Internet Advertising Introduction

Strategy, tactics, history and technical stuff

Presented by Taigh White, Brand marketer

Taigh White - Brief bio

• Brand marketer, writer, new father, fellow knowledge-seeker

• 14 years in PR & Marketing – 7 year purely digital• Past-President SFIMA – South Florida Interactive

Marketing Association• Assistant Vice President Online Marketing Manager

at BankAtlantic, Florida’s largest (and last) community Bank

• Married an online display ad sales rep

Presentation overview

• Online advertising history, growth & trends• How an ad server works• Ad creation best practices • Pricing, distribution• Goals & metrics • Is display advertising right for you? • Q & A

Display ad growth

• New peaks in spending projected each yearthrough 2014

• On a trajectory to over take Search marketing in 2015 (Search is the present King)

• A record $25.8B was spent on online display advertising in 2010 – a gain of 13.9% over 2009 - According to eMarketer

• Consumers spend 50% of their media consumption online, yet digital ads are STILL less than 15% of most brands’ overall ad budget

• Lots of opportunity here

Industry overview

• Best known for branding and awareness; PPC is known for direct response

• It is a great complement to your search marketing. More display = More searches

• Getting easier to manage without a media buyer, agency, but not really self-serve

• For a long time, its been about impressions and the click-through, but that’s changing

Display ads - Top o’ the funnel

• Raise awareness for product and service, or company

• Generate demand• PPC is found at the bottom

of the funnel. Yep, Google gets all the credit.

Best display ad in the world?

• Viewer can barely see the product; barely mentions product, or product attributes

• Only call to action is “click”What it does well• High engagement• The best ads tell a story• There’s comedy, drama,

emotion, passion and mystery• Unbelievably high “dwell” rate• Viral quality – you want to share it,

which is very rare with advertising

A brief history…

• First banner ad was served in 1993 on Hotwired.com (now Wired) for AT&T

• Roots are in print display and billboards • Main goal: Send traffic to landing page, create

awareness as measured in impressions & clicks. (Not a great measurement.)

• Sadly, there was very little innovation for the first 15 years – in any area: analytics, creative, and in targeting.

• Great developments in the past few years

Interactive Advertising Bureau

• IAB was founded in 1996 at the dawn of the Internet in an effort to self regulate

• Comprised of more than 500 media and technology companies

Six core objectives1. Fend off adverse legislation and regulation – the biggie!2. Coalesce around measurement guidelines, creative standards3. Create common ground to reduce costly friction in the supply chain4. Share best practices that foster industry-wide growth5. Generate industry-wide research and thought leadership that solidifies

Interactive as a mainstream medium6. Create countervailing force to balance power of other media, marketing

and agency trade groups

IAB standard ad sizes

15 standard sizes - these 5 are used most often• 300x250 Cube rectangle• 728x90 Leader board• 120x600 Sky scraper• 160x600 Wide sky scraper

• 468x60 “The standard"

Ahh the many benefits of standardization…

Ad serving 101

Three entities work together: 1. Publisher content server

– e.g. Las Vegas Tribune2. Ad server – e.g. Sports-

a-rama Advertising3. Your computer’s browser

– e.g. Firefox

Ad serving 101

• Process is instantaneous• Browser hits Tribune site,

there are actually no ads• Tribune calls ad server • It serves up the ad • Browser history and IP

address determine appropriate ad

• Cookie – tiny text file that facilitates this tracking

Ad serving 101

Example behavioral targeted:• User has historically visited golf website, ESPN.com,• Ad server displays an ad for golf shoes (relevant)• Visit same site from wife’s computer, an ad for insurance

is served.

Non-targeted ads use the same ad serving process, but there’s no targeting.

• Displays ads (dedicated homepage, run of site, etc) regardless of browser history,

• Example, major product launches, grand opening might use this approach. One-size-fits all.

The creative

• Hire a pro. Agencies bill $125 - $150 hourly; Freelance designers bill $25 - $75 an hour.)

• Size requirement: 28k Publishers want pages to load fast.

• Number of words… 7-10 is ideal, but difficult

• Keep it short and punchy. Audience attention span: 3 seconds

The creative

• Provide publisher artwork and url of landing page• Supply a couple of versions for testing• Run both ads at once to see which performs better • Iterate if you are not getting clicks or sales• If you are not testing and making adjustments, then

you are not taking advantage of the medium

Buying the stuff

• Right to publisher? Go with an ad network? There are benefits to both

• CPM – Cost per 1,000• Ranges $4 CPM - $15 CPM

(“M” = mille… it’s Latin.) • CPA – Cost per Action

Buying the stuff

• Minimums – Ad networks say they have $25K monthly minimums, or $20K or $10K… But I have found if you say you want to “test” they will soften on their policy

• All ad networks are not created equal; some havetop tier sites, some have mid- and long-tail sites

• Straight to publisher - More flexible policies, can run rich media, and work with you as a partner

Display campaign example

Marketing a local event (on a budget)

• Straight to local publisher • Start advertising 2 weeks outMedia mix: • Small amount of rich media on “inside channel” of

website; Sliding billboard to capture attention• Category level 25M–50M impressions on

entertainment channel• Target demography and behavioral – 25M

impressions to “the family”• Small sponsorship in entertainment e-mail newsletter• Cost: $1,500 - $2,500

Metrics – Don’t rely on clicks

• Only 2 in 1000 will click• 80% of all clicks have come from only 16% of the

web audience. -comScore• Clicks are only a partial measure of the program and

effectiveness of an online ad campaignOther metrics to use... • Dwell time.  If your ad is interactive or has video or

some other attraction to keep people engaged. • Cost per action/lead – Ad $pend / # of new leads• Cost per conversion – Ad $pend / # of conversions• Cost per sale - Ad $pend / # of new sales

Metrics – Channel attribution

• Use unique urls• Generate code to append to url using Google

Analytics or Omniture• Use a coupon, or promo code, to help narrow down

where the ad was seen• Use a dedicated, unique phone number, so that you

can compare to offlineAttribution is important:1. To get credit for your hard work. 2. Get more funding. Prove that you are not wasting

money. (The offline folks struggle with this.)3. Enhance performance - optimize

Metrics - 7 performance metrics that matter

"Digital marketers today are drowning in metrics, but they don't know which ones are important or how to connect the dots in a meaningful way that will drive marketing performance."

-Geoff Ramsey, CEO eMarketer

1. Qualified reach or qualified visits2. Click through rates3. Brand perception4. Engagement score (ES) 5. End action rate6. Efficiency metrics7. Return on investment (ROI)

Campaign goals

General awarenessProspectingFostering engagementRetentionDirect responseClosing new customers

Strategies - Direct response or branding?

• Target content - using ad networks, and publishers

• Target the audience, not the content. Using DSP (Demand Side Platform)- An automated bidding platform that allows advertisers to put the “right ad, on the right page at the right price.”

• Major differences between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Display? Targeting ability. Timing.

Strategies - Direct response or branding?

How to target using display• Category – fashion, outdoor, beauty• Contextual – related to content• Behavioral – browser history, propensity to buy?• Ad Retargeting - visit a site, like Zappo’s, click on

a pair of shoes, then decided you don't want them... On the very next site you visit, an ad is served for the exact same pair of shoes in an ad. Coincidence, or CREEPY? 

Tactics

• Road blocks• Interstitials • Run of site• Share of voice • Sponsored ads • Rich media• Video ads

Positive effect on user behavior

Although it might be a delayed effect, a strong branding process takes effect when a viewer is exposed to a display ad - even when he or she does not click.

- comScore study

• 139 display campaigns monitored, results showed extensive effects on traffic, sales, and branding despite low amount of clicks

• 46% increase in website visits• 38% more likely to conduct a search on advertising

related branded keywords• 37% more likely to make a purchase online • 17% more likely to make a purchase in a retail stores

Landing page – Other half of equation

• Make it easy for visitors to figure out what to do next

• BUY NOW button - should be easy to find, above the fold

• Product - easy to find; Don't send user to a category page with several products

• "Don't make them think!"

• Ask colleagues to step through the process, evaluate landing page, forms, the entire path from ad to conversion

• Test. Test. Test.

• Build 2 landing pages to test images, offers, the headline… The work will pay off.

Key takeaways

• Display ad industry is still growing• Its about branding, awareness, but it drives

action too• Create short, punchy ads• Target your audience• Test, then iterate• Don’t rely on the click • Landing page is just as important as ad

Q & A

Taigh White - Brand marketer

@TaighWhite

TaighWhite@gmail.com

Linkedin/TaighWhite