Display and banner advertising is still a nascent concept to most dealers, but has tremendous potential in the right hands. To help demystify this, we've answered the top 10 questions we hear.
Top 10 Banner Questions:
1) You told me my ads are running. Where do I go to see them?
Answer: That depends on the type of campaign you're running. If it's a behavioral campaign, you probably won't unless your general internet browsing puts you into the "in market shopper" category. If it's a general campaign then you may see it during your typical browsing on sites that are part of the network. That being said, networks are made up of hundreds of thousands of sites-- there's no way to guarantee you'll always show up on a specific site without an extremely large budget or direct relationship (conquest arrangement) with that particular website.
2) What's behavioral targeting?
Answer: Behavioral targeting means your ads will display to people meeting a certain trend of behavioral touchpoints. For example, if someone has visited three automotive sites, is within 10 miles of the dealership and spends time on Edmunds.com they're considered an in market shopper and will be served your ads. Each network has a different (usually confidential) algorithm to determine-- but it's important to ask how many touchpoints it takes to be considered in market.
3) What's retargeting?
Answer: Retargeting is the ability to show your ads to people who arrived at your site but didn't take a desired action during their normal browsing. This is accomplished by placing a "cookie" on people's computers.
4) What's the difference between behavioral targeting and retargeting?
Answer: Behavioral is the ability to segment a group of people based off their normal internet browsing. Retargeting means following people that came to your site but didn't take the action you wanted them to.
5) Where do I go to get started?
Answer: JumpStart and Specific Media both sell directly to dealerships / tier 3 as long as you meet their minimums. Other companies have created their own networks. However, working with an agency is a great way to maximize the opportunity as they have access to hundreds of networks worldwide opposed to the limited scope of other areas. JumpStart and Specific are both options through Cuneo. Our approach often mixes multiple networks together to drive stronger results. Additionally, agencies often have CPC opportunities opposed to the standard CPM (cost per thousand impressions) purchasing
6) How can I figure out which ads people are clicking on?
Answer: This is something the network you're using should be able to provide. Make sure they're optimizing based off what people are clicking on
7) My web analytics don't match the numbers the network is providing
Answer: They probably won't. Your analytics may have different criteria to qualify a visit than just the click. For example, if someone clicked the ad but immediately closed your site it would not register in your analytics. Additionally, if someone clicked the ad more than once your web analytics may automatically group it with the previous visit. The closest way to measure this is visits-- but understand there will always be an inconsistency.
8) Should I do paid search or display?
Answer: This isn't an either, or situation. Paid search should be used to drive highly qualified traffic to your site. You'll see a much more reasonable Cost per Lead and Cost per Action with search than display because of the nature of the visitor. When someone follows a banner ad, it means they were in the process of doing something else at the time. That's why you should always try to measure "viewthrough" analytics with display-- whether someone saw/acted on the ad but then converted later.
9) What does success look like?
Answer: That depends on your goals. If you're looking for branded awareness then impressions is the most important. If you're looking for traffic than cost per click. If you're looking for something even stronger than CPA with viewthroughs is the way to go. Industry standard is a 0.02 CTR.
10) Is a $[x] CPM (cost per thousand impressions) a good price?
Answer: That depends on your criteria. This can be impacted depending on how many refining criteria you have (ex: are you behaviorally targeting? retargeting? Only in a specific geographic area?). It's also impacted by budget.
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