Benefits of Display Advertising: Google Display Ads vs Programmatic Platforms

What are the benefits of display ads? ​Utilizing a display advertising strategy can help your business boost interest among prospective customers; promote specific products, offerings, or services; and keep your organization's brand at the forefront of audiences' minds. They also enable you to set up campaigns, which can be monitored and tracked across time. This means you can reduce costs and increase performance - all while the ads are running.

What Is a Display Ad Strategy?

Simply put, a display ad strategy uses a combination of text, images, and a website URL to create an online advertisement. These online ads then drive potential customers to learn more about your products or services, as well as to purchase.

Including this type of ad in your marketing strategy can increase brand awareness, drive more traffic to a product or service landing page, and increase conversion rates.

​Some examples of display ads include:

Types of Display Ads

One specific type of display ad you've likely heard of is Google display ads. Google display ads are typically a low-cost and low barrier-to-entry option for businesses looking to improve recognition of their brand, product, or service. The benefit of a Google display ad specifically is that It integrates seamlessly with all other Google products you are using, including Google Analytics 4.

​Google display ads come with a lot of positives, but there is also room for display ads beyond Google. In this blog, we'll examine some of the pros and cons of using Google display ads versus other options that may be available on programmatic platforms. Programmatic display advertising uses a set of technologies to automate the buying and selling of banner ads. The ads are then placed on designated areas of websites, social media platforms, or apps so that potential customers see them as they are using those spaces.

​Here are some ways we can compare these two display advertising approaches:

Cost for Display Ads

Google Display Network:​

• Offers a low cost per click, typically less than $1 depending on industry or audience size.
• There is only one ad exchange option, which is the Google Display Network. This means your ads can only be shown to audiences who are viewing websites, social media, or apps that are contained within this network.

​Programmatic Platforms:

• There are options to reach over 20 different networks.
• ​There is typically a higher cost per click.

Budget Threshold

​Google Display Network:

• There is no minimum or maximum budget threshold, and there is no minimum monthly spend you need to fulfill.
  
• It is solely about what you can afford and the level of impact you want.

​Programmatic Platforms:

• Programmatic platforms tend to have a higher barrier-to-entry in terms of cost due to the wider network of ad exchanges available to you and the amount of data you have available to select from.
• ​Typically when using programmatic platforms, you are using it to scale largely.
  

Display Ad Set Up and Sizing

Google Display Network:

• You can access a seamless platform for display, video, and search ads. This allows you to see all different channels in one place, as well as integrations with analytics platforms like Google Analytics.
• Responsive ads are a feature unique to Google, where you can supply multiple texts, images, and a URL – and then the platform will dynamically create ads using machine learning to figure out the best combinations that will fit in all available sizes.
• You can also upload standard or HTML image ads in a wide variety of sizes.

​Programmatic Platforms:

• You typically need to have much more pre-designed ads from a creative agency or internally with a wide variety of sizes - anywhere from a small 300x300 to a large site takeover at 600x1600. This can be costly especially if you have to outsource.
  
• ​Tools for graphics creation, like Canva, can make sizing easier to manage; however, the need for strongly designed "creative" (the images assigned to the ads) remains high.
  

Reporting and Metrics

​Google Display Network:

• Offers detailed reporting and metrics. This ensures your metrics will be consistent and visible (alongside search and video styles of advertising you may be using as well).​
• ​In addition, there are detailed reports that will help you curate messaging to each target audience.
  

​Programmatic Platforms:

• Depending on how you implement programmatic display ads (self-serve vs. managed), you should have access to a wealth of info.
• ​Data and metrics are not as readily available for you to access, versus how easily you can access information in places like Google Analytics or Data Studio.
  

Audience Targeting for Display Ads

​Google Display Network:

• Offers a wide variety of pre-set audience targeting, including first and third-party data.
  
• You can create a multitude of different audiences with a simple pixel placed on your website to segment your audience deeply to fit your needs.
  
• In addition, this option also has many in-market and affinity related audiences to target potential customers that have yet to visit your site. They also allow for combinations of these, as well as the option to use your Google Search keywords to create contextual targeting.
  
• ​Uses Google Search histories to put users into an audience (Google holds 80% of all internet searches worldwide).
  

Programmatic Platforms:

• Offer broader access to third-party data (whereas Google likes to keep their platforms more private so you can’t use other research and data providers).
• Other programmatic platforms will give you greater access to other useful third-party data, such as demographics, firmographics, geographic location, customer preferences, and much more.
  
• ​Programmatic platforms do not have access to Google’s proprietary user’s search histories and cannot use that wealth of information from which to create audiences.
  

Display Ad Placement Options

Google Display Network:

• There are over 2 million websites included in the Google Display Network.
• ​This option also provides very visible placement options, including YouTube, Google Play Store, Gmail, and Shopping network.
  

Programmatic Platforms:

• There are 100s of platforms that can offer programmatic buying opportunities. Searching for a programmatic platform can be difficult - some questions you should ask include:
  
  • ​Is it self or managed service?
    
  • Is there a minimum spend?
    
  • What are the targeting opportunities available?
    
  • Is there a contract associated with the onboarding of a platform?
    
  • And so many more!
    
• ​Due to the challenges this can bring, it is highly recommended to consult experts to ensure that you are getting exactly what you need to reach your goals!
  

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Display Ads

The good news: There is no wrong answer to what will work best for your business. Google Display Network's lower cost, seamlessness with other platforms, and unique ad formats make it a solid option for smaller businesses. Yet, if you're looking for something that is more wide-reaching with greater data options and the ability to scale long-term, then programmatic platforms are the right move for you.

We know advertising decisions can be hard to make and execute alone. Rather than being forced to create a display ads strategy solo, reach out to us! A Sarah Best Strategy digital advertising expert or strategist can guide you through the process of determining the right path (and the best tool) for successful display advertising that matches your goals. Learn more about our advertising services, or contact us to set up a time to chat.

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Caitlin Bognar

Caitlin Bognar (Digital Strategist) is an expert digital marketer with 6 years of experience in the field, including agency and corporate work. In her years in the industry, she has become a jack-of-all-trades type individual with a wide range of expertise in paid media, content marketing, and analytics. She loves working with small and large clients by uncovering their goals and creating a holistic, omnichannel marketing plan that spans from strategy, to activation, to optimizations/results. Caitlin lives in Milwaukee, WI with her husband, Dave, and their two dogs, Lannie and Lola.

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Genevra Gallo-Bayiates

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates (Senior Writer & Content Strategist) has over 20 years experience as a writer and editor for social media copywriting, B2B/B2C marketing and advertising, blog and website content development, fundraising messaging, e-learning storytelling, personal branding, and curriculum design. Their journalism and essays have appeared in CMA Today, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Red Streak, and Haymarket Books. Genevra's playwriting work has been published by Playscripts, Hope & Nonthings, and Commonplace Books.

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