Inbound marketing: is advertising intrusion the new extinction?
While every savvy marketer agrees that inbound marketing and all that good work helping prospects and existing customers along their buying journey with helpful advice and useful information is key in current crowded markets, attracting visitors in the first instance is still critical.
So, given that we know that newer methodologies in walking beside and guiding people on their buying journey is so effective, why is it that at first contact, through banner or pop-up advertising for example, we regress to old-school intrusive techniques we know no longer work?
Ad-blocking is big for a reason
According to the PageFair and Adobe 2015 Ad Blocking Report, globally the number of people using ad blocking software grew 41% year on year, with Europe growing by 35% to 77 million monthly active users during Q2 2015.
In the US, 16% of the online population blocked ads during Q2 2015 and ad block usage grew 48% during the past year, to 45 million monthly active users (MAUs) during the same period. Doesn’t this tell us something?
Sub-optimal ROMI
What this tells us very clearly is that we – both client-side and agency marketers – need to adopt new and smarter thinking if we are to overcome the inherent sub-optimal engagement performance intrusive advertising causes.
It is inherent because campaign performance is affected from the very first banner or pop-up deletion and limiting visitor numbers means campaigns start and will remain sub-optimal, meaning return on marketing investment (ROMI) will also remain sub-optimal.
First to blink wins
What a lot of marketers fear is that if they make the first move and abandon intrusive advertising for a perceived lower-key approach, their advertising will sink into invisibility immediately, leaving the field open for competitive intrusive advertising to prevail.
The reality is that visitors delete intrusive or obstructive pop-ups and banners or auto-play videos, particularly if any of this slows or impedes webpage functionality, or ultimately they leave the webpage altogether if they have a negative user experience (UX).
Sticking to newer, smarter principles
So, putting un-intrusive pull advertising out there is not only more likely to prevent your advertising from being deleted in the first place, but will also help optimise campaign performance by removing the systemic, sub-optimal visitor performance deletion causes.
And if you are the first to blink and break this self-defeating cycle, you can place your campaigns ahead of the curve in terms of both click-throughs and increased visitor traffic.
And also, more importantly, you can build greater trust in your brand as a helpful brand, rather than just an annoying one.
Original Article