The value of banner ads has often been debated amongst industry specialists. Real success versus industry standards versus return on investment, these are real conversations taking place in the boardroom. It's why we've decided to highlight the Carling Black Label Cup campaign, recently completed by Soccer Laduma, as an example of good-practice ad serving that produces maximum results.
Here are the six steps Soccer Laduma took to ensure a successful campaign:
1. Strategic additional value:
The client's digital display campaign was booked for 300, 000 web half-page ads and 600, 000 mobile ads. However, over and above this, their ads were also featured on Carling Black Label Cup related articles on both web and mobile for the duration of the three-month campaign. Because the content was relevant to the campaign, the digital team was able to make a strategic decision to serve ads to these additional articles to offer more value – both to the client and to our audience. This addition saw their ads reach over 2 million impressions and 8,700 clicks!
2. Be wise, optimise!
Because the campaign ran over a three-month period, the ad placements were optimised on a weekly basis. Each week, the best performing section of the site was analysed and hourly delivery was assessed to dermine which time of day users were interacting with the ads the most. Additionally, mobile devices and browser-use was assessed to target the most responsive handsets to achieve the best results.
3. Refine targeting:
We began by serving the ads across the site. After a week of gathering data, we refined the targeting to the best performing sections on the site, which turned out to be the Homepage, Fanpark and the Search Results pages for this particular campaign. We hence focused on serving to unique users on these sections.
4. Evaluate performance:
The results for the Carling Black Label Cup were very impressive. Usually for a campaign running for more than a month, you tend to see a drop in performance. However we managed to keep improving the results throughout by closely monitoring and refining the targeting. This campaign was one of Soccer Laduma's top performing campaigns based purely on banner results. The reason for this is the ongoing evaluation of its performance, resulting in troubleshooting mid-campaign to ensure optimal results.
5. Strong CTA = NB!
The Carling Black Label Cup brand and message was very specific, and tightly linked to our audience. It was a very relevent message, appealing to the reader. The ad itself showcased some of the soccer favourites and had a strong call to action. This type of campaign shows how successful an ad campaign can be if you place the right brand and message in front of the right audience.
6. Set goals, beat them!
The results achieved for the CBL campaign were well above the industry average. A CTR (click through rate) of 1.50% is nearly unheard of these days. Industry average sees banner ads achieve around 0.20% CTR. It is fantastic to see these kinds of results are still very much achievable with the right amount of attention, the right ad design and the right platform. It's beyond important to set goals at the start of the campaign and use everything at your disposal to achieve it. The results will come pouring in if you do.
The Soccer Laduma web and mobile site has the potential to achieve massive banner ad results, as proven in the Carling Black Label Cup campaign. Using the aforementioned strategic tips, we want to achieve record-breaking numbers while serving ads. It's important to note that we offer all of our clients the same data insights and advice in optimising their campaigns. Your success is our success, take our hand and let's work together in bringing you the best results.
