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It seemed that online advertising was a lost cause once the dot-com crash hit. Overuse killed the banner ads and exuberant about of spam killed the e-mail campaigns. Internet users tuned out and it seemed that marketers had killed the golden goose. But a curious thing has happened between then and now. Not only has online advertising and marketing survived, but it has emerged as an absolutely vital part of today's marketing mix.
Online marketing brings new levels of reach, targeting, and accountability, and it has moved right into the mainstream. Online advertising has become the solution to many marketing problems to a point that other media haven't been able to do.
The numbers reaffirm this, as shown by PricewaterhouseCoopers and IAB's September report, that online ad spending in the United States totaled $2.37 billion in the 2nd quarter which was a 42.7% increase over the same quarter of the previous year. This shows the seventh consecutive quarter of growth and the market today is growing at more than 20% per year.
Companies are spending at a level that is really pretty interesting. Consider the Ford Motor Co and Tom Green, the advertising manager of its truck division, had just finished a new season of marketing campaigns. Green says, "We gave digital as much thought and attention as any other medium. Look at the numbers." He said that, "80% of people who buy a Ford vehicle go to our Web site first. Half of all truck customers use online shopping sites. You'd be crazy as a marketer not to take this medium seriously."
That much attention and spending to online advertising just goes to show that Internet usage is now firmly in the mainstream and that broadband usage has grown by exponentially. According to Forrester Research, 64% of American households are online, with nearly 20% or 23.1 million homes, using broadband as opposed to dail-up. Nielsen/NetRatings, which measures individual users rather than households, reported that 51% of July, 2004 users connected to the Internet by broadband vs. 49% by narrowband, an industry first.
Today the Internet is almost everywhere, and when it's not, people notice and demand that it be even more widely available. Online advertising has matured and it now allows marketers to "target" consumers in a fine-tuned fashion. Thus creating highly personalized user experience. It's as effective in getting across and branding a message as any other advertising medium.
Another thing that online advertising does is that it allows two-way interaction between advertisers and their target audience by providing a "real-time" feedback loop that's invaluable. A marketer can establish and maintain a two-way dialogue with a consumer online, and no other form of advertising can do this as efficiently.
The internet allows large advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co. to interact with groups of consumers more directly than ever before. This is demonstrated by being able to engage with a millions of consumers in their database on a monthly basis through their Club Olay program.
Online advertising encompasses an almost countless amount of messaging formats, from banner ads and e-mail messages to more elaborate interactive vehicles and microsites. It's the capability to combine the motion and animated visuals of television with an intimate and personal interaction.
The results of online advertising campaigns can be extremely accurate, making publishers accountable for the promises they make, and marketers accountable to management for the success of their programs. Yet even though online advertising have shown its strengths, real-world marketers have incorporated online advertising as just another medium in their standard marketing mix.
Marketers are on the cusp of a big trend now, made possible by the familiarity and true use of the internet as an advertising medium. This is the starting point, where the future growth in online advertising is just beginning to come into view. Where will you go from here?
Wayne Van Dyck is a former venture capitalist and builder of offline technology companies. He is the founder and developer of Simple Money Machines. Simple Money Machines is all the money making technologies in one, easy-to-use, hosted application… enabling non-technical people to set up online businesses in less than 30 minutes. It's made for people with 9-5 jobs, retired folks, stay-at-home moms and college students. To get a FREE copy of "STARTING A HOME BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE", go to: http://tinyurl.com/ykyoqx.
Permission to reprint this article in unchanged form, including author bio.
Category: Internet MarketingOnly 10 Years to Get to the Start Gate! was written by:Author:Wayne Van DyckAdded: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:19:29 -0500 This Article Has Been Read 645 times View all Wayne Van Dyck's articlesAbout the Author: Wayne Van Dyck is a former venture capitalist and builder of offline technology companies. He is the founder and developer of Simple Money Machines. Simple Money Machines is all the money making technologies in one, easy-to-use, hosted application� enabling non-technical people to set up online businesses in less than 30 minutes. It's made for people with 9-5 jobs, retired folks, stay-at-home moms and college students. To get a FREE copy of �STARTING A HOME BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE", go to: http://tinyurl.com/ykyoqx. Permission to reprint this article in unchanged form, including author bio. |
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