Attention Search Advertisers: Display is for YOU!
Dax Hamman, VP, Digital Media, iCrossing
Roy de Souza, CEO, Zedo
Rob Leathern, Founder and CEO CPM Advisors
Div Bhansali, Director, Self-Service Products, AOL Advertising
Attention search marketers: display is not just for branding anymore—performance display can work for you! Display goes largely under-leveraged by search and direct response marketers, this panel aimed to change that. So how does direct response marketing use display? This panel, moderated by my colleague Dax Hamman, VP of Display Media at iCrossing proved be another another useful panel with actionable insight and key take-aways for search and other direct response marketers to leverage when considering their marketing mix.
Rob Leathern, CEO of CPM Advisors started off with some helpful insights, “For search marketers, did you know you can use same reporting and info for display as they do for search through the Google Content Network? Also, use your existing search copy that performs for your display campaigns. Keep in mind that translation doesn’t work in all cases, but its a good starting point for testing and tweaking over time. Re-targeting is big for performance display; we see the ROI is between 5-20 times higher than normal display campaigns.”
Recognizing that the whole world of display may be totally new to some search marketers, Dax asked the panel to explain the difference between exchanges and networks, as you hear a lot about them, but how do you know which to go with? Roy de Souza, CEO of Zedo offered this information, “Exchanges are self-service whereas networks sales-oriented with service. Networks tend to have higher quality inventory while the remaining inventory typically goes to exchanges. Direct marketers are beginning to converting to display because of issues of scale with buying search inventory—there’s just not enough, and those who get this are doing well in display”
So whose doing it well you ask? You know all those terrible teeth whitening and belly fat ads you see? Turns out they are making a killing—and doing performance display RIGHT. Below are some insights and lessons we can all learn from this group of, ahem, marketers…
Success lessons from the teeth whitening and belly fat guys:
-Mass market products
-Buy on networks, not exchanges
-Use a LOT of different creative, test and iterate frequently
-Optimize campaigns like a search marketer
-Don’t always push direct response…direct them to an interstitial page with testimonies & info
-Text ads can sometimes make sense
-Sometimes all you need to do is switch up your background color every week
“Really focus on optimizing creative. Simplicity is key—combine that with basic targeting and bid competitively on networks,” offers Div Bhansali, Director of Self Service Products for AOL. So what if you’re not a mass market product advertiser. Let’s say you don’t have teeth whitening and belly fat pills to sell, what then? How do you compete with these guys for optimal ad space when they are bidding so competitively? “We (AOL) have to hold ourselves to higher standard with our inventory than the exchanges so you can bid competitively against these mass marketers on our network.”
“While unsavory, and while the FTC in conjunction with publishers will start to crack down on these mass marketers as they have been artificially inflating CPMs, they do have a place in the market. We can learn from these guys. They teach the marketplace—and when the teeth whitening goes away there’ll be another scam of the month with more to learn from,” said Leathern in reference to the concern that such scammy mass marketers are affecting the marketplace adversely.
Alrighty, all very good to know…so to wrap up would the panel please offer some basic getting started info?
What is an average CPM and CTR across the board (granted knowing that it depends on category, product, etc)?
-Average CTR across the industry .1%. Anyone getting more than this, like a .2% is doing well
-CPM average $1…of course this varies and depends on quality of inventory
-Display opens up so many varieties and variables—know what you’re selling and who you are targeting, this will affect your cost
What is a reasonable budget to start with?
-$5-10k for tests….but remember there is creative costs
-Creative (and having lots of it to test and optimize) is crucial
-Remember that the long term performance you will get out of investing initially in creative
If you were a start-up or just getting into display, how would you plan your DM budget across search / display etc…?
-Look at potential upside (ROI) vs. cost of testing
-Look at hybrid opportunities like text ad products and set up the right testing methodology for learning for future planning
All you search guys ready for that display testing? Well if you need one more stat to sway you—remember search + display campaigns see 30% lift over just plain old regular search campaigns. Nice!
