A key factor in increasing click-thrus for your banner advertisements is how relevant the message in your ad is to the content on the page. That’s why you wouldn’t advertise, for instance, hunting gear on a site or web page about vegetarian cooking. An ad for a vegetarian cooking DVD series would draw more favorable attention.
Just yesterday I was reading a news article on Yahoo News about Joseph Stack, a man who sought revenge on the IRS by crashing his small plane into an IRS building containing nearly 200 IRS employees. The article was titled “Man Angry At IRS Crashes Plane Into Building.” The crash resulted in deaths and injuries.
The article subject doesn’t lend itself very well to injecting humor, does it?
Well, here’s an ad I saw at the bottom of the article:
The sport portrayed is jousting. A violent medieval activity that often resulted in serious injuries or even death. And then there’s the brand name itself: “Tax-Slayer.”
Now, if I were with TaxSlayer, I don’t think I’d want my ad to show up under this story. Or would I?
Since the story is breaking news, it’s bound to get a lot of eyeballs. +1 point.
The ad is relevant to the story (the content contains references to taxes and the IRS). +1 points.
The ad is in extremely poor taste given the nature of the article. -10 points.
It comes down to brand image versus short-term profits. If the visitors coming to the article are indeed concerned about the IRS and taxes in their own lives, then they may sympathize with Mr. Stack and would like to “slay” the tax man themselves.
But, even for that crowd, the ad is likely jarring (pun intended).
What would you do if it were your decision to run the ad or pull it for a short while?
