Display vs Search

If display advertising and search advertising were brothers, display would be known as the black sheep. Marketers tend to view display as an ineffective online-advertising medium with results that are not easily measurable. However, new studies are being released which suggest that display advertising could have more impact than given credit for.

WSJ reports, “The debate revolves around what leads consumers to take actions on the Web: buying something, printing a coupon or visiting a Web site. Up to now, most advertisers judged the effectiveness of an ad campaign by what consumers did after they clicked on the ad. But some marketers say they are now using research not only from Microsoft, but also independent Web-measurement firms like comScore and Omniture, to figure out what happens before people click on ads — even in situations where they don’t end up actually clicking on the ads.

The major conclusion of this research: By the time consumers search for a product or service, they’ve often already made up their minds to buy it. And display ads are often an important factor in their reaching that conclusion.”