How AdBlock works and strategies to overcome ad blocking
We have put together the best marketing strategies to help you promote your business without falling prey to ad blockers.
Maybe you don’t remember, but surfing the web a few years ago meant having your computer screen invaded by thousands of pop-ups and intrusive ads.
You check if you’ve received a message in your inbox and BAM! A pop-up advertising a can’t-miss launch. You want to watch the final episode of your favorite series. But NO! Only after you finish watching a new car advertisement.
For a while, this was the experience of most users. Surfing the web meant being exposed to intrusive and many times, unwanted, ads. I’m sure we can all agree that was not a pleasant experience.
But this situation has changed with the emergence of a tool that blocks most of the pop-ups and other invasive ads: AdBlock. And increasingly more users use it to get rid of ads.
The problem is that many businesses, especially digital businesses, need to advertise in order to attract more customers. But, how will these ads bring results if users block the ads?
Fortunately, all isn’t lost and there are ways of promoting your business if you manage to overcome ad blocking. Would you like to know how? Well, keep reading this article.
What is AdBlock and what is it used for?
Well, ad blockers — among which AdBlock is the most famous — are programs and plugins for web browsers that block various types of ads on websites, among them are:
- Banners
- Facebook ads
- Pop-ups
- Ads in Google’s search results
- YouTube pre-roll videos
- Among others.
Therefore, the user’s browsing experience isn’t interrupted by unwanted ads.
In fact, the promise of doing away with pop-ups and ads has made increasingly more people use AdBlock.
According to Statista, in 2019, about 28.5% of users had active ad blockers, including mobile devices.
Also according to the survey, one of the main reasons why people install AdBlock is precisely a desire to browse without interruptions.
But while this type of tool is beneficial to users, it can be very bad for those who own an online business. Especially for Producers and Affiliates who depend on ads to promote products and services. That’s where the need to overcome ad blocking comes.
What is AdBlock’s impact on digital businesses?
If you’re a digital entrepreneur, you know better than anyone that ads are very important to attract visitors to your business’ channels, promote a new product and increase sales.
The same goes for Digital product Affiliates, who often depend on banners with their links being clicked and converted into sales to generate commissions.
With an increasing number of users blocking ads, the work of advertising and selling online has become severely hindered. After all, the number of people who will actually see the ads drops.
Another negative impact of AdBlock is the cost of campaigns, since you pay for ad impressions, even when users haven’t actually seen the message.
Does this mean that I should stop advertising on Google and social media?
Of course not! Although AdBlock is a major obstacle for those who need to advertise their business, it’s still not used by most users, especially on smartphones.
In other words, you can keep investing in ads, but this shouldn’t be your only source of visitors and clicks. There are other options to overcome ad blocking. The key is to diversify and put marketing strategies into place that will help you promote your business and generate sales in a less intrusive or even organic manner.
And this is what you can check out below!
4 digital marketing strategies to overcome ad blocking
Now that you know how AdBlock impacts the advertising of your business in a negative manner, it’s time to check out how to get rid of ad blockers.
As we explained earlier, a few strategies allow you to attract visitors and convert them into customers in a less intrusive manner, without hindering user experience and also, offering relevant content.
Check it out:
1. Email marketing
Although the advance of social media has given the impression that email marketing is dead, this isn’t true. It is more alive than ever and might be a great way to advertise your business without running the risk of having your message blocked by ad blockers.
But what is email marketing? It’s the blasting of email messages to promote products and services to your target audience or share relevant content by means of a newsletter.
Ver essa foto no Instagram
There are many advantages to using email marketing to advertise your business, among them are:
- Practically everyone has email
- The tool is cheaper than other types of media, and
- It allows you to measure performance, such as the opening of messages, click-through rates, etc.
In addition, email is an extremely personal channel, allowing you to develop a closer relationship with your audience.
You can use email marketing to promote launches, keep your customer base informed about the brand’s news, offer discounts, and much more! And all this without worrying about AdBlock or other ad blockers.
Keep in mind: In order for your email marketing strategy not to be characterized as SPAM, you need to ask the recipients for their permission. Furthermore, you need to allow users to leave your list at any time if they feel that the content is no longer relevant.
2. Influence marketing
Another option for those who wish to advertise their business without being blocked by AdBlock is influencer marketing, a strategy that has become increasingly popular on social media.
Influence marketing consists of collaborating with independent content producers with large audiences. These are the so-called digital influencers, who influence the behavior of their thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or Facebook.
The goal of working with influencers is to make your brand known by a large number of people more easily. After all, these people trust the influencers and what they recommend.
When you hire an influencer, you can create a strategy so that your products or services are promoted on the influencer’s channels. It might be a promotion, a collab, a review of your products or any other action that is beneficial to both parties.
Would you like to learn more about the power of digital influencers? Then download our free material and check out all the information about this market.
3. Native ads
AdBlock doesn’t only hinder entrepreneurs and businesses. Social media, websites, and online platforms also suffer from ad blockers, since most of their revenue comes from advertising.
One solution was the development of less intrusive ad formats that don’t get in the way of user browsing, which are called native ads.
Native ads are a type of advertising that looks like the platform’s traditional content.
On social media, for example, native ads have the same format and style as a normal post. The difference is that it has a warning that it is sponsored content.
Therefore, users don’t see native ads as intrusive content that interrupts their browsing experience. You can get close to your audience, increase your message’s reach and also prevent your ad from being blocked by AdBlock.
4. Content marketing
Our last suggestion for those who want to get rid of blockers is content marketing.
Since the visibility gained through ads is hindered, the strategy now is to attract users — and customers —, with relevant and quality content.
And this is precisely the goal of content marketing. This strategy consists of creating and distributing content that helps in the purchasing process, but without explicitly promoting your brand.
The idea is to educate your audience about your business and products and make your brand respected. After all, from the moment you become a market benchmark, the audience has more interest in doing business with you.
This distribution of relevant content can be done in several different ways, such as blogs, social media, online videos, email marketing, ebooks, podcasts, etc.
Say goodbye to AdBlock!
Ad blockers keep growing. After all, the audience is tired of intrusive ads that get in the way of browsing.
This created a concern for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals: How do you promote a product or service without advertising?
As you saw in this article, there are many strategies you can use to promote your business and overcome ad blocking.
So, if you’re a Producer or Affiliate, start putting our suggestions into practice right now!
And if you want to learn more about content marketing, and how it can help your business create more organic traffic, make sure you read our full post on the topic.
