Recent studies have shown unanimously that recognizable brands convert at up to 300% more than companies with no little or no brand recognition. The industry ecommerce average is hovering in the 1% range; Staples.com has a 20% conversion rate.

The problem is that companies are spending more and more of their dollars online. Online advertising companies are very direct-response driven. Clients expect to see the ROI for every dollar spent. This data has been a 2-edged sword. It is great that you can see where your dollar goes; in fact, I pitch it all day long. The problem is that the very ability that allows us to see the fine detail of where marketing dollars goes gets clients (of all sizes) away from branding and simply obsessed with a sale or conversion. In addition to this, most online businesses are not funded and require making a profit each month on its marketing dollar. This makes it very hard as a combination direct response/branding campaign is hard to pull off.

It is my belief that the internet will do a dramatic shift from its’ early pioneers of young people building seriously profitable garage-based businesses to large brands dominating the space. The “little guys” need to start coming up with a clever way to get people brand aware before it is too late.

Are you as sick of seeing the ad below as much as me?

If I see another Google ad my head will explode.

With the reach they currently have, I believe Google will start doing more bad than good for themselves. They will have the same issue that Alta Vista/Yahoo/Excite had in the 90’s. Although banner ads are now have a click through rate of under 1%, when they first came out, you could get a click through rate close to 6%.

Right now, all data shows that text ad’s kick the crap out of graphic ads all day long. The problem is that more than 50% of ad-based websites are displaying Google ad results. If people see the same thing over and over again, they will simply stop clicking on them.

Website owners, please start spreading your wings a bit. There are other ways to make money and more advertisements to make money on. The more we see them, the less often we will click.