Halloween is just around the corner, which means it’s time for horror movie marathons, trick-or-treating, and scary decorations all around. This time filled with so much fright is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the dark side of marketing. We’ve put together 5 scary marketing facts you need to know, but be careful, they might keep you up at night!

 

 

 

1) Display Ad Viewability Rates Aren’t Improving

For years, marketers have struggled to improve display ad viewability rates, but their efforts have shown little success. According to this study by ComSource,  the rates didn’t improve at all from 2013-2014. Though those rates have improved slightly in 2018, concrete numbers are hard to come by. The lack of improvement in display ad viewability can be blamed on a steady increase in ad fraud and non-human traffic online.

2) AdBlocking is A Rising Trend

In 2015, Adobe teamed up with PageFair to bring us the yearly ad blocking report, and the results are truly frightening. Adblocking was once an issue that marketers only faced with desktop users, but now it’s becoming a mobile trend as well. The newest iOS models include ad blocking for users, which has led to an increase of 48% of the number of ad-blocking users. Online advertising has always been a reliable form of marketing, but with these new stats, marketers may need to rethink their ad campaigns.

3) Less Than 30% of Small Businesses Track Marketing Success

For larger businesses, tracking online marketing success is a vital part of their process, but the same can’t be said for small businesses. Many small businesses don’t see real results from search or email marketing despite the great results that larger businesses experience. A lack of analytics and data tracking might be the main cause of this. 75% of small businesses claim they don’t have the time to utilize tracking methods, but that could mean a lot of potential business lost along the way. As Google encourages the rise of small businesses we may see these statistics change in upcoming years.

4) 57% of Users Don’t Trust Banner Ads

It’s no secret that the success of click-through ads tends to be hit or miss, but do you know why that is? According to this study, users aren’t clicking on banner ads because they don’t trust them. Users fear that clicking on the ad will result in a virus or spam, rather than a great shopping experience. Some users avoid the ads because they feel they aren’t relevant or they don’t want to be distracted from the content they’re viewing, but 57% simply don’t trust the ads. This leads many marketers to believe that email and social media techniques may be more successful moving forward. If you’re investing marketing dollars into banner ads online each year without seeing a great return on investment, it may be time to turn to other forms of online marketing.

5) B2B Buyers Check Multiple Channels Before Making a Purchase

To be exact, 76% of B2B buyers are using three or more channels to research a potential purchase. This may not be a scary fact if your business holds a positive reputation online, but if there are negative reviews out there, potential customers are bound to find them. People are checking out your competitors more than ever before so now’s the time to make sure your reviews, prices, and products match up to the competition. Cross-marketing your brand message and product across multiple channels is another key step toward getting new customers who research on multiple channels.

 

This frightening blog was written in 2018. Click here for more scary marketing facts from 2020!