Don’t Just Rely on Banner Ads
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008When is the last time you clicked on a banner ad? I know it’s been a while for me … honestly, I hate clicking on them. As a designer, I make a lot of them, and whenever I do, I usually try to be as inviting and non-offensive as possible. No dancing babies, no neon flashing, no “whack-a-mole” …
But even with the best designed banner ad in the world (I’ve yet to win that ribbon, but I’m still trying), to many people, it’s still just noise.
That’s why you can’t rely only on banner ads and e-mail broadcasts. These things, while necessary and potentially effective with the right design and placement, need to be just a part of your overall marketing campaign. Talking with Mark Madsen from WannaNetwork.com, I really felt like I’ve been missing the boat on some of these new media opportunities. Not just social networking, but blogging. This is one of the reasons why I am now starting this blog … it will serve many purposes.
- First of all, I hope it will add a little value to the readers (all four of you - hi grandma!)
- It’s an opportunity to publicly answer questions that some of you may have
- It can be a great tool to network and link up with other sites, enhancing search engine standings
- As far as marketing, it’s a great way to get out my messages. Chances are, if you’ve read this far, you’ll finish the post.
- And finally, it fulfills my narcissistic desire to be heard.
There is still a lot that I will need to learn about how to maximize my blogging efforts … and one of those things will be staying on topic.
So … back to banner ads. Sure, they can work, but don’t rely on them to do the job all alone. Keep on looking for the new opportunities to reach out and connect with your potential clients. With change comes opportunity (jeez, I sound like Barack Obama over here) and through trial and error, I hope to jump on this chance to reach out and connect. Without dancing babies.