On the radio show, we always talk about how quickly technology is changing marketing. So what new web marketing challenges have emerged in the last six months or so, and what are companies doing to face those challenges?
The main challenges are rising use of Adblock and VPNS. Both of these technologies are cutting into revenue from web marketing.
Web marketing challenges: Adblock
Adblock has been around for many years, of course, but its effect on desktop traffic is only increasing.
By the year 2020, Adblock is expected to cost digital publishers 27 billion dollars.
Many Adblock users have had the experience of hearing a friend complain about the ads on a site, only to be confused because they had no idea the website even had ads. Adblocking technology is very effective, and it costs businesses quite a bit of money.
What’s to be done? More businesses are using content locking technology – basically, they’re ensuring that Adblock users cannot view any content on their site unless they consent to look at ads also.
Unfortunately, this approach can be counterproductive. Often times, users don’t want to want a website’s content badly enough to bother changing the settings on their browser. Or, even if they do, they feel annoyed and manipulated when a banner informs them that content is being withheld from them.
Before content locking can be an effective strategy, it must be embraced by a majority of sites across the Internet. Until that day comes, a better solution is more relevant ads, precisely targeted.
Unfortunately, from a company’s perspective, there is no good solution yet for this problem.
VPNs
Fortunately, the Adblock problem is only a significant hurdle when it comes to desktop traffic. There are currently few widely-used adblockers for mobile phones. With mobile traffic on the rise, and increasingly important for business, this is a good thing.
Unfortunately, VPN use for mobile devices is on the rise.
VPN stands for “virtual private network.” Essentially, users employ them to keep advertisers from snagging their data. This does not necessarily deny them ad revenue, but it does create a blindspot where the owners of websites are concerned, as they cannot track metrics related to a significant portion of traffic.
Since web marketing is largely a data game, in which marketers learn to better adapt their content to user behavior using tools like Google Analytics, this can create confusion. Software may underestimate the true number of mobile users on a given website
One more challenge on mobile: Beginning in January, Google started to punish mobile pages that had interstitial ads.
It’s a consumer’s world
If these challenges illustrate anything, it’s that the power in marketing has continued to shift towards the customer in 2017. And this is the most serious marketing challenge of all.
Through social media and analytics, it’s now possible for companies to get closer to their customers than ever before. But the downside is that there’s no going back to the old days, when a business would brainstorm a TV spot, send it out, and see gains. Today’s audience is fickle and sophisticated.
That’s why the first step for a company should be making sure that basic user expectations are fulfilled. Mobile friendliness, clear and persuasive content, user-friendly layout. These are the bedrock of online success.
Looking for help with the basics of web marketing in a changing world? Joe’s Web Geeks can help you out .
