I always get asked this privately, so I thought I would take this time to share with you guys my views of banner advertising for once and for all. Basically, I feel that if you want traffic, that's what PPC campaigns are for. Banner campaigns are for branding, branding, branding!
In fact, it's been my opinion that banner campaigns work wonders, but only when people are already familiar with your site. So why advertise to people who already know about you, you ask? For the same reason why nearly every tv commercial you've seen on tv is for a product or company you've heard of before.
I think the #1 question that prospective advertisers ask me when they're interested in buying a banner campaign on DaniWeb is .... *drumroll please* ... what is the CTR and how many clicks will I get? My answer is always - IT DOESN'T MATTER! The number of clicks you receive has nothing to do with how well the campaign performed for you.
For example, suppose you're driving down a highway and you see a billboard for a new version of MSN Messenger. It may catch your fancy, but you're not going to jump out of your car right then and there, run over to the billboard, and start trying to download the latest version of MSN onto your laptop on the side of the road. Instead, you'll continue on with what you're currently doing (driving) but seeing that MSN has an exclusive billboard that is noticable right there at the side of the road has an "ooh and ahh" factor associated with it, and you may check out MSN later.
In fact, that's how nearly all traditional ads in this world work. TV commercials, billboards, etc. And if the tried 'n' true didn't work, there wouldn't be so much money circulating around the ad industry. In fact, just take a minute to think about it. How often throughout the day do you recall commercials you've seen on tv? When you go to the store and notice a product on the shelf, how often can you recall seeing a commercial about that product? It just goes to prove that good commericals stay in people's memories. This is just one more reason to have a catchy, memorable domain name, incidentally, but that's besides the point.
Regardless, let me get back on track. That billboard on the side of the road scenerio won't work if the billboard you see is for "XYZ Software Company". Because it's not a recognizable brand to you - so the billboard won't mean anything unless it's clicked on.
Therefore, when you're trying to get traffic directly to a site, the CTR is important. However, when you don't care about direct traffic, but just want to remind a crowd who is already familiar with you about your brand, that is when banner campaigns truly shine.
In fact, sometimes it's all about subliminal messaging and marketing. For example, The Sandman from the Admin Zone forums once asked me why it works for me to purchase a static banner on the top of his site month after month. He asked, "Don't most of the visitors already know who you are?" And my answer ...
All I care about is the subliminal message that "DaniWeb is successful enough to be able to afford an exclusive spot at the top of all the pages of TAZ." I don't care whether they click on it or not (as I said, most won't, especially your regular members) However, they almost all have visited DaniWeb before at one time or another, and having the static exclusive banner has that prestige associated with it that I'm not just another one of your advertisers, but that there is a special connection going on ... it's almost like a mysterious element to some: "how did daniweb do that?! does she sponsor taz? does she work for taz?" And that subconsciously stimulates intrigue and interest.
So next time you design a banner ... make sure that your logo and brand are prominently displayed. And if it's a flash or animated banner, make sure that your logo appears in every single frame of the animation. It's all about the branding!