A report by eMarketer predicted that UK advertisers will devote more than £1 billion to digital and mobile ad spend in 2014. This will mean that digital will account for almost 45% of total media ad spending in the UK, and by 2015, the figure is expected to pass 50%. However, whilst the unabated growth in the number of avid internet users presents a unique opportunity for brands to reach a mass market; online advertising can be a double-edged sword. It offers brands the chance to be seen by millions, but there is also a very real risk that they will not be seen by anyone at all.
Although advertising online may seem like the crème de la crème of brand visibility, the reality is that there is so much competition online nowadays that just getting noticed on the web can present a major challenge to brands. But the presence of so much competition online pales into insignificance when you consider that many brands are often left entirely in the dark when it comes to knowing where their advertising is being served, despite investing thousands of pounds worth of capital in these campaigns every year.
In fact, Project Sunblock’s recent research found that 38% of senior marketers in the UK are unaware of where exactly their marketing collateral is appearing online. Nearly half of the marketing decision makers asked reported that the online advertising process is not transparent enough, and around two thirds still have no methods for gaining access to real-time analytics on their marketing efforts.
Why is it such a struggle for brands to measure and track their content online? Essentially, after a brand’s collateral has been published on the main sites aimed at their target audience, it is then seeded out by the advertising agency and is likely at some point pass through an advertising exchange. At this level of the supply chain, ad placement can come down to luck of the draw and brands lose control of where their content ends up.
Now that we have entered a 24 hour news agenda this lack of control is risky for brand reputation. The unpredictable nature of breaking news means no brand is ever completely safe from damaging content. One minute your brand could be in the prime position of one of the most read news sites in the world, and the next, a controversial piece of content could damage its reputation in a matter of seconds. What is more, for all they know, their advert could be in the centre of the webpage or in the bottom corner, completely out of the reader’s eye line.
Content verification tools have the ability to provide real-time insight into exactly where an ad is being served on a page, as well as generating metrics on how long it has been viewed for and whether it has achieved click-throughs and sales conversions. This data is worth its weight in gold for marketing decision makers. By monitoring the position of their advertisements online, brands can block or adjust the placement of content in order to deliver results that better support the sales objectives and keep their reputations intact.
Gone are the days where marketers simply paid for space in print publications and hoped for the best. The internet has opened up exciting new opportunities and revenue streams for businesses, but without an in-depth understanding of where your content is appearing and how effective it is, online display advertising will fail to deliver the best possible return on investment.
By Andrew Goode, Chief Operation Officer of Project Sunblock.
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