The world of advertising is an ever-changing beast, and as a result, determining what the best methods are for a successful advertising campaign has proven tricky—especially with the ever-changing digital marketplace. And while there are some tactics that many companies would like to use to promote their products and services, experts at marketing agencies are quick to point out that there are some methods that you should really just avoid altogether. Here are three tactics that should definitely be left out of your next advertising campaign.
Digital Banner Ads
Digital banner ads and pop-up advertising are the billboards of the Internet. It seems like they’ll never go away, and many companies continue to rely extensively on this method for their digital marketing strategy. Yet there are few advertising methods that could be less effective in actually generating sales and leads.
Just how ineffective are digital display ads? Studies have found that the average clickthrough rate for these advertisements is 0.1 percent, with approximately half of those clicks being completely accidental. To put that into perspective, an average person is more likely to summit Mount Everest or survive a plane crash than intentionally click on a digital display ad. Yes, it’s really that bad—which is why fewer agencies are including digital display as part of their advertising tactics.
While companies that specialize in digital banner ads promise that their content will reach millions of viewers, marketing agencies worth their salt recognize that potential reach is hardly the most effective method for measuring effectiveness. Quite often, digital display ads are not adequately targeted, resulting in many advertisements reaching irrelevant audiences. Regardless, most Web users ignore these advertisements completely, even if they haven’t already installed an AdBlocker to prevent the obnoxious messages from ever reaching their computer screen.
Black-Hat SEO
There’s no denying that SEO is one of the most important tools to achieving success online. But when it comes to the methods that are used to improve one’s SEO rankings, businesses need to be careful that they work only with marketing agencies that utilize white-hat SEO techniques—and avoid shady practices at all costs. While sound SEO practices can get your business to the front page of Google, black-hat techniques can result in penalties that get your site severely punished.
There are a plethora of unfortunate SEO practices used by shady marketing agencies that can greatly damage a company’s chances of ever ranking highly. Yet many companies continue to engage in these practices. For example, Forbes notes that keyword stuffing—be it in content marketing materials, internal links and even alt-image tags is still quite common. And the oft-maligned practice of trying to buy or sell links is still used by many companies who (unwisely) think Google won’t notice their shady tactics.
Some black-hat marketing agencies even attempt to get clients to rank for completely irrelevant keywords, simply to generate clicks. Spam content, link baiting and even invisible text are sometimes used in an effort to generate links and keywords—but these dishonest practices will ultimately result in punishment from Google and other search engines. If anyone claims to use these tactics, avoid them at all costs! Quality SEO includes content marketing that relies on addressing relevant audience topics as well as optimizing website design to better meet customer needs—all while avoiding keyword stuffing and shady link-building practices.
Dying Traditional Advertising Techniques
Let’s be honest with ourselves—most traditional advertising techniques are quickly going the way of the dodo. The Yellow Pages? Your grandparents may be using them, but it’s unlikely that anyone else is—especially when Google is so much quicker and more effective. Other traditional advertising methods, such as television, radio and newspaper are also becoming less effective as their audiences migrate to the digital world.
Television is a prime example of how audiences are quickly finding ways to circumvent traditional broadcast advertising. The rise of YouTube, Netflix and Hulu have all led many consumers to watch their favorite TV shows online, rather than during the television broadcast, and audience sizes have been consistently diminishing over the last several years (except for major live events like the Super Bowl). Even those who don’t use these digital subscription services frequently take advantage of TiVo and other devices that allow them to skip commercial breaks entirely.
Marketing agencies that are in the know are well aware that these changes in media consumption habits mean that it’s harder than ever to reach desired audiences. But there is hope to be found in digital replacements for traditional advertising methods. After all, most Hulu subscribers are still exposed to commercials of some sort, and the company actively tries to target advertising to its customers’ relevant interests.
For just about every traditional advertising method, marketing agencies have developed a digital equivalent. An equivalent that is more tightly targeted, less likely to be skipped and therefore more likely to actually lead to sales and leads.
For companies big and small, the time is long past to abandon digital display ads, black-hat SEO or outdated traditional advertising methods. The times have changed, and your advertising tactics should too. Be sure that any marketing agencies you work with know how to use effective digital advertising techniques that will yield the desired results.
