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Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

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Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#111

Post by jordhy »

klbarry wrote: post #53
bgilroy26 wrote: post #45

I think the comments in this thread about ctr vs actual conversions are a bit silly. Pof's target audience here is "people who like video games" and they're trying to get people to play a free online game. They don't really have anything to teach people in verticals where the consumer is making a measurable commitment. You do not need to be very persuasive to "convert" with that crowd. Almost all marketing advice mor…

Other pieces of universal marketing "truth", all of which are accurate/general enough to not be refuted: 1) Ethos (your perceived character) is the most important, with regards to pathos (emotion) and logos (logic) 2) People make judgments by comparison/anchoring. 3) People process information best from stories. 4) People are foremost interested in things that affect them. 5) Breaking patterns gets attention. 6) Peop…

Amazing list. I would perhaps add to this the "market sophistication level". In this particular case (saturated market and lots of high quality competition), ethos is highly important.

The ad is successful in empathizing with customers by display a drawing that follows the design of top-of-mind ad very current memes. This works because of the market sophistication level (i.e. potential customers knows how this particular video game works).

The presenter in this video does a fine job in summarizing market sophistication and different advertising strategies: http://www.mindvalleyinsights.com/market-sophistication/

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#112

Post by capsule_toy »

p4bl0 wrote: post #75
div wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad-blindness is another factor. At first glance, his simple ad looks like part of the content, the fancy ad just looks like an ad and is filtered out subconsciously. Definitely a factor to take into account when you're targeting gamers I'd think.

This is what I wanted to say. I kinda mentally block ads* and I saw the Paint drawing in the article before the "actual" ad, even if it is in the reverse order in the page flow. * A few years ago I missed a question in an exam that was framed and underlined. The goal was to emphase the question because it was important. When I learned that I missed the question (while discussing the exam with other student), I took a…

I might have skipped that question too, but I would guess it's because frames and underline typically denote instructions on a test rather than an actual question.

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#113

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

specialist wrote: post #101
p4bl0 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I wanted to say. I kinda mentally block ads* and I saw the Paint drawing in the article before the "actual" ad, even if it is in the reverse order in the page flow. * A few years ago I missed a question in an exam that was framed and underlined. The goal was to emphase the question because it was important. When I learned that I missed the question (while discussing the exam with other student), I took a…

Adaptable, not stupid. The ability to filter noise is a huge advantage.

Conversely, the tendency to filter out important signals as noise is a severe disadvantage...

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#114

Post by jakejake »

wtvanhest wrote: post #109
ender7 wrote: post #32

Besides the novelty factor (which others have mentioned), his 'paint' version is also much simpler, and therefor much easier to understand at a quick glance. - Large text - Not very much text - A single image - A single visual flow (top to bottom) - A concise color palette (greens and black) Compare to the 'standard' ad, where: - Text is too small - Too much text - Too many images competing for attention - Muddled vi…

CTR ≠ Sales Even more importantly, a high CTR with lower conversion rate would drive up your costs while lowering your sales. In this case the first ad is very clearly for a game with a very clear target market. If I am in to racing games, I may click it and I may buy it. The second ad could appeal to people strickly on novelty which means you may get a lot of customers who do not care about the product. While the re…

Interesting point. Obviously makes a big difference depending on whether you're the advertiser (selling products) or the publisher (getting paid for clicks)

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#115

Post by goodside »

jakejake wrote: post #114
wtvanhest wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CTR ≠ Sales Even more importantly, a high CTR with lower conversion rate would drive up your costs while lowering your sales. In this case the first ad is very clearly for a game with a very clear target market. If I am in to racing games, I may click it and I may buy it. The second ad could appeal to people strickly on novelty which means you may get a lot of customers who do not care about the product. While the re…

Interesting point. Obviously makes a big difference depending on whether you're the advertiser (selling products) or the publisher (getting paid for clicks)

CTRs aren't irrelevant, since they're a concrete proxy for conversions that ad networks can relay back to publishers quickly, but nobody actually pays by clicks anymore. That was common fifteen years ago, but CTRs plummeted circa 2002 and never recovered. Display ad revenue is now invariably calculated from impressions.

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#116

Post by idoh »

goodside wrote: post #115
jakejake wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point. Obviously makes a big difference depending on whether you're the advertiser (selling products) or the publisher (getting paid for clicks)

CTRs aren't irrelevant, since they're a concrete proxy for conversions that ad networks can relay back to publishers quickly, but nobody actually pays by clicks anymore. That was common fifteen years ago, but CTRs plummeted circa 2002 and never recovered. Display ad revenue is now invariably calculated from impressions.

I work in Facebook app monetization and mobile ads, it is almost all CPC and CPI. The ad ecosystem is diverse enough that different pricing models apply in different situations.

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#117

Post by wilfra »

I bought a mini-site that monetizes with AdSense and made over 300% more than the previous owner by making the ad units ugly. The only reason I did it was because I didn't know how to customize the ad units to match the rest of the page like the previous owner had, so I just left them with the standard white background that made them look terrible. I kept meaning to figure out how to fix it but after about a month I noticed the huge spike in revenue and left it. The gains have stood for several years.

Conclusion: Ugly ads that catch your attention have a far superior CTR.

Here is the site: http://www.starbuckslocations.com

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#119

Post by netcan »

pyre wrote: post #41
robrenaud wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think netcan was referring to ratios (CTR) rather than raw counts of clicks.

I think that my comment still applies. We've gone from a smaller number of people with a high concentration of those that are 'tech literate,' to a larger number of people with a smaller concentration of the 'tech literate.'

That's probably some of it. I could be wrong but I think the ratios have gone up more than that. Anyway, I don't think the "techies don't click ads" effect is really as strong as a lot of people assume.

My guess is that (a) Google has optimized the ads for more clicks (b) advertisers have gotten beter at attracting clicks & (c) People are more aware of when to click on ads. If you're looking for a babysitter, you are more likely to have one booked ten minutes from now if you click an ad than an organic result. People have, consciously or unconsciously become aware of that and they click the ads when they want that kind of content.

Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads

#120

Post by Teapot »

Alex3917 wrote: post #38
NameNickHN wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, it's the same as when Google came out with their text ads. They were different, so people clicked them.

Actually, it's more likely because 80+% of Google users couldn't (and probably still can't) tell the difference between the advertisements and the results: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Search-Engine-Users....

I've seen pages where the Text Ads have the same Style as the overall page. The only thing that sets the Ad apart is a small grey text 'Ads' or the like.

I've may have seen far more of such pages. But obviously i can't tell since they're near-impossible to spot the Ads.

The trend is keeping things "by the book" from search engines point of view, And manipulate humans in subtle ways by confusing contents and ads.

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