The ad formats available to marketers have grown exponentially with the rise of digital marketing. They can range from the traditional search ads, display ads, and pop-up ads on websites; to social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and native advertising in publications or blogs.
While mastering a particular traffic type is a good start, marketers should consider taking their campaigns into more than one channel. After all, digital marketing can be pretty unpredictable!
One moment you are earning thousands from a particular source; the next thing you know, it’s been banned. Boom. Gone. Should you just close up shop, then? Are you going to sit in one corner and cry? While this idea may sound like a doomsday prediction, affiliates who’ve been around long enough know that this can happen anytime, so it pays to be prepared to switch to a different traffic source.
This article will highlight all of these different types of online advertising formats available for modern marketers looking for an edge over their competitors, or at the very least, those looking to scale.
Ad Formats Discussed
Display Advertising
- Banner Ads
- Interstitial ads
- Video Ads
Native Advertising
Search Engine Optimization
Sponsored Search Results or Pay-Per-Click Marketing
Contextual Ads
- Pop ads
- Zero-click ads
- In-Text ads
Social Media Marketing
- Organic Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Ads
Incentive Ads
Email Marketing
Push Notification Ads
- Classic Push Notification Ads
- In-Page Push Ads
- iOS Calendar Push Ads
SMS Marketing
Audio Ads
Mobile Ads
Adult Ads
Display Advertising
Display advertising is one of the oldest forms of advertising, and you are guaranteed to have seen at least one of this in your lifetime, even if you don’t use a computer or mobile device much.
This type of advertising has evolved over the years, which means multiple formats are available right now. These are:
1. Banner Ads
Banner advertising is also referred to as display advertising because of its visual nature. A banner ad can take visitors from the publishing website to a specific landing page.
The main point of banner advertising is brand awareness. But with its massive volume and affordability, it is also being used by affiliates to promote affiliate offers.
Many studies and tests have shown that banners are attention-grabbing because of the images, sizes, and placements. It can consist of anything from one color with text only (.jpg) to complicated animations created in HTML5 or Flash, or even video banners.
The downside to a banner ad is that people are so used to such advertisements that they develop ad blindness. Nevertheless, advertisers are still able to reach their target audience because of its sheer volume and broad reach.
There are three kinds of banner ads to choose from, which are:
- Static ads. The static ads are banners that have no movement. These are just simple advertisements that show images and information that will grab the attention of the user. Static ads are lightweight and easier to make.
- Animated ads. Meanwhile, animated banner ads will have some motion to them. The movement can include scrolling text, blinking lights, or changing colors and visuals, which help attract viewers’ attention because they stand out more than a still image. Flash ads and GIF ads fall under animated ads.
- Interactive ads or Rich Media ads. This format is used to increase user engagement by allowing the user to interact with the banner with simple actions without leaving the publishing website’s page.
Calls to Action appear after the user has interacted with the banner for a period of time or after a set number of actions.
Ads continue to evolve, and seeing the trend in user video consumption, banner ads have also evolved to include in-banner video ads. These are videos showing up in banner placements. We will discuss this in more detail under Video Ads later on.
Another recently-developed banner ad format is the In-Page Push Notification. It is technically a banner ad, but since it imitates the look and style of Classic Push Notification, it is frequently lumped in with Push Notification Ads.
Banner Ad Placements and Sizes
Banners are placed on multiple parts of the page:
- Header
- Footer
- Sidebar
- In-article
- Below the article
There are different banner sizes available depending on the placement. Each size is optimized to fit the website properly, whether it is being viewed on a computer or a mobile device.
Banner ad sizes are typically measured by width and height in pixels. As such, something like 300x200px means the image is 300 pixels wide and 200 pixels tall.
