Last week we went to the Internet Retailer Conference & Expo in San Diego, and it was great!  We’ve attended for many years and this year the show was bigger and better than ever. It was great to talk to so many of our existing customers and introduce our services to those we hope will do business with us in the future.  On top of many people’s agenda was getting information on the world of Remarketing.  We demonstrated Advertise.com’s approach to remarketing – a combination of art and science – that brings lost visitors back to your company’s website ready to buy.

Here are some pictures from the show as well as the video of our iPad2 giveaway (yes, those are our ever-popular sonic magnet giveaway you hear and see people throwing up). Congrats to Doug Walls at FreightCenter.com on winning!

Our CEO Daniel Yomtobian recently wrote an article for iMedia Connection that discusses ways to combat banner blindness. He discusses how, when targeted correctly, online ads can help us save money, research products, update us on our favorite brands and lead us to new ones we like. Dan also points out how, contrary to popular belief, Facebook isn’t immune to banner blindness. Rates at which users clicking on Facebook ads designed to generate fans are starting to decline—even as they become more expensive. We thought it would be helpful to outline Dan’s main pointers to keep in mind:

• Flash banners give you the ability to have 15 seconds of animation. Use them to convey your message effectively, not purely for distraction.
• If someone has shown interest before, don’t give up but use remarketing. Remarketing helps consumers see banner ads that are more relevant to their interests.
• Help your audience get to know you better. Tell them how you differ from the competition and highlight your advantages.
• Give people what they want by including enticing promotions and offers. If you expect someone to click on the banner, you must give them a compelling reason.
• If ad creative design is boring, you’ll know it. Mix it up to really stand out and capture attention.
• Stick with online advertising. Most people spend hours per day surfing the net, with banners loaded onto pages where the users are looking at personally selected content, with no ability to fast forward or remove a banner from a page.

Dan makes it clear that when targeted correctly, banner ads are a very cost efficient way of linking you to your customer. Advertisers with vision and creativity achieve great engagement and branding value by going beyond banner blindness and running banner campaigns with highly targeted and enticing content.

-The Advertise.com Team

Ah, summertime. Think of all the holidays and special events coming up: graduations, Father’s Day, weddings, July 4th… As marketers, we need to stay relevant. To do that, we need to think like consumers (a.k.a. people) think. What are they Googling? What are thinking of buying?

Tips for keeping your campaigns relevant:

Tune up Your Keywords. It’s critical to revisit your keyword research on a regular basis. If it’s been a few months since you did keyword research on your market, you could be missing out on keywords that could bring you highly targeted traffic. Don’t forget to research synonym keywords and phrases. At a minimum, revisit your research quarterly to ensure that you’re connecting with your target audience.

Offer Seasonal Promotions. This is the age of the coupon. Consumers want to see some sort of discount before buying. To increase ad engagement try a very targeted seasonal offer. Think Father’s Day discounts or Fourth of July holiday specials. It’s not too soon to think about back to school offers either.

Whether you’re running PPC, email, display, remarketing campaigns or all of the aforementioned, remember to put yourself in the mindset of the everyday Joe or Josephine. That way you’ll be sure your best customers will find you.

–The Advertise.com Team