All New Channels for Steady Traffic in 2015
The digital medium has altered advertising and created demand for real-time analytics. Predictive advertising, the act of showing ads to a user before he knows he wants to buy something, feels right around the corner with the level of targeting networks can perform.
New channels have also opened, enabling savvy marketers to take messaging that already works in text and find new ways to get those ideas into space. As more people switch to mobile, video soars in popularity, and networks figure out effective ways to ensure visitors are human, advertisers stand to gain significantly. Today’s ad networks offer a fair competitive ground, where savvy marketers can take advantage of targeting that was never possible before. Here are some of the avenues being explored.
Native Ads
One of the more effective means of appealing to the millennial generation involves a concept called “native advertising,” where ads are disguised as content. This strategy requires more effort, because you are educating your audience, but the strategy can be very effective. However, it relies on your content getting a lot of page views from actual humans. Targeting your content toward mothers in their early 30s, for instance, might help you sell baby formula effectively if you can use scientific data to back up your pitch. It’s a complicated strategy, and it will require targeted distribution to reach the right audiences.
Viewable Impressions
Advertisers used to love television because it was engaging, so people were willing to sit through ads to get to new content. Television has lost some of that appeal, although some might argue that’s coming back, but the fact remains mobile and desktop devices now hold a user’s attention. Advertisers are able to buy traffic that meets the 3MS standard of measurement, and impressions can carry a certification as “viewable.” Viewable impressions leave little room for doubt that a human clicked a page that displayed your ad. You can also choose the amount of time someone can watch an ad, and how much they see. That’s especially good for video ads.
Mobile and Desktop Video
Video has exploded in recent years. YouTube is one of the most dominant websites on the net, and users watch several hundreds of hours of video monthly. Ads before videos are purposely kept short, so users are more willing to sit through them because content is right around the corner. As a result, engagement has huge potential for increase.
However, video ads are only as effective as your messaging. These ads must get to the point, utilize effective hooks and offer the user a solid value proposition. Expect mobile video to become a source for even greater investment of advertising dollars in the coming years.
Bio: Ted Dhanik is the CEO of engage:BDR, and a specialist in direct marketing. Ted Dhanik writes for Ad Age and Venture Beat, and he is passionate about the technology behind digital advertising. For more information on Ted Dhanik, visit engage:BDR.
