Rick Abell
Founder at Ad Ambience
Website Address: https://adambience.com
“More to Advertising” is a show made for people in the world of marketing and media who want to grow their advertising knowledge. Interviewing experts around the country, “More to Advertising” is the place to go for tips, tricks and entertaining quips to take your business to the next level.
This week, our host interviews Rick Abell from Ad Ambience. To learn more, check out https://adambience.com.
What is the biggest change in marketing that you see coming in the next 2 years?
The digital ad industry has been built on a foundation of cookies and identity-building, and now that foundation is getting pulled out from under it.
User privacy and consent is finally in the spotlight. Changes in mobile (Apple’s ATT framework) and desktop (Google’s Privacy Sandbox) are causing marketers to have to rethink everything.
And because these changes are still evolving, there’s a ton of opportunity to figure out what we want the future of digital advertising to look like.
What is one tip that you would give when it comes to digital marketing?
We’re big advocates for user experience. As a brand, if your potential users are happy, there is a much better chance they’ll be receptive to your message and you can add value for them.
So, try to understand where your ads are running, and what that your ad partners’ user experience looks like. Incorporate user-centric metrics into your media buying today. If you start to optimize for happier users, you will find a better payoff in your ad strategies in the long run.
What are the major challenges that you (and/or other advertisers) face today?
Where to start! Tons of challenges, but that also means tons of opportunities. Marketing and advertising are a little bit of art and a little bit of science. I think this has long been accepted in the offline world, with the feeling that there is some magic in creating a truly memorable commercial or jingle.
In the digital world, because we can track so much, we have tended to think it’s way more science and less art. There are so many metrics, KPIs, data points to track and target. But it’s really hard to sift through what adds meaning and what’s bs or a smoke screen.
How is the trend towards streaming television (CTV) impacting your advertising strategies?
Our primary focus is on display advertising, but we are big fans of the branding impact that TV advertising can have. This is true of linear TV, but fully extends to all forms of Connected TV and streaming platforms. The television medium is a great way to have your brand message be heard and connect with your consumer.
That is a lot harder to do with display advertising today, but that’s what we’re hoping to help fix!
What are the most effective advertising tactics and/or media for your company?
We are still early in our journey, but we are enjoying ramping up on content marketing. Since we’re operating in some areas that may be new or adjacent to many marketers, we hope to add value in educating on things like user experience, website performance, brand awareness, and the long-term impact that advertising can have. We think too much of our industry is focused solely on the short-term returns.
What tactics do you find to be the most effective in getting your message or your customers’ message heard?
With us being a newer player in the space, we obviously want to create some awareness about our brand and mission. And one of the biggest blockers to that is just the sheer amount of information overload everyone has to deal with today. There is so much stuff out there: articles to read, tv shows to watch, podcasts to listen to, and hopefully offline friends and family to spend time with too! And that is a challenge for having our message be heard, but that is honestly a challenge for everyone else too, be it someone building their personal brand or a major retail store trying to gain market share. How do you cut through that clutter and overcome information overload? That challenge is also what we’re trying to solve for! A website with display ad stacked on top of display ad on top of ad will have a hard time grabbing user attention. Fewer, more focused connections with your potential consumers is where it’s at 🙂
