If you’re like me, you have Ad Block installed on your computer. It’s a pretty great piece of software that erases spammy ads from your browser and also lets you customize your experience, just in case there’s an ad you do want to see.
The downside? Companies that rely on those ads for revenue or marketing are struggling to find solutions to the sudden drop in exposure. Today, we’re going to discuss three possible solutions for those companies that still want to reach potential customers who use Ad Block.
While these strategies are more time consuming than posting an ad on a website, you are much more likely to reach your Ad Block audience and leave a bigger impact on their imagination. So pack your bags for the long haul!
1. Ride Someone Else’s Wave
Influencer marketing has fast become one of the most popular and successful marketing tools for reaching audiences online.
How It Works
By teaming up with an influential partner (a celebrity, another company, etc.) and creating branded content for their website, you can reach a larger range of people. Your original content may include:
- Articles
- Videos
- Infographics
However, it’s important that your content is optimized correctly so it generates the most traffic, awareness, and conversion possible. Optimization may include:
As a result, influencer marketing can be an intricate and time consuming process. If your company does not have the time or skillset necessary to carry out the strategy correctly, you may consider outsourcing to an experienced agency or choosing one of the other strategies below.
Why It’s Immune to Ad Block
Ad Block only works with blatant advertising. Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is all about subtlety. Ad Block has no way of telling whether an article, video, or infographic is an advertisement unless you use blatant ad techniques. By creating a non-promotional piece of content, you organically show your company’s value to the end user and they seek you out on their own.
2. Organically Promote Gated Content, Products, & Services in Free Content
People like to belong and be involved in a community. Promoting ways they can get involved for free and by giving something can increase conversions and your brand’s reach. I like to call this strategy “lifestyle marketing.”
How It Works
By creating a lifestyle for your brand and loyal customers set around a set of values, you can intrinsically promote related content, products and services that people have to do something (i.e. pay money, give an email address, “enter to win,” etc.) to get.
The Minimalists pull off organic promotion flawlessly. Their free podcasts provide helpful tips for people who want to lead minimalist lives. Every episode begins with “This episode is brought to you by…nobody.”
Throughout the episode however, they constantly reference their three books that go more in-depth than any answer they provide in the podcast. As a result, their podcasts act as a free preview for their priced books.
However, lifestyle marketing is a delicate balance of providing free and useful resources and promoting gated resources. Keep in mind that your audience will label any unrelated promotion as blatant advertising and won’t appreciate it to say the least. It always helps to get a professional second opinion of your content to ensure you’re hitting the sweet spot.
Why It’s Immune to Ad Block
Like influencer marketing, Ad Block is less likely to recognize related promotions within a free piece of content. In addition, when people are attracted to your brand’s lifestyle, they will want to show their support and get more involved over time. Therefore, people will be more likely to whitelist your site and allow your ads to show.
3. Collect Willing Subscribers
Setting up an email marketing strategy allows loyal customers to opt-in and receive your company’s promotions over email.
How It Works
Email marketing is one of the most straightforward techniques today. Once you have a list of customer emails, you can send them promotional content about your company’s brand, products or services. There are some best practices to follow, such as the 80/20 curation rule, which will keep your subscribers from unsubscribing. Research these best practices on your own or consult with a reputable digital agency to optimize conversion from your customer emails.
Why It’s Immune to Ad Block
While browser Ad Block plugins usually don’t apply to email, keep in mind that many email services provide their own spam filter that your emails will have to get through. Little details—like asking users on your subscription form to check their spam—can help ensure that they receive the emails you’re sending.