Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Brands Should Blogvertise

Bryan Brickley discusses the various options for bloggers to generate ad revenue on Adotas, but he fails to mention one important solution: brand sponsorship.

Most bloggers are lucky to make a few pennies per page view through in-line text links (which for me are disruptive and not relevant), and cost-per-click ads like AdSense that are prone to click fraud and generate next to nothing.

But blogs might be a better match for display advertising that reinforces a brand. Because most blogs focus on a few to a dozen or so posts a day, most visitors read an item or two and then move onto something else. But they can be loyal readers, making it attractive to brands who would like to have multiple interactions with a reader.

For example, Reebok could sponsor a sports blog because the odds are that each visitor won't see the same ad more than once or twice a day. By making sure that the same visitor sees your pitch several times a week, you can start to build a relationship especially if the blog uses cookies to track repeat visitors. Through multiple creatives, advertisers could change their ads based on how many times a person has been exposed.

By changing the message and recognizing that this isn't the first interaction, brands might have a better chance at getting a response. Wouldn't this be better than being part of a blog ad network where you aren't sure which readers have actually been exposed?

Advertisers like TV because (pre-TiVo) they could be fairly certain that nearly everyone who watched the program saw the ad (aka reach). This can also be done through blog sponsorships.

Posted By John Gartner at 04:23 PM
Permanent Link: Brands Should Blogvertise | Comments (1)

(1) Comments on Brands Should Blogvertise

Hey John, I totally agree with you, brand advertising and sponsorship in blogs isn't a bad idea at all. I believe that what has kept up from seeing this type of advertising pop up everywhere is the need for brands to advertise BIG. They still think like the old days...interrupting, disruptive advertising that cuts off the audiences' regular programing, and that just doesn't go well with blogs.

If I'm a loyal blog reader and I get annoying, pop-up ads from a brand I'll rather surely than not unsubscribe to that blog and move on. Until we're both (brands and blogs) compromising to reach a unified business model where both sides win, I don't think we'll see much of blogvertising. Interesting subject, though.

Ron E
http://brandcurve.com

Comments by Ron E. : Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:37 AM

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