Make online advertising work for you
Jan 8 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
ADVERTISING is often alleged to be the first budget cut in a recession. Yet, this time around, the changing global communications landscape means traditional advertising must compete in new places and in new ways.
Firstly, online communications are predicted to grow. Year-on-year internet advertising budgets are increasing with UK online advertising spend up 21% in the first half 2008.
And TV and print Press is now merging with internet almost daily. As more people take up these services at home, more advertising revenue is naturally directed towards these mediums as advertising buyers clamber to exercise the theory that “we must be there before our competitors to gain an advantage”.
Consumers now dictate where and when they want to access their media. This means any advertising should follow and complement these, providing a simple experience the user will return to time and again.
So, 2009 is an exciting time with multiple possibilities for advertisers willing to reach out and do something different.
The internet offers exciting and innovative ways for people to interact and have greater control over the media they consume. Any advertising should complement this and be well thought through.
As businesses focus their 2009 ad budgets, they must remember to target their advertising in the right way. If internet advertising is key in 2009, how can you make it work? After all, any good advertising campaign should make you money.
Well, think what you would do when you want to find or buy something on the internet. You go to a search engine, type in what you are looking for, and click the magic search button. The results page that follows will have been almost entirely paid for. Although it may not seem as obvious as banner advertising, each link on the results page will have paid to either make its way higher up the search results (Search Engine Optimisation) or to be displayed next to, or above, search results – Google’s AdWords or keyword advertising.
Experienced web users are not receptive to traditional internet advertising. Banner ads are all the same dimensions. They are constructed in a similar way. They generally have nothing to do with the website you are looking at, and will not have the same colour scheme or layout.
So my tip for 2009 is to consider carefully your advertising spend against the return, especially online.
Target well, be highly creative and sell, sell, sell yourself – well.
Julie Drummond is managing director of North East communications agency Drummond Central.
