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Continued...
The problem with this
model is that companies and Website owners have come to
demand an instant response from Web advertising. Unlike
other real world media, the Web is seen as a medium
which, if it fails to deliver an immediate ROI,
will be slashed from ad budgets. However, the recent
decline in ad rates, clickthroughs, and the general
effectiveness of direct response banners, has seen many
companies flounder, unsure which way to turn. Their
“endless” pool of direct marketing leads has, in
some cases, started to dry up.
What’s the Purpose of
your Banner?
As we discussed above,
banners are usually used for one of two things:
- To generate clicks and
attract visitors to your site, or
- For branding purposes
These two ad formats necessitate different design
approaches. Let's consider them in turn.
1. Design for
Clickthrough
Once you’ve decided
that you want you banner to attract visitors to your
site, it’s time to design! There are many elements you
can include to increase the number of clicks your banner
generates.
- Use
prompting words: Using words that
prompt the user to take immediate action will have a
positive effect on the results of a banner
advertisement. Words such as "Click Here",
"Click to Visit", "Visit Now!",
and "Free!" are good examples, and can
increase the likelihood of clickthrough.
- Create a
sense of urgency: For a visitor to
click on your banner, they must get the impression
that the information on your site is more important
than the site they’re currently viewing. To
achieve this, you'll need to create a sense of
urgency. Phrases such as "Hurry!, “Only while
stocks last" and "Available for a limited
time!" exemplify the kind of language that
makes users click.
- Keep it
simple: Keep your banners clear and
simple. It’s the job of the banner to get the user
to click through. And it’s the job of the Website
to provide information about your products and
services. So optimize your banner space with
elements that generate clickthrough.
- Format for
success: Your banner’s colour scheme
is very important. Follow these guidelines to ensure
a successful palette:
- choose
complimentary colours that grab the users’
attention
- keep the colour
scheme constant throughout the banner,
especially if you’re using animation
- ensure key words
such as "Free" and "Click
Here" stand out
- Make your
banner look interactive: One technique
you will have seen is to make your banner look like
you can click on individual parts of it. You can do
this by adding “buttons,” and other objects the
user is familiar with clicking on. Banners that
simulate the "Windows" environment have
become quite common.
- Target
your audience: Targeting is the key to
effective banner design. Be sure to think about the
kinds of things your target audience would be
familiar with, interested in, and are likely to
click on.
Implementating
Direct Response Banners
Incorporate some of these
ideas into your next banner ad, and you could enjoy a
dramatic increase in the number of clickthroughs it
generates. Also, keep in mind the fact that the
effectiveness of banners decreases over time, so it’s
a good idea to create new banners every month or so, or
rotate different banners through the same locations.
2. Design for Branding
The concept of
‘branding’ covers a huge range of activities, and
the word is often used in different contexts by
different people. So what defines a branding banner?
Here I’ll consider branding as a way to broadcast your
Business name, domain name, logo, and slogans to an
audience who will hopefully, either now or in the
future, be interested in the services you offer.
The ultimate goal of
branding banner ads is to help the public associate your
Website with a particular product, topic of interest or
service. Yahoo! is an excellent example. If I asked you
to tell me the names and URLs of some good searchable
directories I could use, chances are Yahoo! would sring
to mind.
So let’s look at how we
can use banners to achieve your online branding
objectives.
- Choose
once and stick with your decision:
When you launch your business, it’s important to
choose a name and logo that you can stick with for
the life of your endeavour. To get 2 years down the
track and then decide to change your logo does
nothing positive for brand recognition. Make sure
your name and logo are simple, attractive and
unique. And, if your plan is to market
internationally, make sure your name and logo are
transferable between different cultures. One
strategy that many large, well branded companies use
is to make their company name their logo. For
example, think of Microsoft, Yahoo!, eBay and IBM.
Make colours
part of your brand: Try to use the same
colors that appear on your website and in your logo,
throughout your banner. Believe it or not, even a colour
can be enough to prompt your audience to make a mental
association with your company. The pipe-playing,
paint-splattering Intel blue men you might have seen on
TV are an excellent example. The blue men and green
paint alone were enough for many people to associate the
advertisement with Intel and the Pentium III.
- Use your
URL: While the purpose of this type of
banner is not to draw immediate audience action,
you'll probably want to make it as easy as possible
for visitors to find you when they do require your
service. Including your URL in the banner is a
subtle but successful way to achieve this.
Obviously, a short domain based on keywords for your
target niche will be advantageous: a short domain is
easy to remember, and one which contains relevant
keywords will help users associate your Website with
a particular need, product, or service.
- Basic
design and layout: Branding banners
must be clear, attractive and uncluttered:
- Place your logo in
a dominant position on the banner.
- Make your logo as
large as possible, without cluttering your
banner. When it comes to getting noticed, bigger
is better.
- If you have a
slogan, try to work this into the banner as well
– it can really help make that mental
association stronger for your viewers. For
example, “eBay - the World's online
marketplace” and “Nokia. Connecting
People”
- If you use
animation, make sure your logo and URL appear in
every frame.
- Don't use gimmicks
and other irrelevant features on the banner. Be
succinct and clear about what your Website and
business offers. Gimmicks don’t help build
trust; nor do they support the creation of a
mental link between your brand and the market
need you fulfil.
Implementing Branding Banners
The creation of effective
branding banners, like direct response banners, is an
art. Experiment with some of these suggestions, and see
how they work for you. Try different designs, and don't
be discouraged if you don't generate instant results.
Remember, indirect brand advertising doesn’t typically
produce the easily measurable results that you’ve seen
in direct advertising. However, brand advertising has
the potential to prove very successful in the long run.
The Future of Banners
As we discussed above,
direct marketing methods have been popular in the past,
as results are easy to measure. Branding, on the other
hand, falls into the category of indirect marketing, and
its results are much harder to measure. These marketing
efforts have no direct call to action – they don’t
require the user to act straight away, but instead ask
only that you "remember that name". The
general belief is that this communications effect
doesn’t even require much buy-in on the customer’s
part - even if the viewer isn’t interested in your
brand when they see your ad, they’ll still associate
your brand with a particular need, product or service
(provided of course, that your message effectively
communicated this association in the first place).
As you can see, results
from this type of indirect marketing are unlikely to be
immediate, and can take months or even years to result
in profits. For this reason, brand advertising of any
type can be difficult to measure.
However, as the Web
advertising industry evolves, more emarketers have
rejected the notion that direct response advertising if
the only way to go. Instead, they're learning the value
and appropriateness of both direct and branding ads in
the context of their overall marketing plans.
In future, while the
overall ad spend might be far less reckless than it has
been in the past, it's likely to be a lot more
intelligent and effective.
About the Author: Brad
is the owner and creator of Webmasters'
Library, a free information resource for Webmasters,
providing articles, tutorials, interviews, tips, tricks
and reviews.
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