What is display advertising and how can you make it work for your business? Jamie Brown of Archant Local Impact explains.

Even if you don't realise it, you have come across display advertising.

You have seen it on web pages, in newspapers and in magazines.

It's everywhere, once you start to look, and there are plenty of companies out there who are already doing it well. So how do you get display advertising to work for your business?

Let's begin by asking 'Just what is display advertising meant to do?'

Display is an often misunderstood ad format: it has changed significantly, even in the last 10 years and has gone from being the jack-of-all-trades to being a powerful but more specialised tool. Let me explain…

We are in a time when you can show your display ads to a pretty specific audience… big circulation figures and high viewer figures aren't the be-all-and-end-all-now.

Modern marketing techniques allow display to be targeted, by context, geography and data to entirely relevant audiences.

The content of display ads is also changing – remember display is being shown (in the main) to people who aren't researching, comparing or buying yet.

A modern display audience is relevant but mainly passive, so hammering them with an offer or loads of product detail is unlikely to be effective. Modern display needs to clearly tell the passive audience: 'We are awesome at that thing you love… our name is x, remember us.'

So the long and short of it is that modern display's greatest strength is building awareness in a target market… and this is what your display is meant to do.

With that in mind, your business needs to use its display advertising to deliver interesting, engaging and (importantly) memorable content.

At Local Impact we have been doing this for our readers for more than 165 years – we get display.

We can also help you measure just how effective your display is and show you how your brand strength is driving your sales. We really are display advertising black belts.

Get in touch now and get the benefit of all our brightest sparks.

Find out more at www.archantlocalimpact.co.uk