable advertising opportunities to their clients.

From an advertiser’s perspective, contextual targeting offers advantages to effectively reach their target audience. For niche products or services, contextual targeting ensures that ads appear on websites and pages that are relevant to their offering. This increases the likelihood of reaching potential customers who are actively seeking related products or information.

Additionally, contextual targeting helps to engage users in the right frame of mind. By appearing alongside relevant content, ads can capture users’ attention and tap into their current interests or needs. This increases the chances of them taking action, such as making a purchase or clicking on the ad for more information.

Lastly, contextual targeting improves return on investment (ROI) for advertisers. By displaying ads to a relevant and engaged audience, the likelihood of generating conversions and achieving campaign objectives increases. This leads to higher ROI compared to generic or irrelevant placements.

Types of contextual targeting

There are different categories of contextual targeting, including contextual keyword targeting and semantic targeting. Contextual keyword targeting focuses on matching ads based on specific keywords on a webpage. On the other hand, semantic targeting goes beyond individual keywords and looks at the overall meaning and context of the content to provide more relevant advertising.

Keyword-based contextual targeting

There are several factors to consider when selecting keywords. Firstly, it is crucial to focus on relevance. Keywords should accurately reflect the content of the website and align with what users are searching for. Including keywords that are too broad or unrelated may attract unqualified visitors and dilute the impact of a website’s messaging.

Additionally, the level of competition for a keyword should be evaluated. Highly competitive keywords may be more challenging to rank for, especially for new or smaller websites. Including long-tail keywords, which are more specific and have lower search volume, can be a valuable strategy to target niche audiences and compete against more established competitors.

Another important aspect of keyword optimization is understanding user search intent. By comprehending the reasons behind a particular search query, businesses can tailor their content to meet the needs of their target audience. This involves identifying whether users are seeking information, ready to make a purchase, or comparing different options. By aligning content with user intent, businesses can increase the likelihood of conversion.

Once keywords are selected, they should be strategically incorporated into website content. This includes optimizing meta tags, headings, URLs, and body text. However, it is crucial to strike a balance between naturally integrating keywords and maintaining high-quality, readable content. Stuffing too many keywords into a piece of content can be counterproductive and negatively impact user experience.

Regularly monitoring and analyzing keyword performance is essential for ongoing optimization. Tracking keyword rankings and assessing website traffic can provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of keyword targeting. Adjustments can be made based on this data, ensuring that keywords continue to drive relevant traffic and support business goals.

Category-based contextual targeting

When it comes to contextual advertising, categories are used to identify relevant topics or themes that align with a business’s products or services. By selecting the appropriate categories, businesses can ensure that their ads are displayed on websites or platforms that attract their target audience. For example, an electronics retailer may choose categories such as “technology,” “gadgets,” or “computers” to reach potential customers interested in those areas.

Categories also help in narrowing down the audience segments. Instead of targeting a broad audience, businesses can focus their marketing efforts on specific categories to reach niche audiences who are more likely to convert. This targeted approach allows for more efficient use of advertising budgets and can result in higher conversion rates.

Furthermore, categories can be used to exclude certain audiences through the use of negative keywords. Negative keywords allow businesses to specify which categories or topics they don’t want their ads to appear alongside. This helps in refining the targeting strategy and avoiding irrelevant placements that may not yield desirable results.

However, it’s important to note that categories should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in user interests and market trends. As user behavior and preferences evolve, so should the categories used for contextual targeting. Staying up-to-date with the latest industry insights and conducting ongoing keyword research can help businesses identify emerging categories and optimize their targeting strategies.

Keyword combination & category selection: maximizing the potential of contextual targeting

In the world of contextual advertising, the right combination of keywords and category selection can be the key to unlocking the full potential of your marketing efforts. By understanding how to effectively use keywords and categories together, businesses can ensure that their ads reach the most relevant and receptive audience.

When it comes to keyword combination, it’s important to strike a balance between relevance and specificity. Selecting keywords that are too broad may result in your ad being displayed to a large audience, but it could also mean that your message gets lost among the noise. On the other hand, choosing keywords that are too narrow may limit the reach of your ad and miss out on potential customers.

To find the right balance, start by brainstorming a list of potential keywords that are relevant to your product(s) or service(s). Consider using a combination of general keywords, such as “technology” or “computers,” and more specific keywords, like “laptops” or “smartphones.” The general keywords will help you reach a broader audience, while the specific keywords will narrow down your reach to those who are more likely to be interested in your offerings.

Once you have a list of keywords, it’s time to select the appropriate categories. Categories act as a guide for contextual advertising platforms to understand the context of a webpage or user behavior. They help in matching your ads to the most relevant content and displaying them on websites or platforms that attract your target audience.

When selecting categories, consider the interests and preferences of your potential customers. Think about the topics or themes that align with your business and which categories attract your target audience. Furthermore, categories can help you narrow down your audience segments. Instead of targeting a broad audience, you can focus your marketing efforts on specific categories to reach niche audiences who are more likely to convert. This targeted approach allows for more efficient use of your advertising budget and can result in higher conversion rates.

Negative keywords also play a crucial role in refining your targeting strategy. They allow you to specify which categories or topics you don’t want your ads to appear alongside. By excluding irrelevant placements, you can ensure that your ads only appear in relevant contexts, improving the chances of attracting potential customers.

It’s important to regularly review and update your keyword combination and category selection. User behavior and preferences evolve, as do market trends. Staying up-to-date with the latest industry insights and conducting ongoing keyword research can help you identify emerging categories and optimize your targeting strategies.

In-depth semantic analysis of contextual data

In contextual advertising, understanding the nuances of contextual data is essential for effective targeting and messaging. One powerful tool for gaining deeper insights into contextual data is in-depth semantic analysis.

In-depth semantic analysis goes beyond simply identifying keywords and categories. It delves into the meaning and context behind the words and phrases used in online content. By analyzing the semantic relationships between words, the tone, and the overall sentiment of the content, businesses can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the context in which their ads will be displayed.

Semantic analysis not only considers the explicit content of a webpage but also takes into account implicit meaning and associations. This can help businesses identify subtle nuances that might otherwise be missed, allowing for more targeted and relevant advertising campaigns.

In addition to analyzing the textual content itself, in-depth semantic analysis can also take into account other contextual cues, such as browsing history or user demographics. This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the target audience and enables businesses to tailor their messaging to specific segments.

In the era of privacy legislation and user privacy concerns, it’s essential to note that in-depth semantic analysis can be performed without relying on third-party cookies or invasive tracking methods. Instead, it leverages techniques such as natural language processing and machine learning to analyze content in real-time, ensuring a balance between personalization and user privacy.

By utilizing in-depth semantic analysis of contextual data, businesses can unlock even more opportunities for reaching their target audience with relevant and effective advertising. It allows for a deeper understanding of the underlying context and enables businesses to craft messages that truly resonate with consumers. As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, in-depth semantic analysis will undoubtedly play a crucial role in successful marketing strategies.

Targeting tactics with AI: unlocking the power of contextual advertising

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to reach their target audience effectively. One such tactic gaining significant traction and delivering impressive results is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in contextual targeting.

AI-powered contextual targeting leverages advanced algorithms and machine learning to understand and interpret the meaning and context behind online content. By analyzing articles, blog posts, or even social media conversations, AI algorithms can extract valuable insights about users and their interests, allowing businesses to create highly relevant advertising campaigns.

One of the key advantages of AI-powered contextual targeting is its ability to go beyond simple keyword matching. While keywords are still an essential factor in the process, AI algorithms can understand the underlying sentiment, emotions, intent, and even the broader themes of the content. This deeper understanding ensures that ads are placed within the right context and resonate with users on a more meaningful level.

The power of AI also lies in its ability to continuously learn and adapt. As the algorithms analyze more and more data, they become increasingly accurate in identifying relevant content and delivering the right ads. This dynamic learning enables businesses to optimize their advertising efforts in real-time based on user behaviors and preferences, ensuring that ads are constantly refined and tailored to capture the attention of potential customers.

Moreover, AI-powered contextual targeting offers a privacy-friendly solution in an era where user privacy concerns are at the forefront. Unlike some other targeting techniques that rely on invasive tracking methods or third-party cookies, AI-based targeting can operate without compromising user privacy. By analyzing the content itself, rather than relying on personal data or browsing history, AI algorithms respect users’ privacy while still delivering relevant and engaging ads.

The applications of AI-powered contextual targeting are vast and span across various industries. Whether it’s advertising products, and services, or even promoting social causes, businesses can leverage AI algorithms to identify the most relevant and engaging content for their desired audience. This approach allows for better ad placements, higher engagement rates, and ultimately, improved return on investment (ROI) for businesses.

Contextual advertising with illumin 

Contextual advertising with illumin provides advertisers the ability to target contextually relevant categories for specific advertising processes. Users can choose from curated categories by Peer39 and GumGum or they can design their own with an exclusive custom categories creation feature. Contextual advertising can help bridge the gap between safe, relevant content and media planning. 

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What is audio advertising?

Audio advertising refers to the practice of promoting products, services, or brands through audio content. It utilizes various audio channels such as radio, music streaming services, podcasts, and smart speakers to reach and engage target audiences. According to Statista, ad spending in the digital audio advertising market is projected to show an annual growth rate of 6.04% with a projected market volume of US$12.82 billion by 2027.

In recent years, digital audio advertising has gained significant popularity due to the increasing number of internet users and the emergence of new audio platforms and formats. With the rise of streaming music services and the integration of smart speakers into households, brands now have a wide variety of channels to deliver their messages to the audience. Audio content has a unique power to create a personal and intimate connection with the audience, enabling brands to effectively convey their message and build brand awareness. 

With the advancements in programmatic technology (and the proliferation of wireless headphones), audio advertising campaigns can now reach listeners across a variety of devices including mobile phones and smart speakers. This ensures that brands can deliver their audio ads to the right audience at the right time.

Furthermore, audio advertising offers real-time insights and data analytics, enabling advertisers to assess the impact and effectiveness of their campaigns in real-time. This lets brands optimize their advertising efforts and maximize their return on investment.

In addition to traditional audio ads, there are various audio advertising formats available. This includes live-read advertising, where hosts of podcasts or radio programs deliver the advertisement in their own voice, creating a more authentic and engaging experience for listeners and a higher chance of a captive audience. There are also display ads that incorporate audio elements to capture the attention of users while they consume other content. Brands can leverage the power of audio to evoke emotions, generate awareness, and drive action among their target audience. 

Types of audio ads

When it comes to audio advertising, there are several types of ads that brands can use to engage with their target audience. These different formats offer unique ways to deliver a brand message and capture the attention of listeners.

Pre-roll or mid-roll ad

One type of audio ad is the traditional pre-roll or mid-roll ad. These ads play before or during a podcast or streaming music session, allowing brands to reach listeners during their preferred audio content. 

Live-read ad

Another type of audio ad is the live-read ad. In this format, hosts of podcasts or radio programs read out the advertisement in their own voice. This personal touch creates a more intimate and authentic experience for listeners, making it easier for brands to build trust and convey their message effectively. 

Blended display ads

For brands looking to make a bigger impact, there are also audio ads that incorporate display elements. These ads feature audio elements alongside visuals, capturing the attention of users while they are consuming other content. This format offers a unique blend of audio and visual stimulation, making it an effective way to engage users and leave a lasting impression.

Programmatic audio ads

In addition to these formats, programmatic audio ads have also gained popularity. Using programmatic advertising technology, brands can target specific audiences and deliver their ads in real-time, ensuring that they are reaching the right listeners at the right moment in their journey. This increases the chances of capturing the attention of the intended audience and driving desired outcomes. They can be inserted into podcasts or music streaming services.

Benefits of audio advertising

Audio advertising offers many benefits for brands looking to engage with their target audience and drive impactful marketing campaigns. From reaching a wider audience to creating a more immersive user experience, audio ads have become a valuable component of any digital advertising strategy. 

In Spotify’s research report Sonic Science, there are some interesting points that bring out the benefits of audio advertising. 

• Ad recall rate is five times higher than expected even when a listener is multitasking 
• Digital audio is part of the routines of 63% of listeners; advertisers can take advantage of this screenless engagement scope
• 75% of listeners clicked on an ad if it was blended seamlessly with the type of audio they preferred

Increased reach

One of the key advantages of audio advertising is its ability to reach a diverse range of listeners across various platforms and devices. With the rise of smart speakers, mobile devices, and digital radio, audio content has become more accessible than ever before. By leveraging a wide variety of devices and platforms, brands can ensure that their message is delivered to the right audience at the right time.

Personalized experience

Another benefit of audio advertising is its ability to create a more personalized and intimate experience for the listener. Whether it is a traditional pre-roll or mid-roll ad during a podcast or a live-read ad by a trusted host, audio ads have the power to build trust and convey brand messaging in a more authentic way. By speaking directly to the listener, brands can establish a deeper connection with their audience, increasing the chances of driving engagement and motivating action. Furthermore, brands can tailor ad content to the format where the ad appears (such as comedy, sports, or true-crime podcasts) to further personalize the content.

Real-time insights

Audio advertising offers real-time insights and analytics that help brands measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. With programmatic audio advertising, brands can target specific audiences and deliver ads in real time, ensuring that they are reaching the right listeners during key moments. By utilizing data and insights, brands can continuously optimize their audio campaigns, improving their return on investment and driving desired outcomes.

Different perspective

Furthermore, audio advertising enables brands to stand out from the clutter of visual display ads. With audio ads, brands have the opportunity to capture the attention of users while they are consuming other content. By leveraging the power of sound and music, audio ads are able to create an emotional connection and leave a lasting impression on the listener. This unique blend of audio and visual stimulation makes audio ads a powerful tool for building brand awareness and driving recall. 

From the ability to reach a wider audience and create intimate experiences to offering real-time insights and capturing attention, audio ads have proven to be an effective and impactful advertising channel. By incorporating industry-leading audio advertising solutions into their marketing efforts, brands can elevate their campaigns and achieve their desired outcomes.

Easier to create 

Creating audio ads may seem like a daunting task, but with the right tools and strategies, it can be easier than you think. With the rise of digital audio advertising, brands now have access to a variety of platforms and resources that make the creation process more accessible and streamlined. One of the reasons why audio ads are easier to create is because of the ever-growing number of audio platforms available. 

Whether it’s a catchy jingle or a carefully selected soundtrack, audio ads have the ability to captivate listeners in a unique way. The audio element of an advertisement allows brands to tap into the power of sound. By utilizing music and sound effects, brands can create a memorable and immersive experience for the listener. This can evoke emotions, trigger memories, and ultimately leave a lasting impression on the audience.

Tracking ad spend and cost-effectiveness

When it comes to advertising, tracking your ad spend and ensuring cost-effectiveness are essential for the success of your campaigns. In today’s digital age, where there are countless advertising channels and platforms available, it can be challenging to keep track of your expenses and ensure that you are getting the maximum return on investment.

auOne way to effectively track your ad spend is by utilizing digital advertising platforms that offer real-time insights and analytics. These platforms (like illumin’s) provide you with detailed information about your campaign performance, including impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost per acquisition. By monitoring these metrics, you can quickly identify which advertising channels and strategies are yielding the best results and where you may need to make adjustments.

In addition to tracking ad spend, it is crucial to ensure cost-effectiveness with your advertising efforts. This means making smart decisions when it comes to allocating your budget and choosing the most effective advertising channels for your target audience. Conducting market research and understanding your audience’s preferences and behaviors can help you make informed decisions about where to invest your advertising dollars before you even start your campaigns.

One cost-effective digital advertising strategy is through programmatic advertising. This technology lets you automate the buying and selling of ad inventory, saving time and resources. With programmatic advertising through illumin, you can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behavior, ensuring that your ads are reaching the right people at the right time. This targeted approach helps optimize your ad spend and increase the likelihood of conversions.

To ensure a cost-effective ad spend, utilize different advertising formats. Instead of spending all your budget on one format, such as display ads, consider diversifying your advertising efforts by incorporating audio advertising into your strategy. 

Audio ads, such as podcast advertising and music streaming ads, have proven to be effective in reaching a wide variety of audiences. To conclude, when it comes to advertising, engaging your audience is critical. You want to create compelling content that not only captures their attention but also motivates them to take action. This is easiest to achieve when meeting your audience where they are – such as immersed in audio formats.

Audience targeting is particularly helpful in reducing ad spend wastage. In 2022, $5.6 billion of digital ad spend was wasted. Addressing this wastage issue, it is necessary for the industry to correctly target and reach the right audience. A report from ANA mentions that at least 23% of the $88 billion spent on ad buying is poorly placed and not correctly targeted. The solution? Audience targeting and segmentation. 

What is audience targeting?

Audience targeting (or sometimes referred to as “crowd targeting”) segments customers or consumers based on their demographic information, interests, or a host of other factors. Audience targeting helps marketers create campaigns that consider consumer needs, preferences, and lifestyles. This way ads are shown to those who are most likely to complete an action or make a transaction. Key data-led features like interests, behavior, and characteristics influence how audiences are segmented. 

Audience targeting ensures that little to no ad spend is wasted on incorrect sets of people. This improves conversion rates and ensures that brands access the right set of potential consumers. 

Different audience targeting strategies

There are three main types of audience targeting: demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.

Demographic audience targeting 

Demographic audience targeting is a powerful tool utilized by online marketers looking to target specific categories of people. Essentially, it hinges on demographic data, such as age, gender, education level, income bracket, race, marital status, and occupation. This type of targeting allows advertisers or businesses to target and deliver more relevant messages to those who match their set criteria for potential customers or prospects.

Psychographic audience targeting 

Psychographic audience targeting is an effective way to reach a specific group of users with tailored messages. This type of marketing strategy focuses on the values, interests, activities, and lifestyle choices of the target audience. Companies invest in this type of segmented advertising to ensure that their message resonates with potential customers on a deeper level than other forms of traditional marketing.

Behavioral audience targeting 

Behavioral targeting is a powerful tool for marketers to reach specific audiences and drive more relevant messaging. Generally speaking, this type of audience targeting is based on data about an individual’s past behaviors and activities. This data includes websites they’ve visited, other ads they’ve clicked on, or even items they’ve purchased in the past. By gathering information from users who demonstrate similar interests or activities, it’s possible to create narrowly defined audience segments that are likely to be interested in certain related products and services.

Types of data sets used for audience targeting strategy

Data for audience targeting and audience segmentation comes from two sources:

First-party 

First-party data is a valuable source of information for any business. It is the data that companies collect themselves from customers, such as past purchases and other customer interactions. This data can provide insight into specific customer segments, what their interests and preferences are, how they behave online, and more. As part of an overall data strategy, first-party data can be used to understand general trends in demographics or consumer interest and provides a window into the behavior of a brand’s most engaged audience.

Businesses use first-party data for segmentation purposes which allows them to target customers with personalized messages based on the insights gathered from their own database. It can also be used for predictive analytics which helps marketers know what types of offers and content will resonate best with a given customer group or individuals. 

Additionally, first-party data can also be repurposed in combination with third-party data sources like Nielsen to build more comprehensive audience profiles that increase the precision of targeted campaigns. Ultimately, combining first- and third-party data into one strategy enables brands to make smarter marketing decisions while increasing response rates in a cost-efficient manner.

Third-party 

Third-party data is an important tool for marketing and advertising campaigns. This data is collected, segmented, and sold by data providers for businesses to effectively reach specific market audiences. 

It can be used to rapidly expand a campaign’s reach by targeting large groups that don’t quite fit the criteria of first- or second-party data sets. Through public data exchanges, demand-side platforms (DSPs), or data management platforms (DMPs), businesses can purchase third-party data to locate and acquire potential customers beyond what first-party data can produce on its own.

Though third-party data tends to provide less targeted results than first- or second-party solutions, it allows larger corporations with greater budgets to quickly scale an advertising campaign without having to extensively research their target audience. No longer do companies have to spend countless hours investigating customer interest before segmenting a campaign – third-party data does the work for them almost instantaneously. 

Advanced third-party data collection methods, like cookieless marketing, are considered the future in this regard, as different jurisdictions clamp down on how third party is collected. 

Why knowing your target audience is essential?

Having an effective marketing plan and strategy is essential for any business. Marketers need to understand their target audience to create successful plans that will bring in customers and revenue. Knowing the target audience can help marketers make smarter decisions when it comes to how they allocate their advertising budget.

Once you know the target audience, it is easier to build personas. These personas will go a long way in establishing brand engagement and voice with consumers. 

Audience targeting strategies from the experts

Audience targeting helps you reach consumers who are potential customers and show interest in the business. 

Engage with audiences for effective marketing

Engaging with your audience is a critical step in any marketing or advertising campaign. Using segmented groups allows for direct feedback from those you’re looking to target, which in turn informs the decisions needed when crafting a comprehensive approach to your marketing campaign. 

This method helps marketers construct questions tailored specifically for customer understanding based on those same customer needs, enabling them to identify which areas are most likely driving actionable decisions geared towards future brand engagement. The post-meeting analysis also gives insight as to what’s resonating with potential customers regarding the brand’s identity, products, services, and overall value proposition. 

Create useful content to appeal to your target audience

Creating useful content on social media is an essential part of any successful digital marketing campaign. Content should be tailored to the target audience to draw engagement and create a strong connection.

It’s important to have a well-thought-out content strategy in place when planning content creation to ensure that it appeals to the chosen audience. For instance, if your primary focus is Instagram then the posts created should be visual and focused on topics that are likely to get attention from followers. Special offers, shoutouts, incompatibility, and sharing reviews are all great ways to create useful content in a way that resonates with potential customers or followers. 

It can also be beneficial to research other accounts or companies within your industry to observe the kind of content they are producing and how successful it appears on their platform. Smart targeting techniques can help filter potential followers who would have an interest in your products or services, making sure you get maximum visibility among the right people.

Remarket with Google Ads

Google Ads is a good option for remarketing or native advertising campaigns to target the right audience. From there, one can increase personalization in their ads to improve marketing results. Since you know the audience, you can create personalized group profiles or categories within the platform to customize advertisements or messages. 

A/B test your targeting to ensure it’s impactful

A/B testing is an invaluable tool for any brand looking to maximize their marketing potential. By segmenting their audience into two groups, A and B (or C, D, E, and beyond in many cases), companies can test which variation of content works best with their target market. With this technique, companies can experiment with different versions of a tweet or advertisement before officially launching it, helping them mitigate risk towards their final campaign.

It’s important to remember that A/B testing is not just a way to “test the waters”; it also helps ensure you’re effectively targeting your prospective consumers and optimizing your results. Doing so will help you gain insights into what messages resonate best with your customers and create campaigns that make a maximum impact without wasting too many resources. Ultimately, A/B testing is a great tool to ensure you achieve the success you desire from a marketing perspective.

Give importance to SEO

Showing up in a consumer’s feed or search is essential. Simply being in front of the consumer can lead them to choose the brand. Audience targeting needs to include keyword research and rank for relevant terms. This encourages people who are actively looking for similar solutions to engage and look into your products or services too. 

Start tracking

Using event tracking on a website can be highly beneficial for businesses looking to improve their online presence. Allowing companies to see how visitors are interacting with the site, event tracking can provide insights that would otherwise not be known (give examples, like heat mapping or TOS, etc.). With analytics to measure the performance of certain content and pages, companies will be able to adjust and optimize their digital strategy based on collected data.

Bottom line 

Audience targeting is an important aspect of online advertising. Tracking and analytics can improve performance and increase return on investment from campaigns. Targeting helps brands tailor their message accurately and deliver it to the right people, thus achieving the best results from their advertising budget.

To see more from illumin, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn where we share interesting news and insights from the worlds of ad tech and advertising.

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Since personas are so important, let’s explore what exactly it is. 

Jennifer Clinehens, author of Choice Hacking: How to Use Psychology and Behavioral Science to Create an Experience that Sings, defines a persona as “a semi-fictional representation of a group of your customers, boiled down into one representative character. Personas bring your customers to life through both demographic and psychographic details.”

Put simply, it is a character created by marketers to represent their audience segments  in an easily relatable format that allows them to better target their strategies.

It also answers a multitude of questions, too. Who is your customer? What age are they? What are their problems? Their interests? These are critical questions that marketers need to answer in order to create an impactful campaign. 

These characterizations enable marketers to personalize their marketing and more impactfully target various audience segments. 

Personas are critical to campaign success

They are critical to success because they let you easily tailor messaging and strategies to match your target audience. They make it possible to not only customize your content, messaging, and services, but to do so as an informed party. 

With personas, marketers are better able to understand their customers needs, behaviors, and pain points, so they therefore are able to make better decisions when planning their ad strategies. 

They are also essential for mapping out customer journeys. After all, how can you understand a person’s buying journey if you don’t first understand who they are? 

Research based personas 

Personas help marketers bring life to their ideal customers, but that doesn’t mean that this character is invented. They are characters grounded in reality. 

It is important that marketers use accurate and up to date research in order to create their personas. This research can be drawn from existing customer data as well as market research into your target audience’s demographics. It is a mental shortcut for marketers, not a work of fiction. 

Another aspect of research that is critical is interviewing and involving customer facing team members. These team members interact with your customers on a daily basis; if anyone in an organization is an expert on a target audience, it is them.

Marketers should use both this qualitative information, as well as quantitative data in order to understand the interests, needs, beliefs, and actions of current and potential customers. Additionally, they need to avoid cherry-picking data in order to support assumptions or stereotypes. 

Making impactful personas

So, how do you make a persona for your target customer? 

There isn’t a set list of characters or stereotypes to build off of. There is also no definitive or universally-accepted list of personas or set number of recommended personas either. 

This is because every business, regardless of industry or size, has its own unique needs, goals, and customers. Buyer personas, therefore, should also be unique, to fit the specific needs of their organizations.

In creating new personas for your business, your first steps are as follows: 

1. Take a close look at the existing customers and contacts in your database. Look for  patterns in behavior and the ways in which leads and customers discover and engage with your content. If you are without an existing customer base, use primary and secondary sources to gather research.
2. Gather information when collecting leads. This can be done when creating forms for your website; Be sure to include form fields that capture the personal information that is important to you. For instance, if your personas differ based on the company size of your leads, it is recommended to ask for that information.
3. Listen to feedback and information from your sales team regarding leads and customers; after all, they interact with these clients on a daily basis and have a valuable perspective. What observations can they make about the different types of customers you serve most effectively? What do they think needs to be improved?
4. Conduct interviews with customers and prospects to gather feedback on their preferences regarding your product or service.

You then want to start researching. Conduct necessary and in-depth research in order to learn more about your customers. As you research, be sure to ask ample questions about your target audience. 

In this stage, and the stages following, be sure to engage customer-facing members of your team. These team members understand your audience best and have necessary insight into the wants, needs, and pain points of your existing customer base.

By asking questions about their life, likes, and pain points, you can drive your research deeper and create a more effective persona. Human beings are complex, so your person should be too. 

Next, use this research to create a profile for your persona. This should include all of your researched details. Tell a story about who they are and paint a picture – literally – of their interests and behaviors.  

If necessary, there are ample templates available online to help get you started; starting from scratch may be intimidating for some marketers. Personas are all unique, thus be sure to adjust these templates so that they match the exact needs of your brand.

Be sure to also revisit your work on a regular basis in order to refresh your personas as markets and demographics shift.

Creating personas for your target audience is necessary for effectively communicating them and a critical step in journey advertising. By fully understanding your customer and by making it easy to share that information with your entire team, you are creating an impactful tool for engaging current and future customers along their entire journey from awareness to loyalty. 

To see more from illumin, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn where we share interesting news and insights from the worlds of ad tech and advertising.

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Display ads can take many forms such as – static, animated, rich media, text, or even audio. Global spending on digital advertising is expected to reach 836 billion dollars by 2026; it is important to understand the display advertising format in detail to add it to one’s marketing mix. 

What is display advertising? 

Display advertising is an important part of online advertising. These are visual ads that are placed on websites, apps, social media networks, or any channel that is clickable and redirects users to dedicated landing pages. Banner ads, mobile leaderboard ads, desktop ads, and more are display advertising examples. These display ads align with the content of the host website or social media network and audience preferences, similar to native advertising. 

What are display ads?

Display ads are an excellent way for brands to increase the reach of their message and target new potential customers. They are visually appealing and provide an opportunity for advertisers to incorporate copy and graphics into content that will capture the reader’s attention and drive them toward a desired action. Display ads also provide a cost-effective way to advertise with measurable performance, allowing the tracking and optimization of campaigns in real-time. 

The objectives behind display ads can vary depending on the organization and range from building brand awareness to generating leads or driving traffic to certain web pages or specific landing pages. 

By leveraging geotargeting capabilities, businesses can tailor their ad content and call-to-action messages to their exact audience demographics within milliseconds. This enables better customization for specific regions while keeping costs lower compared to traditional advertising methods. 

Additionally, with native advertising gaining recent traction, brands can now present users with relevant content that seamlessly blends within their experience on webpages, enhancing engagement potential.

Display ads versus native ads

Display ads and native ads work pretty closely.

Display ads are one of the oldest and still quite important methods of online advertising. Display ads are an umbrella term used for several types of different ad formats such as banner, text, video, audio, and interactive ads found in emails or web content. The main aim of display advertising is to reach potential customers with memorable visuals (like creative images and interesting videos) while trying to stand out from the sea of content out there.

On the other hand, native advertising is a newer type of online advertisement that looks less aggressive or “pushy” than traditional ads. It works by delivering promotional messages in a way that appears organic and mimics the appearance of non-paid content. This type of advertising usually appears in news feeds or recommended sections on websites so that it fits seamlessly into its surroundings, appearing more as part of the user experience than a disruption. These ads are more organically woven into the content on the website or page. 

Why you should include display ads in your marketing campaigns

Display ads are an effective way of reaching out to customers on a global scale. The Google Display Network, for example, has the potential to serve ads on millions of websites while targeting users with ads that are relevant and timely.

Increase business: Crafting thoughtful messages in various display ad formats can draw attention to your offers and bring clicks, conversions, and sales even from those who may not have considered your business originally.

Raise brand awareness: Remarketing campaigns through display ads are especially useful in increasing brand awareness by reminding users who have visited your website what they’re missing out on once they have left. Display advertising can influence readers in such a way that it increases brand visibility while simultaneously providing users searching for the perfect solution with what they need.

Better return on investment: Selecting the correct target demographic for these campaigns is key to ensuring that each ad-spend investment is as effective as possible in terms of generating ROI for your company’s marketing efforts.

How does display advertising work?

The key to successful display advertising lies in accurate targeting – finding the customers most likely to respond positively to your messaging and using creative strategies to capture their attention. 

1. Define your audience

Creating an effective ad campaign starts with properly defining your audience. Knowing who you want to target and where they are located is essential for ensuring your message reaches the right people. You can begin by identifying the demographic information you wish to target, such as age range, gender, location, and more. 

Additionally, making use of shopping information allows you to narrow your focus even further based on interests and previous behaviors that have been identified as being associated with a higher likelihood of a positive response to your ads.

Here, those who have already visited or interacted with your products or services can be served up additional targeted content that helps keep your brand top-of-mind. Considering who it is that you’re trying to reach can help increase the effectiveness of any ad campaign, as well as ensure that its message resonates with the right people.

2. Set your campaign goals 

When creating a campaign, it is important to establish clear goals. The key performance indicator (KPI) that best represents the desired business outcome should be chosen beforehand and a budget for the campaign should be defined. 

Many settings can also be customized when launching a campaign, including pacing, supply sources, device types, pre-bid traffic filtering, and more. Determining the correct settings depends on the nature of an individual campaign and its aims; however, factors such as ensuring adequate pacing of spend over time to avoid burnout while simultaneously creating competition in the auction space can help increase overall performance.

Utilizing pre-bid filters can also be effective in targeting potential customers without wasting money. Selecting relevant device types within certain platforms can aid alignment with targets while also preventing wasted ad-spend if certain devices are likely to perform poorly or have limited reach.

3.Size display ads to the right specs

Creating display ads to spec is necessary for any successful digital advertising campaign, as the fluctuating size dimensions of modern platforms need to be considered when designing creative for these types of ads. Incorrectly sized ads or those with poorly formatted images can appear odd, reducing their effectiveness and potentially damaging a brand’s online reputation. This not only applies to different devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, and desktops but also to multiple formats such as animated GIFs, HTML5 banners, or static images.

It is important to have a single piece of creative that is sized for all the chosen display ad formats required. While some elements of the ad may remain consistent across all sizes, it is certain that some elements will be omitted on certain sizes to create an aesthetically pleasing design. For instance, in larger display ads there could be more room for additional body copy that wouldn’t fit on smaller ad sizes – however, this would need to be omitted in smaller ads to prevent them from becoming cluttered and difficult to read.

4.Monitor the metrics of your display ads

When it comes to monitoring the metrics of a digital display ad campaign, there are numerous factors to take into account. It’s essential to pay close attention to exactly how your campaign settings and creative elements are impacting the success of the advertising, including headlines, visuals, and calls-to-action (CTAs). With this information, you can make changes that improve your acquisition rate, return on ad spend (ROAS), and click-through rate (CTR). 

For example, if you find that your headline isn’t compelling enough or catching enough attention from viewers, then use A/B testing to test alternative copy to increase your reach. Additionally, explore creative options for images and CTAs that might entice more clicks and attract more customers.

5. Analyse learnings for future display ad campaigns

When crafting any display ad campaign, it’s important to take note of what works and what doesn’t so you can optimize for future campaigns. Analyzing the insights gleaned from a campaign can save you time, money, and effort in the long run. Three essential elements to consider when optimizing are creativity, audiences (who will see your ads), and bidding (how much you’re willing to pay).  

Benefits of Display Ads: Key Takeaways for Marketers

Here are the major benefits of display advertising: 

Measurable outcomes 

The success of a display ad campaign can be measured in multiple ways. Depending on the call to action (CTA) used, different marketing metrics can be employed for an effective analysis. 

For instance, if the CTA involves “experiencing the brand”, it could be monitored through clicks on the display ad itself and associated cost per click (CPC). Other visible results that should be involved in measurement include impressions, conversions, return on ad spend (ROAS), etc. 

All these are essential metrics to recognize whether or not the ad created the desired effect with its intended audience. It is also important to estimate what stimulated the shoppers into taking certain actions related to the displayed product or service.

Various data points collected from this type of analysis provide detailed insights into customer behavior. By studying them, advertisers can reach informed decisions about their marketing efforts and associated resources. 

With metrics like engagement rate and engagement index, assessing advertisement campaigns becomes easier than ever before. The combination of diverse metrics allows teams running these campaigns to gain accurate answers and valuable perspectives from consumers; and use them for better future strategies when it comes to making advertising decisions.

Cost-effective solution

Display advertising offers an incredibly cost-effective advertising method that allows for ample flexibility. Not only is it much more affordable than traditional advertising methods like TV or radio spots, but brands can also modify their visuals, call-to-actions, and messaging during a campaign. This lets them continuously optimize campaigns and get the most out of their budget.

For example, if one ad isn’t getting the desired results after it begins running, you can easily switch things up with new creative or messaging. This helps maintain a high level of efficiency while reducing costs per action for your marketing efforts. 

Additionally, since display ads are placed across various networks on multiple websites, you have more potential points of contact with your target market – with no extra cost attached. Display ads offer an unparalleled level of customization and value for businesses looking to maximize their budget in the most effective way possible.

Works well with other channels

Display advertising can be a powerful way to reach potential consumers who may not have considered your brand before. When combined with other channels like social media marketing, it can result in an increased return on ad spend (ROAS) or even create a halo effect that continues to bring new customers after the initial purchase.

Flexible 

Display advertising is an incredibly versatile tool for businesses of all sizes. It allows for flexible testing of various ad copy, visuals, and calls to action, enabling brands to more effectively pinpoint which messages will resonate best with their intended audience. Additionally, it is ideal for testing headlines in less-flexible ad formats such as TV spots or billboards, as well as being effective when used alone or in conjunction with other digital marketing channels.

The majority of display ads are delivered through programmatic advertising technology, making them one of the most widely used forms of advertising. In addition to its flexibility and easy implementation across multiple platforms, this technology also tracks each ad’s performance over time, allowing brands to test different variations and gain useful insights into their campaigns. 

As a result of these advantages, display advertising is a go-to choice (or piece of the marketing mix) for many brands looking to reach new customers or markets online.

Six effective display ad CTA examples

Display ads must have the right CTA to lead to the best results. Instead of generic call-to-action phrases, brands should select ones that yield the right outcomes. Here are some effective display ad CTA examples- 

• Learn more: To lead to an informational page
• Shop now: To lead to the product buying page
• Pre-order now: To lead to the pre-order form if the product is not yet available for purchase
• Sign up: To lead to the lead capture page
• Book an appointment: To book an appointment directly 
• Get your free copy today: To sign up for a free copy or product 

Bottomline

Display ads have become a part of modern life within the online world. However, if used correctly, display advertising is a powerful tool to help increase brand awareness and generate sales. Using these strategies can help ace your display advertising strategy. Keeping it simple with the right words, fonts, and colors can be helpful. Regularly optimizing and testing ad materials and strategies is important. 

To see more from illumin, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn where we share interesting news and insights from the worlds of ad tech and advertising.

Follow @illuminHQ