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| Path: Main Street : Info for Advertisers : Banner Ads : Maximizing Banner Ad Effectiveness |
| Advertising Links Introduction and FAQ Maximizing Effectiveness Audience Demographics Tech Specs Creative Services Rate Card The Jargon Defined Phone: (416) 574-2480, Fax: (416) 946-1772 or e-mail steven@charityvillage.com
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Maximizing Banner Ad Effectiveness
We are pleased you've expressed an interest in running a banner ad on CharityVillage.com. Online banner ad campaigns do require some behind the scenes work before going live. The time you invest prior to your campaign makes a difference in the ultimate success of your promotional program so we invite you to read on... Branding or Prospecting? The ultimate objective of any promotional program is always to sell your product or service, but there are many steps along the road to doing that. Two that are relevant for your online advertising are Branding and Prospecting. It's important to decide which of these is your current priority, because that decision will guide the content of your banner ad.
BrandingThis is the process of increasing marketplace awareness for your company, product or service name/trademark. This may be the priority if there are many competitors in your market segment, and you must rise above the "background noise" of the industry to get the attention of prospects and become perceived as a leading or dominant supplier in your category.Banner Ads can help with branding by putting your organization's name or trademark in front of many prospective customers. If this is your priority, you will be more concerned with the number of impressions than with the number of people who click through to your web site. ProspectingThis is the process of moving people who have a general interest in your category of products or services, to qualified, prospective buyers with an interest in your company's specific offerings.Banner ads can help with prospecting by driving traffic to your web site, where you can explain the features and benefits of your products or services, or provide additional information about your event or program. If this is your priority, you will be more concerned with the number of people clicking through to your web site than with the sheer number of impressions. Once you've decided whether your current promotional priority is branding or prospecting, you're ready to think about what makes a banner ad effective. Here are the major factors: 1. Targeting To a greater extent than any other medium, the web enables you to accurately target your advertising message at a highly qualified, well-defined niche audience that needs your product, service, event or program. To do this, you need only select the web site(s) that attract that audience. CharityVillage aggregates a large audience that is involved specifically with the nonprofit sector. This audience includes nonprofit executives and managers, fundraising professionals, communications and media relations people, volunteer coordinators, special events coordinators, human resources specialists, board members and others who make buying decisions every day. No other print or electronic medium comes close to reaching this Canadian audience as completely and continuously as CharityVillage. Check the Demographic Profile of our audience. 2. Scheduling Research indicates that the average Web user views more than112 banner ads per week, and must notice an ad 9 times before beginning to recognize the advertiser and associate it with a specific product or service. Two of every three ads go unnoticed. Therefore, an average user must be exposed to your banner 27 times before developing any brand recognition. We recommend a continuous campaign spanning at least a month at CharityVillage. 3. Banner Content If branding is your priority, the ad should carry your company name and/or trademark and/or domain name so that, even if the guest does not click through to your web site, you have made an impression that builds your organization's profile in the marketplace. If prospecting is your priority, the banner ad should use techniques that will increase the probability of a click-through to your web site, even if branding is sacrificed. Some examples:
4. Banner Design Eye-catching colours are important (Some research indicates that blue, green and yellow are more effective than white, red and black). Please avoid using a white background. All of the pages on our site use a white background, so if you use one too, your message won't stand out, no matter how compelling the content. The eye is always attracted by motion, so animation can get attention. Buttons are enticing. Keep the file size under 20 kilobytes and preferably under 10kb. If the guest can't wait for the download to finish, they'll never see your graphic extravaganza. Check out some of the banner ads we've created. 5. Destination Page Content Okay, so the guest noticed your banner ad and clicked on it. What now? Don't squander this opportunity with a poorly conceived and designed web page. You must make the click pay off by helping the prospective customer take action. You should usually create a special page, or suite of pages, that are designed specifically to work in conjunction with the banner ad. If you drop a guest off at your Home Page, you may risk losing her/him, especially if the item being promoted by the banner is buried several levels down in your web site. Make it easy for the guest to find the information s/he is seeking. We recommend against the use of frames, as a high proportion of browsers in current usage do not support frames. Don't restrict the number of prospective customers who can read your story. You should also be aware that some guests will be using browsers that can not display tables and a few who can only view text (no graphics). You must choose between use of these features and the importance of maximizing audience accessibility. Provide alternative ways to contact you (eMail, phone, fax, snail mail) and make an informed staff member accountable for promptly responding to enquiries. Some of our clients have designed special page on their site as the destination URL with a welcome message to CharityVillage visitors, creating an even more welcome atmosphere at their site. |
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