Advertising


The old adage goes, "Early to bed, early to rise, work like a dog, and advertise." But what advertising works best? John Wanamaker, manufacturer and dry goods pioneer once said, "I know half my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half." The good news is that you can get immediate and real feedback on your marketing tactics when you're marketing online.

Let's first clear up some confusion over the differences between adverting and marketing. As you can see by the organization of this chapter, advertising is a subset of marketingjust another tool in the marketing toolbox. But unlike online print advertising that talks at the consumer, online advertising talks to the consumer and gives you the necessary feedback of whether you are meeting the ROI goals of your advertising.

You can use a number of advertising vehiclessome free and others that have a cost. These online advertising vehicles are available to you:

  • Banner ads

  • Contextual ads

  • Electronic newsletter and e-zine ads

So, what will it cost? Most marketing experts agree that you should devote 3% to 8% of your annual sales to your total advertising and promotional budget. And that's not including any promotional start-up costs. Look at the amount of money that Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia spend just to build brand. This is why strategic partnering and media partnering are important. But before you pull out your wallet and get ready to spend ad dollars, you should know how to speak the lingo of Net advertising.

The Language of Net Advertising

Internet advertising has split, combined, and multiplied into a bewildering array of approaches to advertising on the Net. Abbreviations such as CPM, CPC, CPA, CPT, and CPS make the novice Net advertiser's eyes glaze over.

Let's go step by step through this seemingly incomprehensible zoo of letters. We first define them and then show how you can make the best use of your Internet advertising dollar. There's a new world out there for advertisers on the Net.

Today's Net delivers accountability it in spadesnot just audience estimates, as in the real world. When you advertise on the Net, you know exactly how well your ad campaign is doing by the number of impressions, click-throughs, and responses that you get from your advertising efforts. You must measure to see these results.

Impressions are correlated with awareness or brand advertising. You count impressions by how many times your ad is presented to a viewer. If the intent of your advertising campaign is to raise awareness of your product, service, or brand, the number of impressions per dollar is of prime importancethat is, you want the most impressions you can get for the lowest ad dollar.

Click-through, in response to an ad by a consumer, simply indicates interest or intent. When a consumer clicks your ad or goes to a URL that you've advertised in an email message or newsletter, click-through provides you with an opportunity to offer something for sale or to even complete a sale. Other uses include filling out a survey or asking the viewer to take some other kind of action (conversion). You can equate this with a potential buyer opening a direct-mail envelope to read the offer inside. The better the ad, the more potential it has to be acted on. If your intention is to have the viewer click your ad or go to your site, the number of clicks (or visitors to your site) per ad dollar is of prime importance.

A response is indicated by either providing leads for future sales or completing sales themselves. A response also could include a software download. If your objective is to actually make a sale or have the viewer complete an action, the number of responses per ad dollar is of prime importance.

Now, let's see how impressions, click-throughs, and responses play out in the alphabet soup of Net advertising:

  • CPM (cost per thousand impressions) is the number of times your ad is viewed. Another way to say it is the number of times the ad is displayed. When you buy based on CPM, you're paying each time a consumer views your ad. Click-throughs to your site and sales are not your prime objective here; brand or image awareness is.

  • CPC (cost per click) is the number of times your ad is clicked or how many people actually go to the URL you are advertising. Your objective is to have them "open your direct mail envelope" and view your offer.

  • The last group of abbreviations in this advertising alphabet soup is CPA, CPT, and CPS. All three of these fall, more or less, under the same umbrella. Using these schemes, you pay for only an actual response to an offer, not just a view or click-through. CPA (cost per action) is the number of times the desired action takes place on your site, such as a sale, a registration, or a download. CPT (cost per transaction) is the cost per lead. This type of banner ad is similar to CPA, but you pay only for people who click your banner ad and either fill out a registration form or are sent to a page on your site where they can view the full offer. CPS (cost per sale) is similar to CPA, but you pay for only leads that generate a sale.

Not every one of these approaches is perfect for everyone. Decide first what type of action you are willing to pay for and then negotiate your best deal.

Common Advertising Vehicles

Banner ads, sponsorships, contextual ads, and electronic newsletter and e-zine advertising are the basic advertising vehicles that you can use to promote your Yahoo! store.

A banner ad is like a small billboard that resides on a Web page. Buying banner ads from individual sites is one way to get your message out. Another is to buy ads on a banner network. But you can also run banner ads for free if you join a banner exchange network. Banner exchange networks trade banners ads on your website with banner ads from other websites on a rotating basis. A third-party banner ad server delivers and rotates your ad and others throughout the network. The only thing you have to do when joining one of these networks is add some code on your website to display other members' banner ads on your site.

Generic and industry-specific banner ad networks exist. For targeted traffic, it's best to join an industry-specific network. To find your industry-specific network, go to Yahoo.com and search for "your industry banner exchange network." You can also go to some industry-related websites to see if they have joined a banner exchange network and find out how you can also join. But heed this warning: Because you do not have control over what ads are displayed on your storefront, a competitor's ad (or other inappropriate ad) might appear on your site because your competitors are likely using the same keywords you are displaying on your site. A network might eliminate a lot of the work of negotiating deals for individual banner ads, but there is a risk that you will end up displaying ads for your (possibly bigger) competitors and driving visitors away from your site.

Contextual advertising is a way to place your promotional ad next to related content, such as a news article or a product review. Why are contextual ads a good advertising vehicle? Well, people use the Net for more than just searching for products to buy. In fact, the largest use of the Internet is to find information. If your banner ad or text ad shows up next to or within an informative piece that a consumer is reading, you might enter the consumer's mindset of a targeted market, which would get that person to visit your storefront. It also creates a perceived endorsement of your product or service.

Advertising in newsletters and e-zines can be a cost-effective way of reaching your targeted audience. The cyberworld has its equivalent of the printed media of the real world: email newsletters and e-zines (electronic magazines). You can advertise in any of thousands of newsletters and hundreds of e-zines, each focusing on a particular market niche. And don't forget the many forums, discussion boards, and blogs. Forums can be very specific, so they're great for going after niche markets. Blogs are newer but might be worth targeting, depending on the quality of the blog and the market you are targeting.

Is advertising effective? Should you consider using it as a promotional tool? One story tells of a businessman who did not believe in advertising. When his e-business did not fare well, guess what he did? He advertised it for sale.

Advertising is a necessary evil that, if used properly, can help you reach your company's marketing goals. It's all about the ROI.




Succeeding At Your Yahoo! Business
Succeeding At Your Yahoo! Business
ISBN: 0789735342
EAN: 2147483647
Year: N/A
Pages: 208

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