Understanding Ad Fraud PT2 – Strategies to reduce the risk of ad fraud
Are you considering new advertising strategies to help build an effective ad campaign? Do you worry about the implications to your business if you fall victim to ad fraud?
In Part 1, we explored how fraudulent advertising could negatively impact your business, but how can you reduce the risk of this happening?
Our expert marketers share various advertising strategies that can help you reduce the risk of falling victim to, or being associated with, advertising fraud:
Ad Quality and Reputable Publishers
Creating clear and honest advertisements can help you maintain a trustworthy image that reduces the risk of being associated with ad fraud. Working with SEO strategists can improve the appearance and relevance of your ads, leading to increased engagement and click-through rates (refer further down).
The placement of your advert is just as significant as the ad itself; therefore, you should consider partnering with well-known publishers and websites that have a reliable reputation and loyal audience, as opposed to Made For Advertising websites. Reputable publishers will have stronger guidelines and security measures, and their websites will generally ensure your ad content is placed alongside appropriate ads, helping to protect your brand’s integrity. This approach is effective for promoting articles and advertorials as they are well-suited to the content surrounding them and offer relevance and value to readers.
Banner ads are a common ad strategy – are they effective?
Banner ads are most effective when placed on pages featuring relevant articles or advertorials as they fit seamlessly with their surrounding content and offer relevance and value to interested readers.
Imagine you’re an online user trying to find some shoes for your next holiday, you start reading a blog post about the best shoes to wear this Summer, which tells you that white sandals are both comfortable and on-trend. While reading, you see an advertisement selling ‘White Summer Holiday Sandals’. You are more likely to click this advertisement than an unlinked advertisement for car parts, as it’s relevant to your interests and needs. This is how a banner ad can be used effectively.
With strategic planning and the support of the website owner, banner ads can generate traffic to your website and increase the opportunity for sales.
Social Media
If it suits your industry and campaign, advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and TikTok allows you to utilise targeting options to reach specific demographics, interests, and behaviours. This is a strategy that will allow you to shape your adverts to your audience’s preferences to maximise engagement with your brand in the long term while reducing exposure to bots and fraudulent accounts.
Each social media platform has unique features and demographics, so some platforms are better suited to some industries and companies than others. In the same way that a banner ad is more effective when placed among relevant content, your brand will likely see maximised results around relevant audiences and features that best enhance your brand, so it’s important to choose your platform correctly.
Being transparent and building a community through your online audience early on is crucial so that if your company does fall victim to ad fraud, you can reduce its risk due to your existing strong consumer base and renowned, reliable reputation.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Investing in SEM ensures your adverts appear in search engine results for specific keywords related to your business. This can be an effective way to capture intent-driven traffic, as you're transparently reaching users who are actively searching for information or solutions related to your specific products or services.
You can optimise your existing ads for improved quality, for example, by including engaging headlines, relevant landing pages, image assets, and more.
Using reliable platforms such as Google Ads can further reduce the risk of ad fraud and its potential association with your brand. Although these platforms have systems in place to detect fraudulent activity, don’t rely on bots alone – you can find out more about this in Part 1. Regularly checking the performance and activity of your campaign can uphold its effectiveness and help you to make adjustments if, for example, your ad has been placed on an inappropriate website.
Email Marketing
Building a robust email marketing strategy can reach your audience through targeted messages, promotions, and content delivered directly to their inboxes. This ensures that your audience are real online users showing an active interest in your brand.
Data protection and user choice are crucial in email marketing as if these are ignored, your potential consumers could lose trust in your brand. By allowing your users to opt out of marketing and being transparent about your data protection and privacy policies, you can reassure your target audience that your business is responsible with their data and is, therefore, reliable.
Video Advertising
Platforms such as YouTube offer targeted video advertising options that allow you to reach audiences in a highly engaging format. Some platforms also have bot detection, which works to identify fraudulent traffic to ensure the genuine effectiveness of your campaign. Like with any advertising campaign, never rely on bot filters alone, as non-human traffic can still get through. That’s why it’s vital that you monitor and manage your campaign regularly to minimise any risks.
Interested in knowing more about any of the above strategies but don’t know where to start? Feel that your ad campaign needs professional maintenance to prevent ad fraud and reduce its risk?
Hydra Creative is a full-service digital agency specialising in digital marketing, design, development, and multimedia. With our 15 years of experience, we can help - get in touch with our team of experts today!
