Traditional media can still be effective, however, it may be time to include some new media to your marketing mix. Many websites offer advertising space, some of which are traditional media outlets that have an online version of their newspaper, television or radio station.
Like every advertising medium, there are benefits and drawbacks. Here are some things to consider when thinking about online advertising.
Online advertising is measurable. Since an online ad is a link directly to your website, you get an accurate count of viewers who click on your ad. You can also find out where they are coming from, time of day they visited and what pages of your site they viewed.
Things can move quicker with online ads. You can usually start up a campaign quickly and any changes you might like to make can be done in just minutes.
It can be easier to target certain markets. For example, you can advertise on a rock radio station website that will capture a younger demographic or get access to a higher income demographic on CBC.
Like any advertising medium, you have to be aware of the costs and what is and is not a good fee. The best deals can be had if you advertise on a site that offers a pay-per-click fee structure. This means that your ad is displayed, but you don’t pay anything until a viewer clicks on it. This is the best value because you only pay when someone goes directly to your site. This is the method used by Google and Facebook.
However, most websites charge by the number of impressions you receive. This means every time a viewer lands on the page where your ad appears, it counts as an impression whether the viewer sees the ad or not. This is the most popular method used by media and is not too bad as long as there is a lot of traffic to the site.
We have booked ads for clients on many of the popular sites in our area including Empire Theatres, CBC, CTV, The Weather Network, Much Music, Canada East and many more. To be honest, we have been underwhelmed by the results. But, to capture the market that have drifted away from the traditional media, you have to really consider it.
Like any form of advertising, you have to do your homework and fish for the best deal that you can. Online advertising is growing in popularity but it is not yet effective enough to plan a whole campaign around, and I doubt it ever will be. A good mix of new and traditional advertising is still the best way to maximize your marketing dollars.