Online Marketing and Advertising Changes
When the dot-com crash hit, it seemed that online advertising was a lost cause. Ad blockers killed the banner ads, and spam killed the e-mail campaigns. Users tuned out, and it seemed that marketers had killed the golden goose. But a funny thing has happened between then and now. Not only has online advertising and marketing endured, but it has emerged as an absolutely crucial part of today’s marketing mix.
Online marketing brings new levels of reach, targeting and accountability, and has moved into the mainstream. Online advertising has become the solution to marketing problems at a level that other media haven’t been able to do.
That much attention and spending is the fact that Internet usage is now firmly in the mainstream and broadband usage has grown by leaps and bounds.
Today the Internet is everywhere and when it’s not, people notice and demand that it be even more available. Online advertising has matured and it enables marketers to target consumers in a fine-tuned fashion creating highly personalized user experience. It’s as effective in getting across a communications and branding message as any other medium.
Online advertising also allows two-way interaction between advertisers and their targets, providing a real-time feedback loop that’s invaluable. A marketer can establish and maintain a two-way dialogue with a consumer online, and no other form of advertising can do this as effectively.
For large advertisers, marketing online lets them interact with groups of consumers more directly than ever before. This is demonstrated by being able to engage with a million consumer database on a monthly basis through their membership programs.
Online advertising supports an almost endless variety of messaging formats, from banner ads and e-mail messages to more elaborate interactive vehicles and microsites. It‘s the capability to combine the motion and animated visuals of video with close-up and personal interaction.
The results of online advertising campaigns can be measured precisely, making publishers accountable for the promises they make and marketers accountable to management for the success of their programs. Yet even though online advertising has asserted its strengths, real-world marketers have made online just another medium in their standard marketing mix.
More than anything, what online provides mainstream advertisers is another point of contact with the consumer at various stages of the buying cycle. So where is the evolution of online advertising today? Marketers say we’re closer to the beginning of learning how to take advantage of this new medium.
Online ads are getting better targeted, with new concepts opening up new opportunities to marketers. Online ads are becoming richer and more evocative, with animation and streaming video. If history is a guide, there will be ups and downs and the hype meter will spike at highs and lows, but the past has set the stage for future growth.
Marketers are on the cusp of a big trend now, especially in todays financial turmoil, and they are more than ever turning to the internet as an advertising medium. This is the starting point, where the future growth in online advertising is just beginning to come into view. Where will you go from here?
Blogging and Starting Your Blog
If you want to create a blog, the process is simple, quick and free with any of the many blog hosting services. When you create a blog page, give your topic and writing style a bit of thought before simply jumping in and hoping for the best.
Most important in the planning phase is your topic. Passion for your subject is what ultimately breeds success with your readership. When you create a blog, select a subject that fills you with excitement, curiosity and a desire to share with others. This makes words flow easily and nurtures an untiring commitment, so necessary to long-term success.
Once you’ve nailed down your topic, your primary job is to tweak reader’s interest with knowledge, perspective and provocative commentary. This causes readers to reflect on your posts and contribute thoughts, questions and perhaps new information that sets off a flurry of responses from yet other readers.
When you create a blog that meets this criteria, you’re halfway there. Another key point to consider: know your topic and be willing to research and learn more. You’ve heard it said, the more you know, the more you realize what you don’t know. This is what makes an expert in any field.
Readers may pose a situation or difference of opinion that requires that you do additional research before you can make an educated response. This only fuels your own enthusiasm and gains you further credibility. You’ll learn new facts or ideas and have even more interesting material to offer. The usual result is a wider readership.
Word-of-mouth is an excellent way to promote your blog. However, a little active marketing never hurts.
Many bloggers swear by spreading word of their blog through personal profile sites such as Myspace, where you can highlight your cyberspace presence with an infusion of your personality and lifestyle that will pique the interest of individuals who might otherwise not ever have come across your blog. Submit some of your best entries to article directories in the appropriate category. Search out newsletters that focus on your topic and then offer your most provocative pieces to the editor, in exchange for a byline that links to your blog. Just these three simple efforts will do wonders for your exposure to new readers.
Go for it! Create a blog! Choose your subject carefully, respect and encourage comments from others and learn all you can. Blogging is a satisfying activity. You may just change the world for the better!
