Don’t Forget the Basics

Of all the forms of online advertising, display ads (i.e. banners, boxes, badges, buttons, etc.) are receiving the most scrutiny from critics. Because the average click-through-rate is dreadfully low - approaching zero - some experts cite poor concepts & content as the cause and are calling for a creative renaissance. If you think your online ad creative could stand improvement, it may help to just do a simple review of the basics.

Online display ads have been problematic since their inception, but for better or worse, they have provided a good chunk of the revenue that has fueled the growth of the Internet. Nobody really likes online ads as is evident through their abysmally poor performance, with an average click-through-rate falling below 0.1%. Why so low? There’s varying theories, but some critics blame poor creative. Interactive media has grown organically over the years - the way websites work, what they do, how they appear, what they’re technologically capable of, how they make money, etc. The people that design for interactive media have had to experiment with all sorts of models to figure out what works best and by no means is it a mature industry today. There’s still much to explore, much to learn. As we’re doing this, it’s essential that we don’t lose sight of conventional wisdom, especially as it concerns the creation of advertisements. While interactive media presents a new frontier for advertising with exciting new possibilities, traditional advertising is a more mature industry with a handful of best practices that are no less relevant to online marketing. Unfortunately in many cases, some of these points have been lost along the way which has led to a low standard for online advertising creative across the board. To bring the quality up, we need to produce innovative ideas, but while doing so we must be careful not to overlook the basics. As a helpful refresher, here are a few guidelines used in traditional advertising that should be followed when creating online campaigns.

Direct Response Marketing
Most online advertising is designed for response. The three most important areas to consider are as follows, in this order:

1. List
Who are you targeting? Have you spent the right amount of time making sure that you are reaching your desired audience? If your ads aren’t being seen by the right people, you can’t expect them to perform very well. Is your media plan structured in a way that allows you to be as targeted with your communications as possible? Does your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search marketing strategy take full advantage of the precise targeting that can be achieved using web technology?

2. Offer
What is it that you’re offering? Have you made sure that your audience finds your offer desirable? Did you craft your offer with the customer’s needs in mind? It has to be something people really desire and it has to be reasonable for them to act on within the context of how they experience the ad. If it requires too much consideration, they won’t be willing to respond immediately. This is particularly important with online ads where performance is measured by clicks.

3. Design
The design is important but only if the list and the offer are right. The most beautiful design in the world can’t do much to persuade the wrong people to act on a bad offer. With the right audience and offer however, a great design can make all the difference. It can attract and engage the audience, impress upon them the essence of the brand in a memorable way and persuade them to take action.

Advertising’s 10 Commandments
A seasoned ad man in San Francisco named Al Hayes used to teach a portfolio workshop for Art Directors and Copywriters, which I was lucky enough to attend for a couple of intense, 15 week terms. As part of the course, he would have his students measure the merit of their ads against established criteria that he referred to as the 10 Commandments of Advertising. Throughout his 40+ year career in advertising, Al and his colleagues used these criteria in the real world to judge their own creative ideas for clients of all sizes and shapes. As Al showed us over time, doing a simple pass/fail examination of creative concepts against this checklist guarantees a much higher chance of success. If your ad concepts fail any one of these check points, start over. Here’s the list:

1. Thou Shalt Not Bore People
2. Thou Shalt Get to the Point
3. Thou Shalt Not Make Thine Own Company Look Foolish
4. Thou Shalt Not Put Thy Prospects Down Nor Turn Their Stomachs
5. Thou Shalt Portray Thyselves as Human Beings
6. Thou Shalt Be Believable
7. Thou Shalt Tell Thy Prospects What they Want to Hear, Not Just What you Want to Tell Them
8. Thou Shalt Understand Thy Market
9. Thou Shalt Know Thy Product
10. Thou Shalt Ask for the Sale

For details on the 10 Commandments of Advertising, you can read Al’s whitepaper .

Test and Refine
One of the great things about online advertising is that it is extremely measurable and quick adjustments can be made, virtually on the fly, to enhance performance. Be sure to take advantage of the tracking capabilities that online technology offers. So you have something concrete to measure success by, define your precise business goals and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) prior to launching your campaign. Then, throughout the life of your campaign, carefully monitor the performance of your ads relative to your KPIs. The tracking data combined with clear goals allows for intelligent analysis which will lead to smart, informed decisions on what to change or adjust. It’s also wise to run a/b or multivariate tests where possible so you can get quicker indications of what’s working and what’s not. Think of interactive media as an ever-evolving and moldable process. Embrace a perfomance-driven mindset and keep striving for better and better results. There are many great books on the topic. We highly recommend Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions.

Despite what some people may say about the ineffectiveness of online display advertising, it isn’t going anywhere. It will no doubt change and evolve as the industry gets smarter about how to manage it, and as technology advances. In the meantime, it’s a necessary component in many brand’s media mix. Even though it is relatively easy to produce and distribute, to get the most out of your online advertising, be sure to approach it with the care and thoughtfulness that you would your traditional media, and don’t forget the basics.