As a medium, the Internet is unique heres how you can use it to your advantage. The Internet is the worlds first interactive medium in the true sense of the word. It enables users to access information according to their preferences and at the pace at which they want the information. In addition to the above fundamental differentiator, there are a number of other ways in which the Web outscores conventional media. These are discussed below: It provides instant feedback: Unlike newspapers, magazines and television commercials, an Internet ad provides instant feedback on whether the ad was seen, whether it was clicked on or not, who clicked on it from which location and at what time and a wealth of other information. On the Web, one can use the server statistics along with cookies to track the electronic footprints of visitors where did they come from, which pages did they visit, which pages did they spend most of their time on, and where did they exit? It provides better value for advertising money: The Internet is the only medium where the advertiser pays only for banners that have actually been served. You pay only for those banners that actually appeared on the page seen by the target audience. If the web user clicked out of the page before the banner loaded, you dont pay for it. Moreover, there are numerous sites and portals that offer banners on a click-through basis. This means that if the visitor does not click on the banner, the advertiser does not pay for it. It is non-intrusive: While conventional advertising is considered by most recipients to be intrusive, Internet advertising is looked upon as relatively non-intrusive since it calls for a click-through by the target audience. Hence, the recipient has the option of not clicking on the banner. Should You Replace Conventional Advertising With Internet Advertising? No. Your target audience does not spend his entire life on the Net. He reads newspapers and magazines. He watches television. He listens to the radio. He is exposed to outdoor media. The key idea is to supplement conventional media planning with Internet advertising. (Currently, the global trend according to Forrester Research is to devote around 10 to 15 per cent of the total advertising budget to online advertising) Can everyone benefit from Internet Advertising? No. If your target audience is not on the Web, then you will gain nothing by placing ads there. For instance, if you are targeting farmers, village women, rural children, urban labourers, automobile mechanics and other such segments, obviously the Internet is of no use. All over the world, marketers have started getting tangible and measurable results from their online campaigns spurred by this success, the outlays for Internet advertising have increased exponentially, even in India especially in sectors like automobiles, entertainment, insurance, finance and consumer electronics, to name a few. And by all indications, this is just the beginning Ref:-http://www.istrat-india.com |
