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Ad targeting on websites - which one is best?

April 24, 2009 When running an online ad, there are 4 types of frequency to decide upon:

1.  Sponsorship - your ad runs only on specified pages

2.  Contextual - your ad runs next to specific type of content (words)

3.  Behavioral - based on a user's clicks / their cookie data

4.  Run of site (ROS) - your ad runs anywhere on the site

A sponsorship ad, or an exclusive sponsorship, can be used if you want to be associated with a certain topic or voice.  For example, David Perry writes the Bedding Today newsletter and a company like Sealy would sponsors that newsletter.  With sponsored ads, you can select which category your ad will appear on a website, thus assuring you have a more targeted audience.

Contextual ads are similar to search marketing ads and use a similar algorithm.  If the page being viewed is about the benefits of dieting, a text ad will pop up for diet pills.  This allows you to better target your message to the viewers who will be interested in what you're promoting.  Contextual ads can also be tied into behavioral targeting, or behavioral ads.  These allow you to factor in the readers' past cookie data as they browsed through a site, and target your banner ad appropriately.  During the NCAA Basketball tournament, car companies employed both sponsorship ("live video feed sponsored by Toyota") and behavioral (when their commmercial played during the TV coverage, it not only played on the computer screen, it was accompanied by a 160 x 600 banner ad displayed along side it).  Following the rule that someone must see an ad at least 7 times to remember it, this is an effective tactic.

A run-of-site (ROS) ad is one that runs wherever a free ad frame exists on a site.  It can show up on a page about local news, or the weather, or a product page, etc.  It's good exposure for building brand awareness because your ad would rotate throughout the entire website or a specified section within the website.  ROS ads are typically priced cheaper than targeted ads.

Which one works best?  It all depends on your marketing goals and whether you're interested in overall brand awareness (ROS) or trying to capture leads, brand conviction, or consideration to buy you during the sales process (sponsorship, contextual and/or behavioral).

Posted by Suze Bragg on April 24, 2009 | Comments (0)