Display Ads vs Targeted Display: Which Is Best for Your Business?

How many times has this happened to you: you hear, talk about, or even think about a product, and the next time you check your phone, front and center is an ad for whatever was just on your mind? Is it a conspiracy?

Is your phone listening to you? Maybe, but the answer is far less insidious, it is the power of targeted advertising! When it comes to display ads vs targeted display, learn why targeted display is the clear choice that can deliver the best value for your marketing dollar.


What Is Targeted Advertising and How Does It Work?

Is targeted advertising anything new? Essentially, the answer is no; it’s all been done before. Every ad in the history of products has been tailored to the people who need the product the most. You show food to the hungry, sell fast cars to people with places to go, and so forth. However, the nature of the precision targeting we see in modern advertising couldn’t be more cutting edge. 

Back in the early days of the internet, ads were often set up in the traditional sense, by buying publishers instead of targeting users. This included finding a vendor, selling ads that fit their inventory, and displaying ads on a site by site basis. But as the internet has grown, digital advertising has also exploded in popularity and volume. This is why the role of programmatic vendors has become a crucial part of connecting the right ads with the right audiences. We target can target individual users now, based on their behavior or demographics, instead of advertising to anyone who goes to a certain website.

Google specialists and other demand-side venues use complex algorithms that manage a digital auction house, all vying to get your ads in front of your prospects. You may be wondering what’s so different between this approach and the approach that’s taken from traditional display ads. The answer is simple: performance metrics.


Display Ads vs Targeted Display

In terms of display ads vs targeted display, both share similar criteria for success⁠—primarily, measuring clicks and engagement. Of the major popular metrics for success, there’s the impression based model where you simply pay to put your ads in front of users, vs paying for each click, which guarantees a fair amount of traffic with a higher cost. However, PPC money tends to go much farther with PPC advertising in Google’s search engine, which is the type of PPC advertising Gatorworks provides. 

On the other hand, PPC banner ads rarely receive clicks, which is a major contributing factor for display ads transitioning to impression-based models. But, if what you’re after is impressions, and what you’re paying for is impressions, you want to make those impressions count. And that’s exactly what makes the targeting aspect of targeted display so valuable. From being able to target based on what stores people visit, target based on unique demographics, serving ads back to people who have been to your site before, or hitting folks who’ve been on your email lists, the potential is so deep and vast there’s undoubtedly some tactic to meet your needs!


Get the Targeted Display Advantage

With targeted display ads, your ads appear in front of the audiences who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. Every dollar spent is a valuable one, and if you convert straight from the ad, this can be tracked and used for retargeting to get customers to come back!

Every paid-for impression is a pair of eyes on your ad, ensuring minimum waste. And, even if the conversions aren’t seen from clickthrough traffic, you can still retarget them to get them back or track them as conversions to your physical locations! When it comes to display ads vs targeted display, the scope of what targeted display can achieve is what sets it apart from the world of simple display ads, and that scope keeps getting wider.

Now that you’ve heard about the benefits of targeted display, why not experience them for yourself. The experienced targeted display specialists at Gatorworks are ready to help you reach new heights with your organization’s digital marketing. Call 225.924.6109 or send us an email at [email protected] to learn more about our targeted display services and how they could enhance your business.