Recently the IAB reported that online advertising grew 10% in 2008. While search advertising dominated (with 45% of the total internet advertising market), rich media and video advertising also grew at the same rate (roughly 20% courtesy of TechCrunch.)

Internet marketing growth continues to outpace traditional media, and many SMEs (small to midsize entities) are finally realizing that inbound digital marketing can be cost-effective, easily measured and very profitable.

Online Advertising to the Marketing Mix

Everyone knows about email marketing and search marketing, but it’s time for all SMEs to familiarize themselves with online advertising.

What’s the difference?

Let’s clarify with definitions of each:

Email marketing: Sending outbound emails to your list.

Search marketing: Obtaining visitors to your website from search engines. The two forms of search marketing are organic and paid search (often referred to as PPC).

Online advertising: Placing electronic advertisements and videos on other websites and email newsletters.

Online advertising can help you accomplish a number of different business goals. Use it to

• Generate new leads
• Promote a special offer or program to generate leads or sales
• Increase your visibility among targeted prospects
• Drive a lot of traffic to your website

Your website is a critical element to any online ad campaign. Everyone clicking your online ad will land somewhere on your website, so make sure it’s as effective as possible.

Online Advertising Types

Now let’s take a look at some of the different online advertising campaigns you can run.

Banner Advertising 

A banner ad is a graphical advertisement placed on another website. You can run a banner ad campaign on a specific site or collection of sites. When site visitors click your ad, they visit a landing page on your site that continues your sales message.

Rich Media & Online Video Ads

A different creative option than the standard banner program – “rich media” refers to more interactive ads that are programmed in Flash or other languages. They can incorporate motion, audio and video, float over a page and include forms and downloads right from the ad.

Advertisements on Email Newsletters

Run an ad in the body of another company’s email newsletter.  The ads link to a landing page on your site. The ad could also be a simple text ad or a special email that’s dedicated to you but co-sponsored by the list owner.

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs enable other website publishers to put your ad on their sites. You create the ad, and when visitors click through to your site, the publishers earn commission for each click-through or other “success measurement” that you’ve previously agreed upon. 

Next Steps

The key to deciding which type of program to run is to pick the program to match your business goals. Then, it’s all about execution:

• Define your goals
• Buy ad space
• Choose your media
• Create your ads
• Measure your results