ADSPACE Workshop Series - Contextual Advertising The ad:tech Way
Still relying on image and text ads to drive online traffic? Wish you could pre-sell the consumer before they clicked on the ad and you were charged? Wondering how mobile ads can actually increase your conversion rate? You should have gone to ADSPACE, the first ever contextual advertising conference and expo located within ad:tech San Francisco this year.
During a series of workshops held during the one day event, experts and business owners of the latest and greatest technologies now being introduced to the public shared their secrets to how to increase your conversion rate without having to sacrifice costs. Best of all, they did it using new forms of contextual ads available for mobile and the web!
Workshop Series: Emerging Platforms
Moderator:
Josh McFarland, Entrepreneur in Residence, Greylock Ventures
Panelists:
Mani Iyer: CEO and Founder, Kwanzoo Inc.
Steen Andersson, Co-Founder and VP, Marketing, 5th Finger
First up was Mani Iver from Kwanzoo Inc. Their company specializes in widget advertising. Now some of you might have the wrong idea by the term widget. All that means is that it acts as an interactive feature of some sort. This isn’t just a flash movie or roll-out banner, but a way to help you pre-qualify your customer not only before they reach the purchase page, but before you’re even charged for the click.
The example he showed the crowd was a widget for someone looking to purchase a car. With a drop-down menu of auto manufactures embedded in the widget, you are better able to pre-qualify the consumer not to mention use their responses to hyper-target each stage of the ad. These widgets all can have multiple screens within itself (i.e. before leaving the partner website) that further qualify the individual before sending them to the landing page which will carry through all their previously answered information. With widget advertising, you’re also able to chart the metrics behind the conversion and pass-through rates of the users who interact with the ad. So for example if it was a two question widget but they left the website before answering the second portion, you aren’t charged for the click but will still be able to see all the typical analytical information on the user. This will result in you being able to alter your questions until you find the best messaging that converts these users into customers. Mani also said that their service was completely Google Content Network certified and that they’re working closely with other network as well.
Next up was Steen Andersson from 5th Finger who showed some interesting new opportunities available for mobile advertisements. We’re not just talking about banner or text ads here but full-blown call-to-order features that the user can click on and immediately be connected to your sales department. Another example shown was for a product where it initially looked like a regular banner at the top of the mobile-enhanced website but then expanded to include a “Buy Here Now” button upon clicking the ad. They’re taking the tools already present and using them to cut out unnecessary steps involved in the process of connecting a customer with your product.
As technology advances, so will the way in which we can advertise on them - workshops like this are critical for you to be able to separate your brand from your competitors while at the same utilizing this new technology to maximize conversion rates.
