Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Banner Ads: Homework Vs. Network

Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 9/27/2004 at 6:48 PM ET 250 Points
As we are primarily focused on providing e-mail marketing services, we've never really spent much time researching or buying banner advertising.

However, one of our existing clients has asked us to do some research into the banner ad market, and always looking for a new source of revenue, I'm happy to do this.

It seems to me, however, that there are two ways to go about this. Maybe you can/should do both at the same time, but I am wondering if the incremental effort will return rewards worthy of the time and cost.

The first way is just to think about the major Web sites where you know your market can be found, then look for advertising opportunities. Seems simple enough. As we know, though, the Web is a large, ever-growing place, so this method will simply never uncover all opportunities.

The second way, of course, is to use a banner ad network. You have to love the one-stop-shop approach, and the ability to allocate funds toward better performing media outlets -- and away from underperforming opportunities -- is very enticing.

So, what's the better way to go about this?

"Network?"

Or "homework?"

Or is the answer, "Both?"

I'm looking forward to hearing from people who have been down this road before. Also, if you are in favor of networks, a few "vendors of choice" will be helpful. I have a few picked out already, but I am curious to see what others think.

Thank you!

Paul
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 9/27/2004 at 7:01 PM Accepted
    Hi Paul,

    My experience is identical to yours in that an existing email marketing client approached me to design and implement a banner ad program for them.

    I focused on specific partners and resellers that we already had agreements with, or were still negotiating with.

    The approach was that we not only want them to be strategic partners (this particular business has a reseller component), but that we would also like to run banner ads (animated gifs) on their site.

    For us this was much more effective than going to an ad network because we ended up with great exposure (large splash page banner) to a targeted audience, a supportive partner, multiple exposure to this same audience (banner and reseller link) and negotiated excellent deal on the cost for the placement.

    The coverage was smaller than an ad network, but the targeting and resulting response to the call-to-action was much bigger percentage wise.

    I hope that helps.
  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 9/27/2004 at 7:06 PM Author
    So far, so good. It makes sense that if the target is very specific, you might as well go "right to the well" in search of water.

    In this particular case, the market is very broad, so it sounds like a network is at least worthy of exploration. Thankfully this client (1) has good funding, (2) understands that not every campaign will be a winner, and (3) realizes the value of testing, testing, and testing some more.

    Looking forward to more. Thanks to the early responders!

    Paul
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