6 Advertising Challenges Brands Could Face in 2022, According to Experts Did you know that 90% of searchers haven't made their mind up about a brand before starting their search? This is one of the main reasons that online advertising is so competitive. That ever-increasing competition is just one of the challenges that brands face when they do online advertising (and we'll dive into this more below). Yet, advertising is a vital component of any business's marketing strategy. So, you might be wondering, "What are some other advertising challenges and how can we overcome them?" In this post, let's review the advertising challenges experts think brands could face in the next year and discuss how to overcome them. 1. Reaching the right targeted audience. The adage goes that advertising (and marketing in general) is about reaching the right audience, with the right message, at the right time. But reaching the right audience is getting harder and becoming a challenge for advertisers. Valentina Turchetti, the co-founder, managing director, and head of content at YourDigitalWeb, says, "Even if brands use retargeting and advanced audience funnel creation, they have to pay attention to Apple's tracking changes where users can choose not to see advertising. Since users using Apple devices can decide to say 'no' to advertising, business results can be lower compared to those of previous months or last years." How to overcome this challenge: While this could impact results on certain advertising campaigns, it's important to remember that the...

What Is an Ad Network and How Does It Work? To state the obvious, researching, finding, and buying digital ad space is a time-consuming process. In fact, an article by the Wall Street Journal compares it to "pulling out weeds online." But what if there was a middleman who could connect advertisers to websites that are seeking advertisers (and vice-versa)? Enter the ad network. Let's learn more about ad networks, how they work, and the best networks for digital marketers. The chief function of ad networks is to collect unsold ad inventory from online publishers and match them with advertisers looking for ad spots. This makes it seamless for both sides to interact and, ultimately, come to a deal. The benefit of using an ad network depends on which side you fall. For publishers, it helps to secure buyers for unsold ad space, although the revenue is typically less than what they could earn from direct sales. For advertisers, it helps to find inventory that fits their audience and budget. It's important we make a distinction between ad networks and ad servers. While both operate as advertising technology, they serve two distinct purposes. An ad server is used by both ad networks and advertisers to run, track, and manage advertising campaigns. An ad network is also an advertising technology, but it's used exclusively to broker buys between publishers and advertisers. Different Types of Ad Networks If you need to find an ad network that fits your particular...

Quality Score: Why It Matters and 6 Steps to Improve It Running an ad campaign is no small feat. From narrowing down your target audience to designing your landing page, there are many pieces to the puzzle. Once you put in all that work, you want to make sure your ad is ready for bidding. Google Ads helps advertisers ensure their ad quality is high by assigning them a quality score. Not sure what that is? Let’s cover what a Quality Score is, how to see it in your account, and how to improve it for your next campaign. Google wants to match users to the most relevant ads because they only make money when users click the ad. So, if they consistently show low-quality ads, they won’t earn as much. To determine an advertiser’s Quality Score, Google looks at how other advertisers have performed in the last 90 days for the exact same keywords. If there isn’t enough data gathered in that time frame, there will be no score displayed. Does your Quality Score affect ad rank? In the bidding process, your Quality Score is not considered by Google’s algorithm. Your Quality Score can signal how your ad will rank but it’s not a direct input in the auction. However, there is a non-direct link between your Quality Score and your ad ranking. If you have a low Quality Score, that suggests that your ad doesn’t provide a good user experience. As a result, your ad...

Persuasive Advertising: What It Is & How to Do It What are some advertisements that live rent-free in your mind? As a millennial, ads that will always have a place in my heart include Britney Spears' iconic run as a Pepsi spokesperson, the enduring"got milk?" campaign (which is ironic considering myself and many others now prefer non-dairy alternatives), and the classic iPod silhouettes. These ads were not only compelling, but they were also incredibly influential. As marketers, we know that if we want to persuade an audience, we need to evoke an emotional response from them. But how do you actually do that? Before we discuss how to refine your persuasive advertising strategy, let's review what it is. Below, we’ll examine key persuasive advertising techniques you can use in your advertisements, examples you can reference if you ever need some inspiration and informative advertisement examples that are surprisingly just as compelling as the persuasive advertising examples. 1. The Carrot and The Stick Humans are hardwired to move towards pleasure, like a horse towards a carrot, and away from pain, like a donkey avoids a stick. When people read or watch your advertisements, "carrots", or promises of gain, can fill your prospects with hope and compel them to pursue that potential feeling of pleasure. "Sticks", possibilities of loss, evoke fear in your prospects, which will compel them to flee from that potential feeling of pain. Both tactics...

The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Advertising and Sponsorship According to research by Podcast Insights, there are more than 2 million active podcasts and counting. As a marketer for a small to mid-sized business, you might be interested in podcast sponsorship, but not know where to start. Mainly because there are so many podcasts to choose from. How do you know which podcasts your target audience is listening to? To help you determine what ad strategy is right for you and where to put your podcast dollars, I spoke to HubSpot's podcasting team and did some additional research to comprise a list of helpful strategies for finding, vetting, and advertising on a podcast that aligns with your brand. Podcast Advertising Terminology Tips for Finding and Sponsoring Podcasts How to Advertise on Podcasts Navigating Podcast Sponsorship Podcast Advertising Terminology Before we discuss the ins and outs of podcast advertising, let’s review the terminology you need to know before reaching out to podcast hosts and networks. CPM Rate: CPM stands for "cost per mille." The CPM represents a flat standard rate advertisers pay for every 1,000 impressions. Host-Read Ad: a pre-recorded ad that is voiced by the host(s) of the podcast. Dynamic Insertion: the use of software to automatically insert ads into pre-existing podcast audio. These ads can be easily changed across a podcast’s entire catalog without making changes to the original audio file. Programmatic Ad: pre-recorded advertisements that do not feature the original host...

What is Search Retargeting & How Does It Work? When a user is on Google and searches for "athletic shoes," companies like Nike and Skechers probably want their ads to continuously show up for those users online because they're currently in the market for a product they sell. But how could they do that when the user isn't searching for them and perhaps doesn't even know that their company sells athletic shoes? That's where search retargeting comes in. With this behavioral targeting, companies can have their ads show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) and social media sites after a user types in certain keywords. This is a popular strategy among marketers. In fact, 68% of marketing agencies and 49% of brands have a dedicated budget for retargeting. Additionally, it's also popular among online users -- 25% of online viewers enjoy seeing retargeted ads. In this post, let's discuss what search retargeting is, how it works, and how you can use it to reach new audiences. Continuing the example above, if a user searched for "athletic shoes," they might go on Facebook a few days later and see an ad for Nike or Skechers. This would mean that the company has set up a digital campaign to retarget users who are searching for athletic shoes in search engines. Now you might be wondering, "How does this work?" Let's dive in below. How does search retargeting work? Essentially, search retargeting works through automation. Once a user searches for...

The Most Annoying Types of Ads & What to Do Instead A 2019 Edelman study found that three out of four consumers avoid ads. In fact, 47% said they have changed their media habits to see fewer ads while others use ad blockers to prevent them altogether. The reasons why vary. Personally, I hate repetitive ads. For about a month straight, every time I would watch a YouTube video, I would see the same ad and it got more irritating every time. Mostly because I wasn't interested in the brand or its services. But the incessant nature of the ad led to me develop a negative association with the company. So, how can brands deliver ads that audiences want to see? To know that, let's first look at what they definitely don't like. The Most Annoying Advertisement Types We surveyed 302 people using Lucid to ask them about what ads they're most annoyed by. When we asked the random survey pool, "What's the most annoying type of digital ad?", a whopping 58% of respondents said pop-up ads that negatively impact the user experience. Data Source While advertising can be unavoidable for brands based on their goals, there are ways to produce ads that don't annoy your audience. Below, we dive into the two most annoying ads types and explain how marketers and advertisers can navigate. Pop-Up Ads. When you think about it, this result isn't too shocking. We've all gone through it. You land on a...

A Marketer's Quick Guide to Dynamic Ads Remember when you'd go to the mall, see something you liked, but then leave without it? Then you’d leave the mall and think about it the whole drive home, wondering if you made the right decision until you forgot about it. That was until you saw someone else with the exact item we wanted. Ah, the good ol’ days. Today, you can’t leave an item in your cart without it following you everywhere online. Who do we have to thank for that? Technically, a lot of people – marketers, retargeting tools, Al Gore’s internet – but for the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on one: dynamic ads. Dynamic ads allow brands to change the ads shown to users based on their behavior. Let’s dive into what exactly dynamic ads are, their benefits, and how to use them on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. Dynamic ads are often used in remarketing campaigns to reach users who have already interacted with a brand. More on that here. Static ads, on the other hand, do not adapt based on external data, so they tend to target broader audience groups for brand awareness or product launches. A banner ad can look like this: Or like this: They range in size and placement depending on the platform on which they’re displayed. The Benefits of Dynamic Ads Ad personalization is one of the biggest advantages of using dynamic banner ads. In a 2020...

What is Comparative Advertising? Advertising is the process of creating messages that raise awareness of your brand. These messages can have various purposes like attracting potential customers, promoting upcoming sales, and introducing new products to market. Most advertisements center around one business, but a unique type, called comparative advertising, centers around two. When done right, comparative ads can successfully convince consumers to do business with one brand over another. But, when done wrong, companies may find themselves in the middle of a lawsuit. Given this, using comparative advertising requires care and attention. In this post, we’ll explain what comparative advertising is, give examples from real-life businesses, explain the legality of using the strategy, and present pros and cons that you can use to make the best decision for your business. These ads can directly or indirectly mention a competitor, but consumers can typically deduce who the other business is through product features and call-outs. Comparative ads also give customers a direct point of comparison between two companies, as they can view products and assess features all at once, rather than needing to seek out information from multiple sources. Although they may feature two businesses, it is important to note that one company creates the ad for their benefit, so its tone is swayed in their favor. That being said, businesses aren’t allowed to make false claims about their competitors, so consumers are presented with factual information. There is no set template for comparative advertisements; they can be...