The difficulty of spending, specifically the Internet advertising dollar, is determining which mix of media will generate the best return on product/service revenue. The question to ask when doing media planning should be: Is the product right for the brand and increasing sales with direct-to-consumer advertising? The ROI on that expense varies widely and is surprisingly low. How much of the budget should be allocated to display advertising knowing that Search provides direct results? In the current scenario, display advertising, while a relatively small component of a promotional plan, generates a high ROI.
An independent study provided insight into how to solve this complex problem: search and display together provide a 22% rate increase compared to search alone. The basic question that should arise for any online marketer is: what if the end user searches for your brand directly or, in other words, what could make an end user search for your brand while searching for a service or product in a category in particular? The answer is obvious, a user is exposed to a display ad one day and a video or email ad the next and it can be the day after searching for the service and making a purchase. Do we now see how display advertising plays its role? The research clearly showed that users exposed to both search and display channels, two of the largest online channels, are more likely to convert than users exposed to search advertising alone. Some points in favor of display advertising according to the research mentioned above:
– Graphic messages can help win over a user who is interested in a brand or product that they have already searched for, but may be hesitant to purchase.
– Viewing is also likely to drive brand searches, a valuable initial step in the buying process. Display advertising is a proven method of generating brand awareness, messaging association, and increased purchase intent. Therefore, it is a great way to reinforce both the acquisition and the brand messages that users may receive from other channels.
– Finally, search is often used as a navigation tool for users who can’t remember the URL of a website. Consumers can first visit that site by clicking a display ad, and then return to it through search when they’re ready to buy or sign up.
Show ad frequency: Another important factor highlighted in research is the impact of display ad frequency on driving conversion results for users exposed to both display and search. Generally, those users who saw three or more impressions in combination with at least one search click performed better than those who saw only one or two impressions. Both conversion rates and click-through rates for search conversion increased significantly for these users, further suggesting the benefit of display advertising when combined with search. Well said, done and researched, any search activity should be combined with or preceded by display ad activity to generate value for every dollar spent on promotion.
Any source of traffic or the means of generating traffic, be it online display advertising, search engine marketing, or search engine optimization, can only drive interested users to the offer page. The final conversion depends mainly on the uniqueness of the offer made by the advertiser and the brand value it maintains in the market. Since there is great competition in almost every vertical in the market, any marketing activity is worth doing as long as it reaches the right audience, as it not only drives conversions today, but also builds the brand and prepares to confirm conversions tomorrow.