Banner ads; a waste of money! Or are they?

The truth about banner ads do they work?

Many small businesses shy away from branding, especially things like banner ads on websites, because the quick turnover of cash flow is just not expected from this activity, and it just seems like money wasted.

To the start-up, branding becomes something that only SME’s and large companies can even think about. But it should not be overlooked, having some percentage for branding in your business plan will actually show good acumen and business intelligence that would very much impress an Angel Investor or Venture Capitalist.

Branding when I was at school in the 70’s; meant adverts on the Television at Christmas,  if you were a Television commercial sales rep back then, you would be looking to sell the Christmas spots years in advance.

In Asia the top brands throw, what we as start-ups feel is, ‘ridiculous money’ at bill boards on the side of the road or on public transport I mean;

Who on Earth looks at ads on the trains?

‘We look but we don’t see, we hear but we don’t listen’

We use the term ‘looking’, yet;  ask any qualified NLP Master; if you hypnotised everyone after the rush hour commute, and asked them what was being advertised on the walls of the train including the stations, I bet they would read of every single word, price, and offer that was displayed!

Watch this Derren Brown video to see how much we think we ignore, but all information is being processed in our brains every minute of every day.

Magicians have made fortunes from our subconscious brain and advertisers are now doing exactly the same with subliminal advertising!

If these ads did not work there would be no market for them period!

This is where we must swallow our pride and say they got to be big companies because they understand the basics of branding which is to get people to know about them, without actually selling just yet.

For example if you have decided you want an Omega wrist-watch just like James Bond well that’s your decision after all isn’t it? The Bond franchise made Omega cool that’s all they did, and you decided you would be cool with an Omega; SOLD!! Hey wait, where was the salesman there??

Biz-find articles |Bond Omega ads

We all trust things and people we have heard about before, and products we recognise the name of. Branding is all about familiarity, it’s getting you to see, hear, and feel an emotion when we hear a name so that;

When the time comes to reach into your pocket to pay for something the decision is made so much easier.

But how does a small company or start-up afford branding? I would say you cannot afford not to brand your business name

Branding MUST be part of your business plan to spend money on banners and on a name recognition strategy that is in-line with your business. For example:

If you are a small sports store you should be sponsoring your local youth football team’s jerseys

If you are financial company golfing events big or small should be your arena for splashing out.

If you are a small garage then any local Motor sports racing venues would be an ideal place to put your business name unapologetically into their minds of future clients so they will remember you.

The best and most powerful thing you can do for anyone struggling in business or just in life is to say; here’s $1, 000 give it back to me when you have it, the love you feel for those people is unsurpassed and never forgotten. This is kind of what the top brands understand of the karmic idea of:

Give without expecting and the universe will provide for you and return it someway.

The first rule of persuasion is reciprocation

Ask any top brand was it worth the money spending on the ads during the American Football Super bowl, they will struggle to give you a metric or KPI’s as to what the exact financial outcome of such a colossal spend on that 30 second commercial was, but try stop them from getting on next time!

Biz-find articles |superbowl ads

A boxer will have won a fight before the first punch is thrown, due to the mind games and branding of what they are capable of, and how they fear no one, which will all feed back to the opposition.

Any business big or small has a chance, through branding, to tell people what they stand for without the restrictions of people knowing or fearing they are being sold to.

Branding can also be about educating people as to why the competition sucks, in a very subtle way, you don’t have to mention a brand name of any competitors, just why what it is they sell is nowhere near as good as what you sell.

Small business must start branding from the day they open their doors, don’t think you can be successful without getting people to know your name first.

As a small business you must have two separate budgets for branding:

One is time given to your social media strategy

If you read our posts in our digital marketing category you will find enough blogs to educate you in how to run a social media strategy and these articles will see you through the first few years of business free on Biz-find, No please, shucks you guys! You are welcome!

You are going to hate me when you see how much time you need for this to be effective….

The second budget is a monetary one, it should be around 20% of your marketing budget, and it should be a banner on our site in your business category.

Our business categories are very succinct, and if your exact category is not shown tell us we will create your own category free.

Now if you sell ‘blue checked slippers’ for example and someone clicks on say; blue check slipper suppliers on biz-find, they are not going to be looking for red fedoras are they? They are your potential clients’ right there;

If they see your banner well they now know you exist.

But……Don’t expect a click!

Part of being a good manager, boss, or company owner is managing expectations, and if anyone sells you banner ads and tells you sit back waiting for customers to beat a path to your door by this time next week, well here’s the truth;

You are more likely to have a full house in Poker than get quick direct business of a banner ad!

Banner ads should never be sold with this in mind: if you get a click or a client lucky you.

Biz-find articles | Banner ads

Where banner ads become valuable is; when you get enough impressions from people visiting a website looking for exactly what you sell, or visitors to our site that see your banner with your business name in that category, or in peripheral categories, for example:

Sports drinks and Nutrition banners in our Sports category

Locksmiths or Window company banners in our Home category

Delicious Indian restaurant banners in our Indian clothing category

Or even a banner for a branding or marketing company above this blog! Now there’s an idea eh!

Banner ads on Biz-find start from £15 a month and we can tell you the amount of impressions you have had, but I think; am I the only company to be honest and say; well you can think about it either way:

One; it’s a complete waste of money!

Two; “well, after 6 months say 15,000 people have seen our name and that to any business is priceless!!

The latter thinking is to me is a forward thinking entrepreneur who understands the law of attraction, and is prepared to do what it takes, to be patient and wait for people to say:

“Yeah I’ve heard of you guys, not sure where but, yeah let’s talk”

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