5 Reasons for Choosing Banner Ads

Despite increasing criticism of the relevance of banner ads and increased references to banner blindness, companies spent close to 6 Billion US $ in 2012 to advertise through banner ads. This is a sure sign that banner ads are still very effective online advertising tools that a business will disregard only at their own peril. Below, I list five very good reasons why I continue to advocate the use of online banner advertising.

1.     Effective Audience Targeting

With banner ads you can clearly reach out to a specific target audience based on their purchase histories, geographical location, demographics, or whichever other criteria you may choose. This can be done by collecting information from cookies on the user’s browser. You can also target audiences by posting your banners on sites whose publisher deals with same products or complementary products and services. For example, you can advertise your dry-cleaning services on a fashion designer’s website and as people shop for clothes they get an idea about where to get them cleaned.

 

2.     Versatile Presentation

Banner ads offer creativity opportunities and this makes it easy for the designer to create something that will attract a user’s eye and possibly entice them to click on your banner. And they are so easy to make. With no design experience, one can use a free banner maker to try out some great, creative ideas. Apart from the usual static image, you may use rich media such as unique texts, animations, streaming media, and slideshows. There are compression tools that help you to make great banner ads without slowing down the page’s load time.

 

3.     Builds Brand Recognition

Even when users do not click on your banner ad, a good banner will leave a positive impression on users’ minds. And that is what branding is all about. Banner ads are very effective in creating brand recognition and product awareness. This means that with a good campaign, a user will always end up thinking of your product first before thinking of products from competitors when they have to purchase a product or service that your company provides.

 

4.     Offers Flexible Pricing Structures

Traditionally, you would buy space on a billboard or magazine and post your advertisement in it for a flat fee, regardless of the outcome. Banner ads are not only a cheaper method of advertising, but they also afford the company with a flexible pricing structure where the advertiser only pays for some specific result. These results may be by the number of users who click on the banner, the number of users who provide leads by completing a survey, or the number of users who successfully complete a sale. Advertisers may also competitively bid for prime advertising space on a publisher’s website.

 

5.     Instant Response

If you put out a magazine advertisement, the magazine publisher or distributor may tell you the number of magazines sold. But this will not tell you how many readers saw your advert. Additionally, among those who saw your advert, some of them will like it and follow up on it, some will like it and intend to follow up but forget, while some will disregard it. But you will never know the general public reaction. Banner ads give you an interactive way to assess the impact of your advertising campaign. You can tell how many users visited the publisher’s website, how many users clicked on your banner, how many ended up being leads, and how many made purchases.