Online Advertising: Go Global!
When the first online advertisement banner appeared in 1994, it captured and monopolized our eyeballs. Although the dot-com crash hit, it seemed that online advertising was a lost cause. Ad blockers killed the banner ads, and spam killed the e-mail campaigns. Users tuned out, and it seemed that marketers had killed the golden goose. But a funny thing has happened between then and now. Not only has online advertising and marketing endured, but it has emerged as an absolutely crucial part of today’s marketing mix.
Online marketing brings new levels of reach, targeting and accountability, and has moved into the mainstream. Online advertising has become the solution to marketing problems at a level that other media haven’t been able to do.
Consider Ford Motor Co, Tom Green the advertising manager of its truck division just finished a new season of marketing campaigns. Mr. Green says, “we gave digital as much thought and attention as any other medium. Look at the numbers,” he says, “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 is the fact that Internet usage is now firmly in the mainstream and broadband usage has grown by leaps and bounds. With 28.7% people using internet in the world, you can imagine how many possible customer that will see your online ads.
Online advertising also allows two-way interaction between advertisers and their targets, 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 effectively.
For large advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co., online lets them interact with groups of consumers more directly than ever before. This is demonstrated by being able to engage with a million consumer database on a monthly basis through their Club Olay program.
Online advertising supports an almost endless variety 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 close-up and personal interaction.
Beside of all capabilities above, online advertising make it possible for marketers to acquire the detailed data of their ads, such as: how many people visit our website, how many of them click the ads, how is the visitor country distribution, and many other important data.
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?
