From hair salons to mid-sized enterprises, to international corporations with thousands of employees – many companies are investing in digital advertising. For marketing managers, brand safety is more important than ever. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, the rules of digital marketing are changing.
AI systems are becoming more and more powerful, at an increasing pace. This opens up many opportunities, but also entails risks. For example, fake news can be generated faster than ever with the help of AI, and the number of questionable advertising environments – such as “made for advertising” sites – is steadily increasing. These developments must be taken into account when planning campaigns. Large companies have well-established brand safety processes in place. But how can small and micro-enterprises protect their brands?
Why does brand safety pose challenges for small businesses?
Large brands usually have their own marketing departments or agency partners that specifically handle brand-safe advertising. Small businesses, on the other hand, often lack the necessary budget, expertise, and time to carefully plan and test campaigns before an advertising measure even generates revenue.
A lack of knowledge about blacklisting, targeting options, and billing models makes it even more difficult to protect the brand. The first step toward greater brand safety is thus to gain knowledge – and awareness of typical mistakes and misunderstandings.
High reach does not guarantee safety
Many small companies use well-known digital marketing tools from large platforms to quickly boost reach. But there are risks involved. It often remains unclear in which environment ads are actually displayed. Especially on platforms with user-generated content, such as social media, there is a risk that advertising will appear alongside fake news or hate speech. Such environments damage brands. In addition, the booking systems of these platforms are often complex and require in-depth expertise.
The blacklisting trap
Another risk lies in the indiscriminate use of blacklists, i.e. excluding pages that contain certain keywords. If terms such as “war” or “weapons” are blocked, this can result in ads no longer being displayed, even in reputable journalistic environments. This way, potentially valuable reach is wasted, even though these media would offer a safe, editorially-vetted environment.
Why quality media offer the best protection
For truly brand-safe campaign planning, it makes sense to consider the strength of reputable media environments. Editorially-reviewed content creates trust and credibility among target groups – a clear advantage for any brand.
Advertisers also benefit from the so-called halo effect: The trust that users place in high-quality journalistic media is automatically transferred to the advertising placed there. Advertising in quality environments is thus not only safer, but strengthens brand perception in the long term.
Brand safety for everyone: Self-booking tools are an easy solution
For small businesses looking to implement brand-safe digital marketing, low-threshold solutions such as the self-booking tool BCN Smart Distribution Cockpit, provided directly by BCN as marketer, are a good option. It is user-friendly and allows for easy booking of campaigns in quality media without requiring a minimum booking volume – ideal for micro-enterprises. The Cockpit can be used to place text and image ads, as well as more comprehensive advertorials. These offer more space to explain facts and fit seamlessly into an editorial context. Innovative AI supports the creation of text and image ads with suggestions, speeding up the booking process. In just 5 steps, the campaign is ready to go!
Self-booking tools like the BCN Smart Distribution Cockpit give access to brand-safe digital marketing and make professional advertising placements possible, even for small budgets. Bottom line: Brand safety doesn’t have to remain a privilege of big brands. By avoiding common mistakes, focusing on quality environments, and choosing user-friendly tools, you can ensure that your brand appears in trustworthy contexts – not where it could suffer damage.
Yildiz Cetinbas Senior Product Manager yildiz.cetinbas@bcn.group