When Apple released its new iPhone this month, the hardware changes to the beloved product put fans into a tizzy. But it’s not the missing headphone jack that has marketers worried. Beneath the phone’s shiny exterior something nefarious is stirring. You guessed it: a content blocking feature.
As troubling as this is for marketers who have become dependent on display advertising, this development should come as no surprise. Adblockers have become increasingly prevalent in the laptop and desktop space for a few years already, and it’s always only been a matter of time before adblocker functionality became available on smartphones.
But, where does this leave marketers if this starts a trend that is adopted by all other mobile phone manufacturers? Luckily, there are still a number of ways for brands to reach their audiences, and they are all a lot more cost effective than display advertising to boot.
Native advertising
Native ads are immune to ad blockers because they are not really advertisements. They are posted as content, and to an ad blocker they look like content. However, these sponsored posts require a little more ingenuity than your standard display advertisement. They have to be well written, informative, and more tactful in the way they promote your product or service. Publishers are wary of offending readers and will only publish native content if it offers their readers real value. Make sure your native ads have some real substance to them.
Develop your SEO and create great content
If you haven’t already started leveraging content to search-engine-optimise your website, then you have a lot of work to do. No other means of traffic aggregation offers better ROI than a blog, but as this is a strategy that takes time to produce results, you have to rely on other channels while your content strategy gains momentum. It’s also important to note, that content is no longer the sure thing that it once was. The internet has become somewhat saturated, and if you want content to work for you, you have to produce insightful and valuable content that engages your audience and guides them towards a purchase decision.
Engage in a targeted email campaign
Here is another marketing essential that you may already have but can be improved upon – automated email. There are many ways to optimise your email marketing, but one of the surest ways is to improve your mailing list. Almost all lists contain outdated data, and many contain contacts who have no need for your product or service. If you’re thinking that you can afford to send misdirected emails, you’re wrong. Email service providers will only tolerate a certain number of bounced and unopened emails before they suspend your account. To safeguard one of your greatest marketing assets, you have to cleanse your database regularly.
Develop apps and tools
Great news – ad blockers do not affect apps, as they don’t work with third party sources. But what makes the use of an app particularly effective is their growing popularity with smartphone owners. Of course, like content marketing, there is now much competition to produce a product with real value, and you’ll have to develop a tool that people have a real use for.
There are many marketing channels that will remain unaffected by ad blockers and deliver greater ROI. At GCL Direct we see content as one of the most effective ways to beat ad blockers, and we provide an inbound marketing service to ensure that our clients can make the most of these resources. To learn more about our lead generation services and how inbound delivers impressive ROI for savvy marketers, download our guide.
Image Credits: marketingland.com
