Display Advertising That Gets Noticed: Six Best Practices
Display advertising — the banner and image ads that appear across websites and apps — is one of the most widely used forms of digital advertising, and one of the most widely ignored by the people it's shown to. The web is full of display ads that no one notices, remembers, or acts on. Getting your display advertising noticed, in a landscape where people have learned to tune ads out, takes deliberate effort. Here are six best practices for display advertising that actually gets noticed.
1. Lead with strong, clear visuals
Display advertising is a visual medium, and in the split second you have to catch someone's attention, the visual does most of the work. Strong, clear, eye-catching visuals are what stop a wandering eye. Cluttered, dull, or confusing visuals get skipped past instantly.
The best display ads are visually clean and immediately appealing — one clear image or design that registers at a glance, rather than a busy jumble competing with itself. In an environment where people barely glance at ads, the visual has to earn that glance and make it count.
2. Communicate one clear message
A display ad has room for only one idea done well. Trying to say several things results in an ad that says nothing clearly. Pick the single most important message — one offer, one benefit, one appeal — and make it unmistakable.
The discipline of one clear message is what separates ads that communicate from ads that confuse. A viewer glancing at your ad for a moment should grasp the one thing you want them to know, instantly. Anything more is lost.
3. Give people a reason to care
Getting noticed isn't just about catching the eye — it's about catching interest. Your ad needs to quickly convey something the viewer actually cares about: a benefit, an offer, a solution to a problem, a reason to be interested. An ad that just shows your name gives no reason to engage; an ad that offers something relevant earns attention.
Put yourself in the viewer's position: why should they care about this ad in the half-second they see it? Answer that question in the ad itself, and you'll get noticed for the right reasons.
4. Include a clear call to action
An ad that gets noticed but gives no next step wastes the attention it captured. Tell viewers clearly what to do — a clear, simple call to action that turns their momentary interest into a step toward becoming a customer. Without it, even a noticed ad often leads nowhere.
The call to action should be obvious and easy to act on, converting the attention your visuals and message earned into actual results.
5. Keep it consistent with your brand
Display ads work better when they look and feel like the rest of your marketing — same brand, same style, same message. Consistency makes your ads recognizable and builds on the impression your other channels create, so a viewer who's encountered your brand elsewhere connects the dots. Inconsistent, off-brand ads waste that reinforcing power and can even confuse.
Consistency across your display ads and your other channels turns scattered impressions into cumulative recognition — which is far more powerful than disconnected one-off ads.
6. Coordinate display with your other channels
The sixth best practice ties the others together: run your display advertising as part of a coordinated marketing effort, not in isolation. Display ads that reinforce and are reinforced by your other channels get noticed more and work harder — the viewer who saw your streaming ad or social post recognizes your display ad, and the whole becomes more effective than the parts.
This coordination is natural when your marketing is run as one operation and difficult when display is handled separately from everything else. Running your marketing as a coordinated whole means your display advertising is consistent with, and reinforced by, all your other channels — getting noticed more and converting better because it's part of a unified presence rather than a stray ad floating alone. The best display practice of all is not treating display as a standalone thing.
Get noticed, get results
Display advertising that gets noticed leads with strong visuals, communicates one clear message, gives people a reason to care, includes a clear call to action, stays consistent with your brand, and — tying it together — is coordinated with the rest of your marketing. In a landscape where most display ads are ignored, these practices are what get yours seen and acted on.
Factor42 Media runs display advertising that gets noticed — strong, clear, on-brand, and coordinated with every other channel — all from one consolidated place. We make sure your display ads don't just add to the noise, but actually capture attention and drive results as part of a unified whole.
Tired of display ads no one notices? Let's make yours impossible to ignore.
Factor42 Media helps small and mid-sized businesses run effective, coordinated display advertising across every channel from one consolidated place. Get in touch to get your ads noticed.