One of the greatest nuisances of the Internet age has been pop-up ads. Together with other online ads, web surfers have been pestered by these distractions while trying to research products and services. A 2017 survey found that the use of ad blockers in the US has surged in recent years, climbing by 40% on laptops and 15% on mobile devices. The main motivation behind the rise in the use of ad blockers? Web surfers have flagged them as irrelevant and annoying. With ad blockers on the rise, how can marketers get around those systems to get their messages out?
Use Native Ads
Native ads are not blocked by the average ad blocking services because they are seamlessly infiltrated into the user’s experience surfing the web. Rather than popping up and disrupting visual sight lines for viewers, native ads show up on the sides of social media feeds or along the edges of search results pages. Native ads are similar to the traditional ads you see between segments on TV shows. The key is that native ads do not blatantly interrupt user experience.
Create Ethical, Quality Ads
Most everyone dislikes pop-up ads. There you are scrolling a page shortly after landing when your mouse stops reacting and the screen blurs. The computer hasn’t crashed, a pop-up ad has interrupted interactions on the page. If you want to beat pop-up ads, one of the best steps you can take is to simply avoid them. Focus on creating content that promotes your brand and can be shared on social media and other platforms, without resorting to purposely interrupt material. Make sure to offer value in those ads. There’s little worse than ads that simply flash a brand name and a deal without any information as to what the company is and what it does.
Read More: 3 Tips for Building Better Ads
Focus on Valuable Keywords
SEO is another powerful tool your company can use to get around ad blockers. One good place to start? The use of relevant keywords that match up to your products and services is the perfect runaround for ad blockers. Strong keyword selection will boost your online content and landing pages in search results, natively placing your brand in places more likely to be viewed by customers (top of search results).
Read More: How Many Keywords Are Too Many Keywords?
Diversify Marketing Channels
Another way to get around ad blockers is to focus on other channels for connecting with customers. A better content marketing strategy places your content in front of customers without paying for pop-up ads that customers are trying to block out. For example, focusing more of your content marketing on social media ads can help get around ad blockers. If your customers are frequently on social media sites, ads on the news feeds and threads of social media are not stopped by ad blockers. Alternatively, if you have customers that have low online engagement, you could use direct mailers. These are just two examples. There’s no perfect solution. Rather, you should try to find other channels to reach out to your customers.
Educate Readers, Don’t Sell to Them
If you want to avoid your money going down the drain with ad blockers preventing your content from showing up, try adjusting your messaging. One of the biggest complaints about pop-up ads and other ad content is its irrelevance. Forget trying to sell viewers on your brand or even product with an ad, and create ad content that educates them instead. Use that small platform to show how your product/service solves their problems.
Roll Out Chatbots and Conversational Marketing
Finally, chatbots and conversational marketing are a great way to get around ad blockers. Customers are clearly tired of their experience being interrupted with other ads. Conversational marketing allows you to communicate with customers on a personal level, offering a more genuine experience with a less “spammy” feel to the interactions.