About Online Advertising
Ignoring the Internet as an advertising outlet can cost you dearly. Advertisers, both big and small, have realized this, and most have sought to create an online presence. Fortunately, advertising on the Internet doesn't need to cost you a penny. Effective Internet advertising often ignores sophisticated SEO tricks and simply seeks to creatively capture the interest of users. Viral campaigns have proven that when users are enthused about a product or idea, they may become actively engaged as participants in the advertising process.
Research Purposes
Just as it is to individuals, the Internet is a valuable source of information to businesses. By carefully analyzing information gleaned from the Internet, businesses are able to hone marketing campaigns, both online and offline. Through online surveys, business interact directly with customers. In addition, business can study the online behavior of potential customers by using conversion tracking tools. These tools permit a business to track consumer activity by placing cookies on the computers of people who click on their ads. Thus, by studying the online behavior of its customer base, a business can learn modify its strategies to become more recognizable in the marketplace.
Unique Marketing Arena
At movie theaters, viewers are always treated to 10 to 15 minutes of movie previews. Of course, these previews always end by informing viewers that more information about the films can be found online. Advertisers are well aware of the fact that the Internet represents a unique marketing arena. By building an online presence, these advertisers can easily garner brand credibility. Unfortunately, scam artists and purveyors of low-quality products also attempt to use the Internet to achieve a measure of credibility.
The Social Factor
By allowing users to rate its products and honestly express their opinions, Amazon.com pioneered a new wave of marketing in the mid-1990s. This trend invited consumer response and was a precursor to sites built to promote unadulterated social networking. Recently, social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook have relied on advertising in the form of sponsorships and targeted advertising. Furthermore, individual users have taken advantage of advertising opportunities via these social networking sites. For example, best-selling author Paulo Coelho has provided links on Myspace instructing readers on download his books for free, with the intent of increasing offline sales.
Grassroots Involvement
Affiliate marketing programs seek to engage consumers by allowing them to function as commissioned salesmen. In return for hosting ads related to the content of their websites, these consumers receive a small portion of profits generated through sales based on the ads. Amazon.com was granted a patent on the most important components of an affiliate program in February 2000. However, such a program is currently in use by a wide variety of companies, including one of Amazon's competitors, eBay.com.
Adwords Campaigns
Google Adwords campaigns allow businesses to create and implement advertising for as low as 25 cents and as high as infinity. The short ads promoted through an Adwords program can be targeted to a local, national or even international audience. Whenever Internet users search Google for information, these ads also appear in the margin of search results. They are sometimes present on websites themselves. This program's popularity serves to bolster its effectiveness.
