We’ve all been there, scrolling through the internet late at night when you know you’re supposed to be sleeping. But something’s off. You’re getting hit with so many ads, and the worst part of it all is that you’re not interested in their products at all. For businesses, especially startups, this is really not a great first impression.
There are, however, ways to not fall into this trap. You can advertise to millions of people without annoying anyone. Here’s how.
3 Ways to do Ads Correctly
1. Choose a platform that fits your target audience
An easy way to not annoy potential customers is by targeting them correctly. For example, if your startup primarily sells hair gel, you don’t want to advertise and try to sell hair gel on a website called baldguys.com. Would it be hilarious if you did? Yes, absolutely. Does it make sense business-wise? No.
That’s why it’s important to know the audience of the platform where you’re trying to advertise. Baldguys.com can have millions of visitors, and your ad can get millions of impressions, but if nobody wants to buy your product, then it doesn’t really matter. Plus, I’m not sure if bald men want to be reminded of the time they used to have hair.
2. Subtle is Perfect
Another trap startups fall into is believing that flashy and in-your-face ads are better. But nobody likes loud, obnoxious ads; they prefer ads that don’t clutter up the whole screen. You might think that a smaller, less in-your-face ad is counterintuitive to get more eyes onto your startup and your product, but people remember ads that respect them.
3. Be clear about what you’re selling
The final thing you should do is ensure your ad is clear and concise. Potential customers need to know exactly who you are and what you’re selling. If you waste their time by posting ads that are cryptic and say something like, “By harnessing AI, we’re empowering enterprises to grow their ecosystem.” That really doesn’t explain anything, and people get annoyed when you’re trying to sell them something, while remaining cryptic and mysterious. Just tell them outright why they should consider your product or service.
Crafting the perfect advertisement campaign can be tedious and nerve-wracking, but it doesn’t have to be. Especially when you can join HackerNoon’s Targeted Ad Program. Here’s everything that it has to offer.
- HackerNoon has curated
100,000+ technology tags to date. - These tags are grouped into the relevant parent categories like
AI ,Web3 ,Programming ,Startups ,Cybersecurity ,Finance , Business, and more! - Every story organically gets at least eight relevant tech tags and a parent category.
- Sponsors buy multimodal placements on relevant categories with all the tags and stories.
- These Ad placements include Banners, Logos, Newsletter Ads, and Audio Ads (what we call truly AIO - Activities, Interests, and Opinions).
- Optimized for: Brand Recall and Clickability (Get 3× more clicks for the same impressions compared to elsewhere).
- Get quality leads at unbeatable prices, with CPM ~ $7 and CPC ~ $5.
Now, here are 3 startups that will annoy you with how amazing they are.
Meet Scoutlabs, DataRock Labs, and Hackrate: HackerNoon Startups of the Week
Scoutlabs
Farmers have a lot of problem-solving they have to do, and one big problem that is very time-consuming is dealing with insects destroying their crops. That’s where scoutlabs comes in. They specifically specialize in delta traps to help farmers get rid of insects in a quick and efficient way. These traps are made by farmers for farmers.
It’s this desire to help farmers that helped scoutlabs earn second place in HackerNoon’s Startups of the Year in Budapest, Hungary. They also have the honor of being in the top 10 Startups of The Year in the ClimateTech and Manufacturing categories. But the biggest honor came when they won 1st place in the Renewable Energy category.
DataRock Labs
Everyone knows that gathering data to better understand the needs of your customers and employees is extremely important. However, just having all that raw data will get you nowhere if you don’t know how to analyze it and turn it into an actionable plan. Well, with DataRock Labs’ services, that can all change. They offer Data Engineering, AI, and Business Intelligence services to help you better understand your data.
DataRock Labs made a name for itself in the SaaS, DevOps, and Developer Tools categories, and also scored 1st place as Startup of The Year in Budapest, Hungary.
Hackrate
It seems like almost every month, you hear about a company getting its data stolen, including all of its customers’ credit card information. They say all press is good press, but you really don’t want to be in the news because of that. That’s why Hackrate is well-trusted, because its services actively help companies improve their defenses and better understand their weaknesses. Attack surface management, a bug bounty board, and penetration testing are just a few of the services that Hackrate offers companies to level up their cybersecurity.
Hackrate came in 3rd place for Startups of The Year in Budapest, Hungary, and was also a recognized startup in the It Services, Web development, and Business Intelligence categories.
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That’s all we have for you today.
Until next time, Hackers!