Two related services are experiencing surges in monetization and usage this year, and those are digital marketing, and the nemesis of digital marketing: ad blockers. According to a study done by Business Insider, an ad blocking service was installed and enacted on over 615 million devices in the year 2016, and while the great majority of those were mobile devices, many millions were desktops as well. People do not want to see most advertisements for many different reasons, but mostly, because they see ads as nothing more than a money grubbing nuisance to their internet browsing pleasures.

Digital marketing has quickly become one of the most efficient ways to reach consumers, especially those in younger age groups, and the results have shown a significant increase in sales, that is, when consumers can actually be reached. The reality for advertisers is that millions of dollars in advertising are lost because of ad blockers. An agency like SandCrestSEO can have the best advertisement, best market research and best ad placement, but with ad blockers installed on the devices they’re hoping to reach, money will undoubtedly be wasted.

How much money will be lost is a much tougher question, and one that requires more information about the agencies budget and desired outreach. The reality is that ad blockers affect small businesses, as losing half of your advertising while trying to reach 1,000 consumers is costlier to small businesses, than losing half of your advertising trying to reach millions of consumers. For everyone, ad blockers can be overcome, with the proper knowledge and workarounds. The main key is understanding why consumers use ad blockers in the first place.

Four Reasons Advertisements are Intentionally Ignored

1. Many people view advertisements as annoying, and even intrusive to their own online experience. This is especially the case when pop-ups are involved. Consumers could feel as though they are being over advertised.
2. Users have been tricked before by advertisements, and now refuse to click on them. All it takes is one horror story about an ad giving someone’s device a virus, or an ad refusing to close even though the consumer clicked the “X”, for consumers to never click again.
3. Consumers also complain that ads slow down their browser speed. Advertisements containing multiple forms of media can slow down the speed of a consumer’s browser, causing them to feel frustrated with the advertiser.
4. Users have become more concerned about their digital privacy. Many users feel that their privacy has been invaded when advertisements related to what they were searching days past begin popping up on their feeds. This has left consumers unnerved, causing them to pursue ad blocking services.

Realize the Reality: Most Users Don’t Like Ads

It is a sad reality for advertisers to face, but for the most part, consumers simply just don’t like ads. Creators may think their advertisements are great, but the consumers overwhelmingly think ads are intrusive, obnoxious and a source of frustration. As advertisements serve as one of the view ways companies interact with consumers, the emotions given off by the forced consumption of ads can lead towards a consumer base which harbors animosity towards the company. Whether this animosity is rational or irrational is up for debate, but the truth is that consumers do not like having ads forced down their throats, which is exactly what today’s digital marketing techniques are doing.

According to a digital advertising survey performed by HubSpot, forty-eight percent of consumers believe that online ads are more intrusive than they were a year ago, and find that clicking to remove ads is frustrating. Clearly, this data shows that advertisements are not wanted by the consumers, but in the world of business, ads are a necessity, so how does a company get consumers to do something that the consumers admittedly don’t want to do?

Make the Consumers Come to You

It’s already been made clear that many consumers do not like clicking on advertisements for a plethora of reasons, but without clicks, an advertisement is useless. Companies are in business because they believe they can provide something that consumers want, but without proper advertising, consumers will never know to interact with the company, leaving even the best companies without any capital. All this starts with getting the consumer to click on the ad. How does an advertisement successfully get consumers to click on the ad? Here are a few possibilities:

1. Tease the consumer with the idea that something they desire can be achieved by clicking the ad.
2. Tell the consumer what you want. Adding a “click here” feature to an advertisement has shown to greatly increase consumer interaction.
3. This seems so basic, but make sure your advertisement appeals to the consumer. This could involve more market research about the consumer, more carefully selecting a time or location for an ad, or targeting a different type of consumer all together. Perhaps a different color or border could make all the difference.
4. Understand where to draw the boundary line between your advertising strategy and your consumer’s privacy. Knowing why consumers enable ad blocking, and then addressing that with the proper creation and implementation of a digital marketing campaign can be the difference between making a sale and losing capital.

The Bottom Line

 Of course, it is important to produce great content when it comes to advertising, but getting great content in front of consumers, and causing interaction, is easily half the battle. It is imperative to know what features of a digital marketing campaign might be causing consumers to turn away from an advertisement, and possibly a company as a whole. Ad blockers are a widely used technology, and realistically, that will probably never change, but with the right content, and the proper techniques, advertisements can once again get in front of the consumer. Through showing respect to the consumer, as well as having powerful ads, a digital marketing campaign can find success.