Online marketing ad spend exceeds print advertising. Are you aware or ready for online to dominate? Online advertising appears to be much easier since it only takes a few clicks to create an advertisement and another click shows the results in a matter of hours. With simple processes in place to "order advertising", the Internet has too many curtains, yellow brick roads and, of course, wizards. The Land of Oz has nothing on the Internet in regards to the imaginary which can be made to appear real. It is much too easy to turn a great marketing plan into an empty checkbook by clicking on another online marketing campaign.
The trap for an entrepreneur happens when advertising is based on the idea of "follow the perceived leader". Blindly buying online advertising as a defensive marketing tactic or simply because another company is doing so will become a path to failure just as when buying advertising offline. "Others are doing it so I should too" mindset is a dead end plan.
Since traditional advertising has become less effective, attention turns to the virtual world. Buying advertising online is still advertising but there is an advantage because of target marketing. The ability to focus marketing efforts on specific interest groups, keywords, industries and browsing history is too good to pass up. The appeal to seeing results within hours online vs. waiting days or weeks with traditional print ads makes online marketing attractive.
Will consumers time online increase in the future? Will the virtual world become the preferred place to be instead of the dirt world? Movies such as "The Matrix" reflect scenarios where the imaginary world is more perfect than the boring world we live in. If this is the case, this news showing online advertising surpassing print advertising is a sign that there are many smart business decisions being made:
US Online Ad Spend Set to Exceed Print (Update)
January 19, 2012 News from MarketingCharts.com
US online ad spending will exceed the total spent on print magazines and newspapers this year for the first time, according to a January 2012 eMarketer estimate that projects $39.5 billion in online ad spending, $19.4 billion in newspaper ad spending, and $15.4 billion in magazine ad spending. eMarketer estimates that online ad spending will continue its dramatic growth to reach $62 billion by 2016, while the print total will continue to decline to $32.3 billion that year.
TV Ad Growth Unaffected
As online ad spending grows, so will TV, albeit more slowly, notes eMarketer, which estimates that US TV spending will reach $72 billion in 2016. At that point, the gap between TV and online ad spending will be $10 billion, compared to the $28.7 billion gap seen in 2011. Continue reading on MarketingCharts.com »
What types of online advertising can be purchased?
Text Ads - Advertisements displayed as simple, text-based hyperlinks are known as Text Ads.
Display Ads - Graphical advertisements featured on websites are known as Display Ads.
Pop-Up Ads - Advertisements that appear to “pop up” in a new window as users browse a website are known as Pop-Up Ads. These come in many formats.
Flash / DHTML Ads - These kinds of ads incorporate Flash animation or other motion graphics.
Interstitial Ads - Interstitial ads appear between web pages that the user requests.
Video Ads - With the popularity of online video watching, video ads have become a viable means of distributing rich advertising content.
Email Ads - Ads that are distributed by a publisher through email blasts to opt-in audiences are known as email ads.
Classified Ads - Advertisers can individually sponsor a publisher’s email newsletter or they can purchase classified ad space.
Newsletter Advertising - Advertisers can individually sponsor a publisher’s email newsletter or they can purchase classified ad space.
On-Site Sponsorships - On-Site sponsorships are ads (typically just a company’s logo) that can be bought on individual websites.
Advertorials - Advertisements in editorial form that appear to contain objectively-written opinions are known as paid editorial ads, or “Advertorials”.
Targeting Methods:
Contextual Targeting - When ads are served based on related content a user is currently reading or browsing online, it is known as contextual targeting.
Behavorial Targeting - When ads are served based on user behavior, it is known as behavioral targeting.
Geo-Targeting (Local Advertising) - When ads are served based on a user’s geographical location, it is known as geo-targeting.
Temptation
When a sales person calls you to sell advertising, most online advertising will fall into one of the above choices. There is buzz about geo-targeting advertising and video advertising. The buzz is difficult to resist since there is always at least one testimonial which talks about unbelievable success.
The lure of this success will be enticing and possibly have even you making decisions based on impulse vs. listening to the voice of the customer and analyzing the true needs of those you serve.
There is more than one method to do online marketing.
Don't want to buy online advertising?
You will want to consider inbound marketing. Earning attention vs interrupting is more appealing to potential customers. Getting in front of people who are already hungry and searching for your product or service gives you head start. Inbound marketing does not eliminate the need for all other advertising but it does bring in those who are already passionate vs. those who need to be convinced.
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