Display Advertising Should Start With the Audience. Not the Ad.
Display
Display advertising is everywhere. That’s both its strength and its weakness. The ability to serve an ad across websites, apps and digital environments isn’t particularly difficult anymore. The harder question is:
Which people are actually worth reaching?
At MarketStorm, Display isn’t simply a media channel.
It’s one of the ways the MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ turns audience intelligence into influence. We use behavioral data, AI and custom algorithms to identify emerging consumer intent, build highly specific audiences, and reach those audiences as they move across the digital world.
The ad is Display. The intelligence behind it is MarketStorm.
Display as a media channel:
Where can we place the ad?
Display with MarketStorm Intelligence:
Who is showing relevant intent, and
where can we reach them?
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What are people researching? HVAC Costs
Energy Efficiency -
What problems are emerging? Rising Energy Bills Home Comfort
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What signals active consideration? Comparing Requesting Quotes
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What topics are
gaining importance? Efficiency
Home Upgrades
We Don’t Start With Available Targeting. We Start With Behavior.
Most advertising platforms offer a menu of audiences. Demographics. Interests. Affinities. In-market categories. Lookalikes. Contextual segments. They can all have value, but they also begin with the audiences a particular platform makes available.
MarketStorm approaches the problem differently. We start by asking what consumer behavior is telling us. What are people researching? What problems appear to be emerging? What topics are becoming more important to them? What behaviors suggest movement from general interest toward active consideration?
The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ uses those behavioral signals to help identify emerging intent and build audiences around the needs of the advertiser — rather than simply selecting from the audiences available within a media platform.
THAT’S AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION Our audience strategy isn’t defined by the network where the ad happens to appear.
- Behavioral Signals
- Intent
- Audience
- Activation
As Platforms Change, Our intelligence Remains Consistent.
The digital advertising ecosystem never stands still. Media networks evolve. Targeting options change. Platforms consolidate products. Automation takes over decisions that advertisers once controlled manually. New inventory appears and old capabilities disappear.
MarketStorm was built differently. Our core audience intelligence doesn’t begin with the targeting menu of a particular advertising network. It begins with behavioral signals and emerging intent. That means the underlying question remains consistent even as the media landscape changes:
Who is demonstrating the behaviors that matter to this business right now?
- Platforms Change
- Targeting Options Change
- Inventory Changes
- Screens Change
- Audience Intelligence Remains
The available inventory may change.
The platforms may change. The screens may change.
The intelligence travels with the audience.
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CTV can introduce
a brand with sight -
Native can provide context while
someone is reading or researching -
Audio can extend into
screen-free moments -
Display can provide persistent visual reinforcement
Display Is Where Audience Intelligence Becomes Persistent.
A consumer journey doesn’t happen in one place. Someone might research a problem in the morning, read the news at lunch, visit an industry site that afternoon, stream content that evening and search for a company several days later.
Display gives MarketStorm the ability to maintain visibility as that journey develops. Unlike other platforms, we’re not trying to follow everyone everywhere. The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ is designed to determine which audiences are worth continuing to influence.
That makes Display particularly valuable within the Intent & Influence Layer. CTV can introduce a brand with sight, sound and motion. Native can provide context while someone is reading and researching. Streaming Audio can extend the relationship into screen-free moments. Display can provide persistent visual reinforcement as the consumer continues moving through the digital world.
Different channels. One audience.
One intelligence layer.
We Don’t Retarget a
Signal. We Retarget
a Verified Human.
This is one of the most important differences in the MarketStorm approach. Behavioral data can indicate potential intent. A behavioral signal alone isn’t enough for MarketStorm to begin retargeting.
First, an initial ad is served. That interaction allows us to verify that the audience member is human rather than
automated traffic.
Only then does that individual become eligible for MarketStorm’s cross-channel Intent
Retargeting.
INTENT RETARGETING
-
Behavioral
Signal -
Intent
Identified -
Initial Ad
Served -
Human
Verified -
Intent
Retargeting
This creates a very different starting point from conventional website retargeting
TRADITIONAL RETARGETING
Typically begins after someone visits a website.
MARKETSTORM INTENT RETARGETING
Can begin before the website visit – after the audience member has been human-verified.
We can continue influencing a verified human who
has already demonstrated relevant intent.
Display Doesn’t Have to Wait
for the Website Visit.
Think about what that means in practice. A consumer demonstrates behaviors that suggest emerging intent. MarketStorm identifies that consumer as part of a relevant audience. An initial ad is served and the consumer is human-verified. Now the journey can continue.
- PATH 1
- Intent
- Human
Verification - Display
- Native
- CTV
- Display
- Audio
- PATH 2
- Intent
- Human Verification
- CTV
- Display
- Audio
- PATH 3
- Intent
- Human Verification
- Display
- Google Search
- Website
There isn’t one required sequence, and there shouldn’t be. Consumers don’t follow media plans.
Our technology is designed to follow the
audience as the journey develops.
The Channel Can Change Without Losing the Audience.
This is where MarketStorm’s cross-channel architecture becomes particularly powerful. An audience identified for a Display campaign isn’t trapped inside Display. Our algorithms are designed for cross-channel activation.
A consumer who demonstrates intent and becomes human-verified through an initial ad can continue to be reached through other MarketStorm programmatic channels without first having to click an ad or visit the advertiser’s website.
That means Display can reinforce a CTV exposure. CTV can amplify an audience first reached through Display. Native can provide additional context. Streaming Audio can continue the relationship when the screen disappears.
The channel changes.
The audience intelligence doesn’t.
Display Can Influence the Search Before It Happens.
Eventually, emerging intent becomes actionable demand. Someone decides they’re ready. They may visit the website directly. They may search for the brand. They may look for reviews. They may open Google. They may call. They may visit a physical location. MarketStorm doesn’t need to prescribe that final step. Our role is earlier.
Display allows us to maintain relevant brand visibility while consumers are still forming preferences and deciding what they will do next. When they ultimately move into a demand-capture environment, they aren’t necessarily encountering the brand for the first time.
They may be looking for a brand
they already know.
That’s a very different marketing outcome from simply waiting to compete for attention after the search has begun.
- Intent Identified
- Human Verified
- Display Exposure
- Additional Cross-Channel Influence
- Google Search
- Website Visit
- Intent Identified
- Human Verified
- Display Exposure
- Additional Cross-Channel Influence
- Google Search
- Website Visit
And We Can See Beyond the Display Click.
Clicks are useful, but they’re not the only way people respond to advertising. A consumer can see a MarketStorm Display ad without clicking it and later arrive at the advertiser’s website another way. They may type the URL directly. Search the company name. Come through Google. Return through another source.
A click is one response.
It isn’t the whole journey.
Where the available identity and measurement signals support it, MarketStorm can connect those subsequent website visits with earlier programmatic exposure.
AI is increasingly being used throughout digital advertising. Platforms can use AI to determine bids, placements, creative combinations, frequency and which impressions are most likely to generate a conversion. Those capabilities can make media delivery more efficient. MarketStorm uses AI earlier in the process.
We use AI to make the audience more intelligent before the impression is served.
Our custom algorithms are designed to identify behavioral patterns associated with emerging intent. Human verification strengthens that audience. Cross-channel activation allows us to continue influencing it. Measurement helps us understand what happens next. The result isn’t simply more automated Display advertising. It’s Display powered by an intelligence system designed around the consumer.
AI Should Make the Audience Smarter, Not Just the Ad Serving.
Not Built Around a Network. Built Around Human Behavior.
This distinction is becoming increasingly important. MarketStorm isn’t dependent on a single media network’s definition of who your audience should be. The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ isn’t designed for one vertical, one company size or one advertising platform.
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01 A national brand may need millions of relevant customers
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02 A franchise organization may need different audiences in different local markets
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01 A private equity portfolio may need intelligence that can scale across multiple companies
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02 A regional brand may need to identify a highly specific opportunity within a defined geography
The common denominator is human behavior and emerging intent. The business changes. The geography changes.
The media environment changes. The intelligence adapts.
Display Advertising, the MarketStorm Way
Book a Demo Talk to MarketStormDisplay isn’t the strategy. It’s an extraordinarily powerful way to put the strategy to work. MarketStorm combines behavioral signals, AI, custom algorithms, human verification and cross-channel activation to determine which audiences are worth reaching — and then uses Display as one of the environments where that influence can happen.
We don’t have to wait for a website visit. We don’t lose the audience when the channel changes. And we don’t require the consumer to click our ad for their journey to continue. Because the ability to serve a Display ad isn’t the competitive advantage. Knowing who is worth serving it to is.
MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™
Find the signal. Verify the human. Understand the intent. Influence what
happens next.
Good to Know
Programmatic can be complicated. It doesn’t have to be. Here are a few things worth knowing.
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What is programmatic Display advertising?
Programmatic Display refers to visual advertisements purchased and delivered through programmatic technology across websites, apps and other digital environments.
MarketStorm uses Display as one environment for reaching and continuing to influence relevant audiences. The objective isn’t simply to buy inexpensive impressions. It is to put the impression in front of a consumer whose behavior suggests it may matter.
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Where do Display ads appear?
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Is Display advertising primarily about getting clicks?
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Is Display the same thing as retargeting?