Question of the Week: Should I Be Doing More Aggressive Advertising on My Website?

Nope.

It might surprise you that we’re taking this stance. 

As advertising and marketing folks, you may have assumed we would jump up and belt out an affirmation that would rival even the most enthusiastic Gospel Church congregant. 

More aggressive advertising!? Well, hallelujah!  

But no. Why not? 

Because most of the aggressive marketing tactics that have been birthed in the past few years are a tremendous drag. And unless your goal is to deter traffic, you’ll want to avoid putting them on your website.

Such Aggressive Marketing Tactics Do More To Drive People Away

Honestly. And if there are users who enjoy visiting your site on a regular basis, how do you think they’ll respond to your adding aggressive marketing ploys?

A. They’ll really LOVE being bombarded. 

B. They’ll maybe tolerate being bombarded.

C. They’ll put a curse on the next three generations of your family.

If you circled A, you need to take off the rose-colored glasses. If you circled B, you’re at least a little more realistic. A little. If you circled C, your visitors might need some help with anger management, but are actually justified in their response. Because here’s the thing:   

Aggressive Advertising These Days Is Really Annoying

Let’s explore some of the particularly irritating tactics.

1. The Autoplay Video

Do you remember the first time you experienced one of these? It probably wasn’t as monumental in your memory as hearing about  something REALLY important - like the new caramel M&M’s. 

But if you were at work or in a quiet library, you were probably confused when a video was suddenly playing on your screen - sound included. And then everyone gave you the stink-eye. 

2. The Chock Full o’ Ads and Graphics Page

If you're a big fan of visiting a page that takes forever to load, and then revel in dealing with text that keeps jumping around while some new file loads and keeps rearranging the page, then this one is for you! 

The rest of us, i.e. the vast majority of the population, will take a pass. 

3. Slides

Taking a well-crafted article and breaking it into countless slides - purely in the interest of getting more clicks - is such an obvious tactic.  Particularly when there’s a banner ad on each slide and you have to scroll through to find the “Next” button. Forget that noise. 

4. Popups

Come on. 

One is bad enough. But more than one should be filed under Crimes Against Humanity. 

And Then There’s Passive-Aggressive Marketing

This involves the tactic of making you an offer, and then giving you the choice of “Yes” or “No,” except that the No part is followed by some absurd statement like:

• No, I don’t like saving money.
• No, I’d rather lose out on your wisdom.
• No, I really enjoy sticking pencils into my eyes.

And more often than not, the offer is to be on their emailing list - which they seem to liken to being shortlisted for the Nobel Prize. It’s a weak form of psychological warfare, and it’s pretty insulting. 

So if your website isn’t as effective in soliciting sales as you want it to be, don’t drive people away with aggressive marketing tactics. That’s just plain counterproductive.

Is it underperforming because it’s out of date? Could it stand to be redesigned and rewritten with an SEO strategy in mind? That’s a much more logical place to start…