| in the web |
| Internet Marketing Matures |
| Kevin Shelton |
Internet years are like accelerated dog years so, for something related to the Internet to turn 10 years old, it's a lifetime in web-years and worth noting. It was 10 years ago in 1995 that AT&T put the first banner advertisement up on the Hotwired site. Since that time, we have seen the explosion and then shocking implosion of online advertising and Internet companies with income projections built solely on advertising revenues. While such profit models work in traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television, profit was not so easily translated to the Internet as investors and speculation fueled unreal expectations. That business model didn't seem to initially catch so here we are, 10 years later, having learned a lot of hard lessons about the potential of the Internet and online advertising.
With that dire review and appraisal one would think Internet advertising is dead. Not so! It is very much alive and growing. The power of the Internet as a communication and information tool is too great to ignore and too flexible not to exploit. The simple banner ad, while still present, is much more robust than the pre-bubble days with features, technology and a few lessons learned behind it.
So, what makes Internet advertising so different these days or, more importantly, what makes it stronger than before? According to Richard Karpinski's article "10 Years and Counting" for i.Intelligence, a supplement to Advertising Age & Creativity, it is:
- Targeting and Personalization
Unlike the pre-bubble burst models of basing advertising on "clicks," current sites now sell advertising based on user behavior. Using new technologies to track the behavior and interest of users, sites are able to specify targeted advertising to users based on known or assumed preferences. This is much more attractive to advertisers who wish to reach a specific audience. It is also much more cost effective.
- Interactivity
Traditional print and media advertising is a one-way street. A person reads an ad, or sees or hears an ad, then assimilates the information and moves on. However, Internet advertising is a two-way street. Not only can the advertiser push information to the consumer, the advertiser can create a dialogue with the consumer providing immediate feedback.
- Variety of Messages
Through continuing advancements in Internet technologies, online advertisers are able to offer a variety of online advertisements from the now traditional banner ad to mass emails (non-spam of course) to more advanced and interactive, media rich visuals, animations and filmed commercials to even product specific "micro-sites." Combining this variety with the targeting and personalization and interactivity listed above creates very powerful and effective advertising unheard of 10 years ago and impossible with traditional media.
- Accountability
Traditional advertising measurements can only be made by estimating the "eyes" that have seen it or the "ears" that have heard it. And, at best, these are just estimates. However, the effectiveness and results of online advertising can be measured more precisely, making sites and online publishers much more accountable for their "viewership" claims. A magazine will base its advertising costs on its subscription base, circulation, and the ad's size. However, these are mostly imprecise or averaged numbers. With online advertising, you can apply more specific metrics and determine how many people have seen the advertisement, how many people responded to the ad and how long the advertisement was displayed - and base, or pay, advertising costs on these metrics.
So, Internet advertising is the cat's pajamas. It's more precise, versatile, and cost effective. But what does that mean to companies and marketers? Should all traditional advertising cease and resources be funneled into Internet advertising? Not at all. However, to deny the effectiveness and power of Internet advertising is risky with staggering numbers of people adopting the Internet as their primary information source daily. What should be done is to consider the Internet as another outlet, or component, of your overall marketing strategy. As stated, it's precise, versatile, cost-effective and growing.
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