It’s frustrating to spend valuable ad dollars and just as valuable (if not more so) time developing digital ads to only have them blocked by consumer-end ad-blocking software and plugins. Digital ad blocking is a growing phenomenon, and a burgeoning thorn in the side of hospital marketing professionals who depend on digital ads to reach prospective patients. Millions of consumers (roughly 28 percent of Internet users) use ad-blocking software and plugins on their browsers for desktop, laptop, and mobile – depriving brands of the opportunity to earn full reach.
What can hospitals do to sidestep ad blocking, thus ensuring higher CTR and ROI?
Turn to Native Advertising
One reprieve is native advertising.
Native advertising can circumvent ad blocking because promoted content isn’t always recognized by ad-blocking software as an actual ad. Furthermore, it deals with “banner blindness” – the idea that savvy browsers have become more or less blind to online banner ads and ignore them.
Spending on native ads, according to projections, will rise by 34 percent by the time 2015 has come and gone. That’s a total of $4.3 billion.
An advertorial is a type of native advertising that can be easily promoted via third-party sources and get past ad blockers. Plus, advertorials are strong advertisements anyway because they deliver useful and engaging information – perfect for building brand awareness and converting prospects to patients online.
Use Platforms that Have Deals with Ad Blockers
Ad blockers are somewhat akin to the Mob – if you pay protection money to them, they’ll keep your store safe.
That’s the sentiment adopted by Google, Microsoft, and several other leading brands that depend on selling ad space for their revenue. Google is a good example; they have a deal with leading ad-blocking software providers to “white-list” their ads, thereby ensuring that ads purchasing through Google (such as Adwords and Google Display Ads) sneak past the ad-blocking security.
Since the Google display network already constitutes such a massive presence in online advertising, many hospital marketers are protected. If you use another platform for your ads, though, you may consider using one that has reached a deal and paid the protection money to ad blockers so your content gets through intact.
Want to Learn More?
If you have questions about better utilizing online advertising for hospital marketing including optimizing your campaign for maximum CTR and ROI, contact Jimmy Warren.
ABOUT JIMMY WARREN
Early to bed, early to rise, work like crazy and advertise! Jimmy Warren is president of TotalCom Marketing Communications and has over 30 years experience helping all kinds of businesses build a strong brand. A large portion of that experience has been helping hospitals and healthcare organizations. He loves the ‘weird’, interesting and extremely talented people he gets to work with every day – that includes co-workers and clients. Outside of work he enjoys his grand kids, traveling and any kind of good ole fashion Alabama sports. Roll Tide!
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