Ad serving and privacy issues
People knowing about your business might start with seeing your ads online. When it comes to advertising, the goal is to draw in as many people as possible so that they will purchase your products or services and continue to do so for as long as you are in business. Great service is the key to keeping a customer once you draw them in. Nowadays, it’s easy to get your ads out to the masses quickly with many available
ad servers but you can hurt your business if you do not pay attention to the privacy issues and regulations that are an integral part of the advertising business. Here are a few things you need to know about privacy before you begin serving ads.
Keep it simple
Advancements in technology have made it easy to get ads out quickly to your target audience. Some people seem to think that they are free to do as they please, but they sometimes fail to follow the rules that are in place for advertisers and publishers. Often, technology is not the limit but other legal and ethical concerns are the deal breaker. You cannot just place any type of ad that you see fit or use ad targeting to discriminate people. There are rules and ethical concerns that need to be considered and adhered along the steps. It is better to keep your ad campaigns and targeting parameters simple, understandable and reasonable. Over-complex, complicated and fancy ad technologies can make issues difficult to troubleshoot and explain to the public. Without being able to explain what is going on behind the scene, it is not easy for the public to trust the ad technology.
Stay transparent
We have all seen the small print or disclosure link near an advertising placement, but how many of us take the time to actually read and understand it? Whether we read it or not, it is there for a reason, which is to maintain a level of transparency that customers need to see. Viewers need to be aware of what you are doing with their data, how much of it is collected, how it is shared, if at all, and how long you keep that data on file. If you cannot answer any of those questions when asked, that is a problem that needs to be fixed with a clear data and privacy policy for your ad serving setup.
Understand web browsers
While your goal is to reach as many people as possible with your ads, you also need to be aware that it is not everyone that wants to see them. Modern browsers increasingly offer their users more privacy protection options, such as ad blocking, tracking prevention and the ability to turn off cookies. These settings are enforced by the browser and the more people use them, the bigger the impact to advertisers and publishers. The advertising industry must learn to depend less on personal data and use non-personal data more effectively.
Respect user preferences
The best way to show that you respect your users is to give them control what they want to see and what they do not want to see. Viewers understand that publishers and website owners depend on
ad serving as a source of income to stay in business. However, having creepy ads follow users around or seeing too many ads on a page definitely contributes to the problem. Viewers need to be allowed to block certain types of ads, as well as being able to opt out of ads that they are no longer interested in seeing. This is especially true for email ads, which can very quickly be marked as spam if the opt-out or unsubscribe option is not made available.
Create a strong business model
If your business depends on advertising, make sure it is sustainable. The easiest way to do that is to treat each and every customer with a high level of respect. It is possible to advertise without invading people’s privacy and without collecting and relying on too much personal data. Do not blast out false or misleading information in your ads. If you do need to collect personal data, keep it to the bare minimum.
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