Recently the IAB reported that internet 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.
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.
What’s Next?
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; and
Measure your results.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Why Online Ads are Weathering the Recession (businessweek.com)
- The Online Advertising Cost Fraud (mediabullseye.com)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
When compared to traditional advertising it becomes obvious the objective of marketing.
Marketing is not what generates a sale or closes the sale. Marketing in any business is to attract a potential customer.
It is the responsibility of the business, be it bricks and mortar or online to close and complete the sale.
So the question is, will advertising decline? Well to answer that question then simply ask yourself, does your business still need a flow of potential customers?
If there is a replacement for advertising, online or offline, then maybe.
Sure businesses have tighter budgets now, but should they increase their potential customer flow or let it dwindle in times of recession?
Simple answer, never let the customer flows dwindle. Cutting costs and expenses is important when revenue drops, but cutting expenses will not cause revenues to increase. Only increasing customer flow or web traffic will.
Cost per click and Cost Per Action Online Advertising is a wiser investment now more than ever as businesses begin to measure the quality of marketing efforts and the ROI.
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