Digital Ad Zappers Make Content Marketing Even MORE Important

October 17, 2017

In the online battle for clients’ attention, fight ad blocking with content! Ethan Zuckerman has said that he’s sorry. Ever heard of him? Probably not, but he has apologized to you anyway - actually he apologized to the whole world of which we assume you are a part. What egregious sin made him proclaim his mea culpa so publicly? Mr. Zuckerman invented the internet pop-up ad. Yep. Now you get it. In a lengthy essay Mr. Zuckerman explains how and why he invented arguably the most despised form of advertising ever created. It’s a good read if you’re into that sort of thing. So what does this have to do with marketing for the dental industry? We’ll get to that. Ad zappers If enough people hate something, other people will try to stop it. Online ads are no exception. Many people know about the pop-up ad blocking feature on their favorite web browser. They stop websites from opening those annoying windows that propagate across your screen like little roaches. Well, ad blocking didn’t stop with pop-ups. Programmers invented new ways to monetize the internet and they created all kinds of other advertising techniques. And other people have found a way to block those too. According to Pagefair.com, a service that says it is an ad blocking authority, 615 million devices now have some sort of ad blocking on them. In 2016, ad block usage grew 30% globally, as reported by the New York Times. On mobile devices, usage grew by 108 million to 380 million individual devices. Pagefair.com says that usage of ad blocking is now mainstream across all ages. In short, everyone is ad blocking and it’s a pretty big deal to people who want to advertise online. Psst… that’s you! Did you pay for some banner ads on a local site to promote your practice recently? Have you considered it? You might want to rethink your strategy. Digital advertising isn’t dead yet. (And we're not talking about promoted social media posts here just banner ads.) There is still a place for it, including Google Adwords and Facebook advertising, all very popular and effective marketing tools. But, if you’re spending all of your precious marketing dollars buying banners and other digital ads, you need to expand your horizons and get a bit more sophisticated. Content marketing to the rescue! Good content marketing attracts users to your site through organic search, link sharing, and, yes, targeted ads on social media websites. We’re guessing one of those three methods got you to find this very blog post. Content marketing is the technique of generating relevant, informative and interesting material that people want to read and share, whether it’s a blog post, bylined article, infographic, or other type of communication. If you regularly serve up good content, people will continue to come back to your website, social media page and open your emails. With your content, you can educate prospective new patients about your expertise before they need your services, so that when it's time to make a choice, you're the one they already know and trust. An active and engaging social media presence supports a good content plan and communicates the value of your practice to friends of current patients, potentially reaching new ones. Marry this with a program to curate positive online reviews on sites like Google Business and Yelp, and you have a powerful combination that is ten-times stronger than running banner ads by themselves. With the rise in ad blocking software, good content is a more important part of your marketing than ever before. People actually seek out good content instead of trying to zap it away. Good content builds trust in a way that banners and pop-up ads never could. Don’t get us wrong. Your marketing mix should still include online advertising, but you also need to develop a good content plan if you want to really connect with future patients. Are your ready to fight the ad blockers with good content? Our work builds trust in your practice online to help you get new patients in a digital era by convincing them (before even meeting you) that you’re the practice to choose. For more information, or a free marketing analysis, you can contact People & Practice today at 888.866.DOCS, or by email at [email protected].

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