The banner ad creation process can be intense. After creating eye-catching graphics, A/B split testing different calls-to-action and even working on device optimization, it's easy to feel like you've finished the job once the perfect banner ad finally comes together. But, in some respects, the journey is just beginning, as even the most perfect banner ad won't be very effective if it doesn't reach the right audience. Fortunately, there are some banner ad best practices to get the ball rolling after the ad creation phase.

We're back with another episode of "Ask the Experts." Today we sat down to discuss using digital marketing to target the right audience at the right time and place, with scale and efficiency. We also make sense of terms like 'programmatic', 'real time bidding', and more, describing what they are and what they mean for businesses like yours.  

What is ad blocking? From the perspective of consumers, the prospect is win-win. Not only can they bypass content they didn't elect to see, but they can save on data costs by not loading it. However, for marketers, this can seem like a zero-sum game. It's easy to get frustrated by this behavior, but taking a hard look at where ad blocking is happening (and where it is going) can help you get in front of this growing trend.

What Is Ad Blocking?

Most marketers know that ad blocking is add-on software that users seek out and download with the intent of stopping display ads from loading on a requested page. While the concept is pretty straightforward, the "add-on" part of the equation is somewhat mystifying. Many consumers simply don't bother to seek out browser extensions, making it less of a pressing issue than some marketers might fear. In fact, data reported by Fortune shows that only 6 percent of Internet users around the world are actively blocking ads. Although that figure is low, the same report shows that ad blocking is on the rise, particularly among millennials.

The trick to hosting a successful event isn't just putting on a show that people will enjoy. More often than not, it's a matter of making sure interested fans know about the event in the first place. With so much digital content competing for the attention of customers, it's easy for a promising event to get lost in the fray.

Thanks to location-based targeting strategies, digital channels have become a valuable way to address this issue and dispense event marketing materials. Brands can seek out smart partnerships and relevant advertising destinations to reach their target audience and build interest for their event weeks — or months — in advance.

Being a mom in the 21st century is a tough business. Stay-at-home moms, working moms and even work-at-home moms are facing increasing demands and pressures on their schedules. As marketers, it can be tough to reach a demographic that is seemingly always on the go and checking things off her to-do list with rapid-fire efficiency. While supermoms often power through the day with laser-focus, marketers can use audience targeting in a way that feels familiar, meaningful, and doesn't interfere with busy schedules. Ignoring the group just isn't an option. Moms are often the key financial decision makers in the household, according to a report by ClickZ

In Tampa, digital marketing trends are creating new opportunities for small and midsize businesses. Thanks to advances in GPS technology, users can find and interact with brick-and-mortar businesses like never before. This can lead to increased profits for business owners who are ready to experiment. However, if you don't have a background in new technology, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are some tips for Tampa Bay Area businesses.

Earlier this year, Ad Age proclaimed, "ROI Is Dead." It's certainly true that the digital age has given rise to many more tools measuring ad engagement and tracking consumer behavior, so it makes sense to create new metrics. But where to start? The sheer number of variables — Are your customers using mobile or desktop? Are they on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook? — makes for a daunting list of factors to consider. It's tough to know what really constitutes ad engagement in this complex new marketing world.

There's a reason some marketers consider retargeting to be the highest-value digital campaign, and it all starts with the audience you choose. Unlike many other types of digital marketing, which aim to reach new consumers and expand brand reach and visibility, retargeting concerns itself only with past website traffic and consumers who have demonstrated an interest in your products or services.

Retargeted ads, whether delivered through traditional computers or via a mobile retargeting strategy, attempt to reconnect with those prospects who have since moved away from your brand's properties without completing a conversion. The retargeted ads function as a means of trying to rescue and secure a potential conversion.

The trick to optimizing retargeting campaigns all hinges on the quality of their underlying strategy. Here's a guide to making the most of this digital opportunity.

In August 2014, Facebook launched its cross-device targeting tool for digital ads, as reported by AdExchanger, which sent a clear signal that the social media giant is becoming accepted by marketers as a way to measure and reach Internet users across smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Cross-device targeting occurs when a brand identifies a visitor to its website and subsequently serves an ad to that consumer when they are browsing elsewhere on another device. If a person is perusing Kate Spade handbags from her work desktop on the Nordstrom website, for instance, she may see a Kate Spade banner ad for a sale on her mobile Pandora app.

The goal of cross-device targeting is to more closely follow the new customer journey, requiring multiple touches to influence purchasing decisions. Here are three ways the tool will change your digital advertising strategy:

If you want to deliver messages to the right audience at the right place and time, geo-precise targeting is the way to go. This marketing tactic helps you determine where your ideal customer is and deliver content to them based on that location. The increase in mobile users has made this hyperlocal strategy more relevant to a user's intent. Now you can serve up campaigns to people searching or viewing your products or services in a particular location, rather than where that user lives.

With geo-targeting, you leverage precise locations to increase your relevance to the user, as Google explains. This is ideal for targeting mobile users because you can set geographic boundaries (called geo-fencing) and deliver ads to mobile users when they enter this area.