One of the core challenges advertisers face is determining how long a digital marketing campaign should last.

Digital, like many other mediums, requires frequency. If the campaign is too short, you reduce the probability of your customers seeing your message, and grasping it enough to take some action.

So what is the ideal time for a campaign? We believe it is 3 months. The reason we have confidence in (and require) a 3-month minimum campaign commitment is because we have found that our digital ad campaigns that run at least three months or longer have a 70% renewal rate.  When you run a campaign for less than three months you are potentially selling a campaign that won’t deliver the results the client is looking for, and it is all about results and renewals.

Does that mean the message should remain the exact same for the entire 3 months? No. Why? You run the risk of the message becoming stale. Changing creative every 45 days tends to lead to the most success.  In fact, research has proven that 45 days is approximately how long it takes a consumer to retain and recall information. Exposing your customer base to a focused marketing message for that period of time ensures that you’ve shared the information long enough for them to retain it and also act on it. Any less than that and they are not as likely to retain the information, any longer and you run the risk of the message becoming stale or becoming “blind” to it.

When does a shorter make sense? When there is a specific event or call to action that is time critical. For example:

  • Political campaigns
  • Concerts
  • Shows
  • Events (fairs, festivals, seminars, trade shows)

In these cases, the advertiser typically is only going to need to advertise in the weeks leading up to the date and it doesn’t make sense to advertise after that is over, because the advertiser doesn’t have an on-going business to promote.

In addition to the length of the campaign, creative is also critical to results. For best results, implement as many of the tips below into the creative message and call to action:

  • Have a clear, concise benefit statement: What benefit will the user receive by clicking on your ad?
  • Ads with 5 words or less have a 43% higher CTR!
  • Use eye-catching graphics. You’ve only got a few seconds to grab their attention.
  • Use .gif ads! Animated .gif ads get better clicks and conversions vs. static ads. In fact, .gif animated ads showed a 36% increased CTR over static ads.
  • Use call-to-action buttons. Having a call-to-action button in your ad drives higher conversions. Try Now! Learn More! Free Trial!
  • Humans Work Best. Ads that contain images of people have a higher click through rate than those which do not. The takeaway:  people like people!
  • Use Photos Rather Than Designs. If using images of people isn’t a valid option for your brand, use photos of places or things. Ads with photos have a higher click through rate versus those that contain a simple color or rectangle as the background.
  • Include Images of Your Products. Being a “show off” works! Ads containing product images improved click through rates significantly