Display ads are a type of online advertisement that combines a call-to-action (CTA) message with text and visual elements, directing users to a landing page. These ads typically appear at the top, sides, or within the content of websites. Display ads are visually appealing, cost-effective, and offer measurable results, making them a significant part of modern marketing strategies. Through display advertising, brands gain the opportunity to reach a wide audience, increase recognition, and achieve strong performance. Targeted placements, various formats, and measurement tools make these ads more effective.
Display ads offer a number of benefits, including increased brand awareness, the ability to retarget users, integration with other marketing tools, and easy analysis. These features are explained under the following headings:
To acquire new customers, it is crucial that they are first aware of your brand. People typically need to see a brand several times before trusting it enough to make a purchase. A consumer usually has to encounter a brand multiple times before deciding to engage with it. This indicates that consistent visibility among potential customers is one of the key conditions for successful sales. In this regard, display advertising is highly effective. You can capture the attention of your target audience even before they realize they need your product or service. Ads are broadcast across various websites, blogs, and mobile apps, helping to enhance your brand’s visibility. As a result, when the customer eventually feels the need, they already recognize your brand and consider it as their first choice—thus increasing your chances of making a sale.
Retargeting with display ads is a method of showing ads to users who have visited your website but haven’t made a purchase, based on their past online behavior. This method is aimed at bringing the customer back to the site by presenting more relevant and engaging content. For example, imagine you’re browsing winter jackets on a clothing website but leave without buying anything. Later, you switch to another site, perhaps to read news or check the weather. At that moment, you see an ad for the jacket you just looked at on those pages. The ad might even include attention-grabbing messages like “On Sale!” or “Only Today!” This is designed to recapture your attention and motivate you to make a purchase. Thus, the retargeting strategy encourages users to return and complete a purchase by remembering products they were interested in. This method not only increases sales but also strengthens brand recall.
The visual aspect of display ads plays a strong complementary role for other advertising channels. When used alongside platforms like social media, these ads help the brand reach a broader audience and create a more lasting impression in users’ minds. Through this integrated approach, users see the brand across various platforms, which increases their trust in it. Additionally, display ads can speed up the sales process and make it easier for users to make decisions. Unlike sporadic ads, continuous and planned advertising strategies have a stronger impact. Display ads are an important tool that supports the brand message, completes the customer journey, and increases sales. Therefore, considering them alongside other channels and applying them strategically yields more successful results.
You can measure the success of your display ad campaign using various marketing metrics based on the call-to-action (CTA) message you choose. Each CTA serves a different purpose and allows you to track how customers respond to your ad. Additionally, you can track how many times your ads were clicked (click count) and how much each click cost (CPC – cost per click).
At the same time, you can use indicators such as conversion rate (CVR) and return on advertising spend (ROAS) to measure the impact of your campaign. These statistical data allow you to evaluate your ad’s performance in more detail. Thus, you can learn how successful your ad was with the target audience and determine which messages received more reaction from customers. This also enables you to develop more effective advertising strategies for your future campaigns. In addition, you can identify which customer groups make more purchases from your brand and create messages tailored to them.
Display ad prices vary, but their flexible features make them one of the most cost-effective advertising methods. In traditional advertising, once an ad is published, it's not possible to change the message, visuals, or call-to-action. Therefore, if the ad doesn’t deliver the expected result, the cost per action increases. However, display ads have a dynamic structure, and advertisers can make changes while the campaign is running. This allows brands to optimize their advertising campaigns more effectively.
Thus, companies can use their budgets more efficiently, which in turn leads to reduced advertising costs. Display ads help brands reach a wider audience in the digital environment, increase awareness, and build long-term relationships with customers. Through these ads, you can attract customer attention to your products and services and influence their purchasing decisions. When used with integrated strategies and retargeting methods, it is possible to make the customer journey more effective. Additionally, the performance of display ads can be easily measured, which allows brands to continuously optimize their campaigns. As a result, properly used display ads are a powerful marketing tool that increases both brand recognition and sales.