Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the internet, including design, development, advertising and sales. Internet marketing methods include search engine marketing, display advertising, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, interactive advertising, online reputation management and also Social Media Marketing Methods such as blog marketing, and viral marketing. --Wikipedia
Foremost, it is important to understand that the type of Internet advertising you select should drive the form of ad(s) you create. Just as you select your wardrobe based on the type of event, online ads should be designed for intended environments (distinct from ways to deliver a message). Without this strategy, you'll find you're wearing black-tie to a hockey game -- you will learn your mistake too late and your mistake will be glaringly obvious to others (we talk more about designing good ads here).
Internet advertising, in most minds, mixes THREE
distinct online disciplines:
1. media placement
2. Buying adwords
3. Search engine marketing
There is even a fourth discipline, ad hosting (i.e. Google Adsense), which very few non-corporate sites think about, yet leaves a lot of value untapped.
Internet advertising can be executed in TWO distinct approaches based on your anticipated traffic flow, and budget flexibility:
1. Pay-per-click/play
2. Paid advertising (largely display/banner for geographic targeting)
Internet advertising success is largely dependent on ONE critical step: preparing your Web site first.
Pay-per-click is fee-based advertising based on actual traffic/interactions and is usually for a tightly defined period of time when high traffic/interest in anticipated. These campaigns can be as small as only an hour on a extremely popular site. For the budget-constrained, this can be a risky type of advertising. Paid advertising is exactly like print and television. You negotiate what/when/how, including number of impressions, and cost. No surprises. You can investigate media aggregators, vendors like MediaSpan, who can help you narrow the focus of your buy through geo-targeting, or broaden your exposure across social/news/entertainment networks.
A well-planned Internet advertising strategy will encompass these THREE-TWO-ONE steps, as well as define how success will be measured, identify a message, develop and test your creative (ads).
Of course all this leads to other supporting questions:
-- What is SEO? How does it fit into SEM?
-- What criteria can help us decide paid vs. fee-based?
-- How do you know if your ad/message is effective?
-- What is an "interactive" ad?
-- How do we strengthen offline advertising with online?
-- What are some best practices for designing ads?
We can help your planning -- email us with any Internet advertising questions
