Ad Blindness: The Disease Affecting Every Online Business

What was the last banner ad you saw? Can’t remember? That’s because you’re in the huge majority of internet users suffering from ad blindness. In this blog, Einstein gives you the run down of this phenomenon and a guaranteed fix for your marketing campaigns …

What was the last banner ad you clicked on?

Ok, we’ll make it a little easier.

What was the last banner ad you saw?

Still struggling?

Don’t worry, you haven’t got a memory like a sieve.

Your memory didn’t even get a chance to recall it, because like a HUGE MAJORITY of internet users, you suffer from AD BLINDNESS.

EINSTEIN MOMENT –A banner ad is a form advertising placed on a WEBSITE (not social networks), with the intention of promotion and driving traffic to an external source. 

Here’s a classic webpage, that’s been riddled with BANNER ADS:

This is probably the first and only time, your eyes have ever hunted after the banner ads.

That’s because through time and experience, you’ve been PROGRAMMED to avoid them.

Our attention is automatically fixed on the VALUE of the page (THE CONTENT), and we completely ignore the surroundings, because we have memorised its lack of value.

This automatic ignorance is called AD BLINDNESS.

Ad Blindness: If It Doesn’t Work, Why Are People Still Advertising? 

Banner ads only charge advertisers when they’re clicked on (it can be a long wait between invoices!) making them APPEAR CHEAP.

Especially when you consider that the average industry CTR (click-through-rate) of banner ads is 0.06%.

That’s 6 in every 10,000 people!

With performance stats like that, of course banner ads seem like a BARGAIN!

But…

…businesses still buy them.

In fact, one of the biggest buyers of banner ads, are WELL-KNOWN BRANDS.

Their percentages aren’t much better, but they eliminate a huge problem this type of advertising creates…

…TRUST.

It’s ok for the Coca-Cola’s, IKEA’S and NIKE’S of this world, because (if people actually see their AD) they are considered credible and established, but…

…what about small/medium sized businesses?

According to BannerSnack, 54% of users (who see the ads) don’t click because they don’t trust them, and…

…33% of internet users find display (banner) ads completely intolerable!

So, even if your ad can somehow break the programmed response we know as AD BLINDNESS, it probably won’t be clicked anyway!

In fact, it might even have an adverse effect on your brand.

Ad Blindness: It Can’t Get Any Worse, Can It? 

18-34 year olds have the highest levels of AD BLINDNESS.

These people are the present and future of internet users!

This means that ignorance and ad blindness will almost definitely grow. Especially when you consider that the vast majority of this demographic consider banner ads to be nothing more than EMPTY NOISE!

Ad Blindness: Is There a Better Way?  

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (or you’re completely new to digital advertising), you’ll know that Social Media ads have been tearing a hole in the advertising world.

In particular, Facebook ads.

The world’s biggest social network has taken the game to the next level with highly-targeted campaigns, that can find audiences with the exact same interests as those who viewed your content…

…and that’s just for starters.

If you haven’t already, check out our Facebook Audience Guide, and our Pixel blog, for more information. 

But, as always, the proof is in the pudding, so let’s take a look at a few tasty numbers:

-Facebook ads average a CTR (click-through-rate) that is 275% greater than banner ads.

-They yield 216% higher revenue per click than banner ads

Ad Blindness: How to Improve Your Banner Ad Stats

So, after all those crazy numbers, you still want to improve your banner ads?

Cool. Einstein’s got an awesome tip for you:

DON’T BOTHER.

Take your banner ads down and invest in an advertising strategy that WORKS!

Yes, there are ways to improve your ads, like creating eye-catching images, hitting your audiences pain points, writing better copy and placing them in the middle of content (so your audience can’t avoid them)…

…but what’s the point?

You can take all those techniques and apply them to Social Media ads, gain more traffic, generate greater sales and ultimately, give your business the BEST CHANCE at success!

Ad Blindness: Starve the Ponies

 We’re in the results game, the same as you…

…if something doesn’t work (even after extensive testing), we cut it out of our strategy.

Starve the ponies and feed the stallions. 

And with AD BLINDNESS on the rise, and huge levels of distrust held in banner ads, Einstein strongly recommends moving away from this near-ancient advertising strategy.

Focus on things that are driving results in 2018: social media ads, conversations with your audience, content marketing, storytelling, funnel building and nurturing a loyal following.

If you’d like to learn more about any of these modern-day marketing strategies, check out our related posts at the bottom of this page.

Did you enjoy this blog? What do you think about AD BLINDNESS? Leave a comment or send us a message and we’ll reply as soon as our social media manager has stopped crying because he’s lost his hairband.