With the advent of the internet, these very same businesses saw a much quicker and easier solution to traditional advertising i.e. e-marketing. The internet is only going to get bigger and internet advertising allows businesses to trace what works and what doesn’t and this provides the advertiser with a greater return on investment. Remember, if you’re not doing it, then your competitor probably is.
With the vast amount of web users and online traffic present in today’s global village, it seems fairly obvious that there can be no better way of exposing a company to the public and indeed the world. As an example, there are over a billion web users in the world right now! The numbers are indeed staggering and any company not listing their products or services online are going to be disappointed and left lagging behind. The cost factor always plays a vital role in advertising and by marketing your company online, your business can always be assured of the most reliable, cheapest rates possible. It is a rather inexpensive form of marketing compared to traditional methods, where companies have to fork out millions unnecessarily.
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, greater emphasis is being placed on brand image development as the basis for consumer discrimination. Advertising has a central role to play in developing brand image, whether at the corporate, retail or product level. It informs consumers of the functional capabilities of the brand while simultaneously imbuing the brand with symbolic values and meanings relevant to the consumer.
While online advertising is still new to many, you can take heart in the fact that the same design and content requirements and guidelines translate well from traditional advertising to online ads. In fact, your newspaper print ads can simply be duplicated in the online version of the publication you’re advertising in as long as you include a link to your website. Color, fonts, the size of your ad(s) and your message will all play the same critical role in getting your ads noticed and, more important, responded to.
As with traditional ads, online ads must be placed where the right people will see them (“right people” meaning the consumers you want to reach). So choose your placements according to age and gender, interests, hobbies, and all the psychographic (income, education, hobbies, etc.) information you use when you’re buying ads in television, print or radio.
Pay-per call ads are new, but think of how appealing this is for a consumer or prospective client who needs an answer now or needs to make a purchase now to be able to make a quick call and take care of their pressing need, rather than clicking on a banner and being led to your website where they may need to fill in a registration form and then send you an e-mail and wait for a reply.
And make it easy on your customers: It’s essential that you allow anyone to easily opt-out of any e-mail marketing you do so your efforts don’t turn into spam. It’s also essential that you provide ways for people to return purchases, either to a brick-and-mortar location or through shipping it back to you.