Advantages of Internet Based Advertising

 

Advantages of Internet Based Advertising

Advertising has been around for a long time and advertisers have always looked for new ways and technologies to help them be more visible to consumers. In the era of the internet there are 4 main ways that online advertising gives you an advantage over traditional advertising: Targetability, Measurability, Cost and Interaction.

Targetability

In the pre-internet era of traditional advertising, the goal was to reach as wide of an audience as possible. Ads were made to appeal to the masses which made them pretty vanilla. However, given the vehicles of advertising at the time, this was the best method for results. Print, broadcast and direct mail were structurally designed for mass markets, making targeting a poor tactic, the more people you could appeal to, the better. Telephone advertising could be highly targeted; however, the reach was minimal in comparison to television and radio.

Advertising on the internet has changed this by allowing advertisers to create highly targeted ads and thrive in niche environments. There are a few ways to divide markets (market segmentation) into more targeted groups:

 

Demographic segmentation focuses on consumer characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, income, etc. For example, you could focus your campaigns on 30-40 yr olds that make over $60k a year.

Psychographic segmentation keys in on psychological traits of consumers such as values, beliefs, interests, lifestyles, opinions, etc. An example might be targeting people that are interested in fishing.

Behavioral segmentation targets consumers with specific online behaviors such as purchasing behavior. An example could be using different ads depending on what stage of the buying process a user is in.

Geographic segmentation allows you to focus on specific geographic locations. If you offer a service, such as landscaping, that is local only, you can advertise within your area of service only.

Many things have changed since traditional methods dominated the advertising landscape. The legendary Marlboro Man ad would not work in today’s markets. Younger generations have become highly skeptical of overt advertisements. This has forced strategies to change, and building trust has become one of the most important ways to get results.

Targeting specific segments of the market has proven to be an effective way to establish trust. If done well, targeted ads can show consumers that you relate, empathize and understand them. Building lasting relationships with customers has always been the mark of successful businesses, and if utilized efficiently, that is one of online marketing’s biggest advantages.

Measurability

Another advantage of internet-based advertising is the high level of measurability thanks to tools like Google Analytics. Being able to see lots of different types of data can give you a clear picture of how well your campaigns are being run.

Traditional advertising can be very fuzzy in terms of how effective campaigns are. If, for example you run a commercial on broadcast television, how many people bought your product or service because of the ad? It can be hard to tell.

When using internet marketing, recording metrics and statistics is standard practice. Search engines and social media keep track of all kinds of metrics and statistics, and there are a lot of applications out there that can help you keep track of whatever metric you want.

Using key performance indicators (KPI’s) can tell you if you are on track to achieve your marketing goals. It’s important to choose the right KPI’s that reflect what you are actually aiming to accomplish. There are a ton of different KPI’s to choose from, here is some solid info all about KPI’s.

Another tool you can use is an attribution model. There are a lot of different models and you’ll have to decide which model works best for you. Essentially, because most users have multiple ad interactions before converting, these models assign how much credit each touchpoint receives. This can show you which campaigns are effective and which are not. The different models include:

Each of these models have strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to choose the right model for your advertising goals. For example, if you are trying to figure out which campaigns are great for gaining the attention of new customers and which campaigns are best for conversions, then the position based attribution model may be what you are looking for.

Measurability allows you to modify your campaigns quickly to adapt and optimize your marketing strategies. You can use these metrics to see what’s working well so you can focus your attention to those campaigns or what’s not working so you can modify your strategy.

Cost

The great thing about online marketing is that you can invest as much or as little as you want into it. With internet-based advertising you set the budget, as opposed to traditional methods where outside forces fully determine how much advertising on their platforms would cost.

A TV commercial on average costs $104k. That’s crazy, and that’s down 20k from 2014. Now these numbers may differ depending on reach, time of day and frequency of ads. The interesting thing, however, is that these ads have lost much of their effectiveness in the age of the smartphone. It seems that people are not watching commercials with the simple statistic that smartphone usage spikes during commercial breaks from the program being aired.

What are people doing during these breaks? They are turning to spaces where digital marketing thrives such as apps, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Blogs, YouTube, etc.

So not only will you pay less, but you will be advertising in a space where more attention and focus from your audience lies than traditional means.

The other traditional methods are less expensive than television, but the threshold to enter is still higher than digital. Radio, for example may be in the hundreds to thousands. Direct mail is the cost of printing and mailing lots of ads (anywhere from 50¢ to $3+ per piece). For an ad in a large magazine you can expect to pay many thousands. Newspaper ads depend on a lot of factors such as size and frequency, but can easily get into the thousands.

Interaction and Engagement

Consumers have so much more freedom to interact and engage with businesses in the online world. From social media to Google reviews, and blogs to YouTube reviews, the customer is much more intimately connected to those they do business with than ever before.

This has caused a shift in the way businesses advertise. They can get direct feedback very quickly and they need to earn the trust of consumers more so than businesses had to in the pre internet days.

Although consumers can be brutal on occasion, the quick feedback and being held accountable is a definite advantage. You should strive to run the best business you can and this direct engagement will help you rise above those who are not willing to do the same. People will tell you what they want and need, listen to them.

One of the best examples of this is the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog movie. The trailer that was released in 2019 went viral for all the wrong reasons. There was a huge backlash against the more realistic character design of Sonic and people let the filmmakers know that they did not like the product. The filmmakers listened and delayed the release to redesign the character.

Something like this would never have been possible without internet-based marketing. They previewed the product and were immediately given harsh feedback, which resulted in a better finished product (at least in terms of character design).

Conclusion

So, what is the best way to advertise?

None of this is to say that traditional advertising methods are obsolete or will disappear, but internet-based marketing is here to stay and the future is looking bright. The ability to target, measure, adapt and interact at a lower cost is really something to take note of if you are trying to run a business and get seen.

Here is an interesting take on it from Dan Lok

What’s your favorite way to advertise?

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