YouTube & Mobile Banners

How do you measure success? The most common response to this question in the business world is ROI (Return on Investment). So how does one measure the success of a banner ad? The answer isn’t as cut and dry as we would like. Banner ads can be displayed across multiple platforms and in different sizes, which can drastically alter the message they carry to consumers. Sometimes the greatest measurable benefit of display banner advertising isn’t in dollars and cents, but in information that is collected during the campaign.

The first banner ads have been around since 1993 and their evolution has skyrocketed ever since. Web banners function the same way as traditional advertisements are intended to, by notifying consumers of the product or service and presenting reasons why the consumer should choose the product or service being presented. With the proliferation of smart phones and tablets, the race for more innovative banner advertising has become hotly contested. “Viewability” – ads that are at least 50% visible on a user’s screen for at least one second – is one of the most important factors and can induce more genuine clicks from buyers.

With the use of hand held devices increasing daily, the question for advertisers then becomes how to use the limited digital space effectively. Video is hot right now, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world, and is an excellent vehicle with which to capture the consumer. In Europe, banners with videos and video ads outperform all other banner formats in every metric, including engagement rate, engagement time and CTR. Pre-roll video ads on publisher sites and YouTube were particularly hot in 2013. Youtube has pioneered the use of video banners, which have recently knocked Facebook banners (99×72) off of the list of top ten favorite banner ad formats used by advertisers. The “media as a message” approach by Youtube video banners allows businesses to present themselves in a unique way, when and where it matters most. The limited amount of time these ads have in front of the consumer means that they have to be engaging, use the right message and evoke just the right passions in the consumer. This exercise in advertising alchemy is not for the faint of heart and best left those who live, eat and breathe internet marketing.

The data gleaned from banner advertising can be useful for both brand exposure and performance metrics for more targeted advertising. To ensure that a campaign is generating useful data, banners should be designed to promote specific awareness-raising goals, such as “likes” on Facebook, or downloads of coupons. This data can be used to retarget interested consumers who’ve shown affinity to a particular brand, product or service.

Whether you are focusing on building a brand or performance advertising, mobile is pivotal to reaching your audience. Research shows that 90% of people move between devices to accomplish a goal, so reaching customers on-the-go is more important than ever before. All too often marketers rely on display ad campaigns via laptops and desktops to reach an increasingly mobile audience. This is a mistake. In Europe, parts of Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East, smart phones and tablets are far more important devices. The goal should be to think multi-screen from the beginning, and choose standardized formats that are easy to benchmark. The space being somewhat limited does mean that the right message must be paired with the right creative to produce the desired results. SeoTuners can help you achieve your performance marketing objectives to grow leads, win new customers, and increase conversions.