Companies advertise because they want
to promote the products and services they offer to a target audience of prospective customers. There are many methods for
doing this and many types of media who can deliver the advertising messages to their circulation or audience bases. Market
research is used to determine the characteristics of buyers and potential for advertising success. Once that information has
been received and analysed, a plan is developed, a budget determined and methods considered. After approval by management
executives, a team of professionals comprised of copywriters, graphic designers and others goes to work to create the advertising
based upon how and where it will be used in the media selected.
Traditional methods employed for many
decades included advertising in newspapers, magazines and other print media; radio and television commercials; direct mailings
to specific lists; trade show attendance and others. These methods were implemented either by full-service advertising agencies
or in-house advertising departments or, occasionally, by a combination of the two. Client or company ad budgets varied from
a few hundred dollars to multi-millions annually, depending upon the size of the budget and the reach desired.
Internet technologies have added new
depth and reach
Since the advent of the worldwide Internet,
an entire new range of advertising possibilities has become available to company’s small or large. (suresolutionsinc.com,
2004) This has required people with entirely new, technology-based expertise to implement effective advertising. The same
effective advertising principles and creativity that work in traditional methods still apply on the internet, but the advertising
messages themselves are packaged in unique new ways. (NetLogical, 2007) Some of these include:
Pay-per-inclusion utilized by some
of the largest directory services. Here, small ads and listings are priced based upon the ‘reach’ of the directory
services on the web.
Pay-per-performance where products
are sold through directories searched by comparison shoppers. Advertisers (merchants) are charged when website users ‘click’
on the advertising message which is tracked by a computer.
Per-per-click offered by large search
engines like Google or Yahoo! where advertising campaigns are developed and displayed on pages and accessed when specific
‘keywords’ are used by prospects.
E-mail marketing which much like traditional
direct mail, depends upon the quality of the list used to be effective. This tool has become somewhat more limited due to
the widespread use of anti-spam software and e-mail filters. However, carefully designed and routed e–mails can still
be effective advertising methods.
Blogging, or an editorial that delivers
timely information on products or services offered is quickly becoming a key element for Internet sales. Blogs use RSS feeds,
Atom feeds or links to format and feed the information to directories and a wide range of other outlets. The more popular
the blog is, the more readers, links and feeds that are available and the wider overall reach for the businesses’ messages.
(SureSolutions, Inc. 2004)
There is a great deal of competition
to achieve high rankings with the major Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo!, AOL and others. Companies are using a
new class of specialists schooled in search engine optimization to make it happen for their clients. Larger companies today
use both traditional and Internet media to reach their vital ‘publics.’
References
Beighton, C. (2007) Internet Advertising
(on-line)
Available from: http://www.netlogical.com/marketing/ free_website_marketing_help/
Accessed: 10-19-07
SureSolutions, Inc. (2004) “Internet
Marketing & Advertising Method Review” (on-line)
Available from: http://www.suresolutionsinc.com/ internet_marketing_advertising.html
Accessed: 10-19-07
