Every marketer is aware of branding as a concept and a key component in marketing. It was taught to us in college and was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with numerous case studies and experiments. Yet in today’s digital landscape, I find that more and more insurance marketers are forgetting the power of branding and judging the effectiveness of banner ad campaigns strictly on click-through rates.
The biggest mistake people make is expecting a huge click-through rate on a banner the very first time it is put out there and then quitting when that does not happen. Don’t think of banner ads as a one-time thing. Rather, think of banner ads as a great source of branding that will add value over time by differentiating your product—even if your product is the same as your competitors.
Just because people don’t always pay attention to ads doesn’t mean those ads have no impact. The archives of Neuromarketing are full of examples of how information can bypass conscious processing yet still affect our behavior. I often think back to a study I read in which subjects taste tested two samples of Coca-Cola. One sample was in a cup with Coke branding and the other was in an unlabeled cup. Even though it was the exact same soft drink, a statistically significant number of test subjects preferred the Coke in the branded cup over the Coke in the unlabeled cup. (You can read the full study here.) The researchers suggested that one of the factors influencing people’s illogical preference for the Coke in the labeled cup was “cultural information” (i.e., advertising and branding).
If a brand results from a set of associations and perceptions in people’s minds, then branding is an attempt to harness, generate, influence and control these associations in order to help the business perform better. The real value you are getting from your banner ad marketing dollars is the branding. Try and think of click-through rates as a bonus. (Of course, you need to find the website that attracts your target audience and can afford you the most frequency to run an effective branding campaign.) I ask you to rethink your urge to evaluate banner ad effectiveness by clicks. Instead, understand that the reward and goal of the banner ad is that your brand will be top-of-mind when your prospect eventually needs your product.
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