This guide offers advice and tips to help you get creative ideas for powerful, effective use of the Internet medium. The following sections outline four basic steps you can use to maximize this investment for your business:
Establish a clear objective
As with any marketing communications effort, your presence on Internet needs to be driven by a set of advertising objectives. Ask yourself what you are trying to do:
Build brand awareness?
Create customer loyalty?
Generate sales?
Increase traffic?
Improve customer convenience?
Ideally you want to do all of this, but to be successful you must set priorities and focus on the most pressing strategic need.
Targeted web advertising
Make sure your message gets noticed among the other ads on the Internet. The best way to do this is to keep in mind the basic principles of online advertising.
Make your message simple to see, simple to read, and enticing. People visit the Internet to get information, research, and find out what's happening. Encourage them to look at your ad.
On your ad, stay within a five- to seven-word limit. Keep the message short and easy to grasp. As visitors surf through Internet, your ad needs to quickly grab their attention and entice them to learn more.
Use your ad and its text to drive visitors to your web site. You cannot tell your whole story in a two-and-a-half-inch box, but you can use it to attract visitors to your web site where you can tell them your whole story.
Optimize your web site
When many of us think about how we want to show our advertising message, we start by visualizing an A4 size of a piece of paper. Unfortunately, the computer screen with an Internet browser allows you about one-half to one-third of that amount of space even though you can scroll down a web page.
Here are some tips to consider:
Keep pages simple and easy to load. Don't clutter with too much information or too many graphics.
Break up text into narrow columns and short paragraphs to make written content easy to read.
Use hyperlinks to streamline navigation within your site and lead visitors to the most important information.
Structure the page order of your site so the hierarchy of information and the flow of content make sense.
Update your web site regularly as key information about your business changes. Let visitors know you've got new information (through Internet advertising) to keep them coming back.
Choose a design that accommodates changes quickly and easily, mainly by using graphics sparingly.
Take advantage of the Internet's interactive capabilities
Your ability to make Internet advertising work for you is only limited by your imagination. More is expected in an online ad than a print ad. Here are just a few things you might try on your web site .
Take reservations by directing customers to a toll free number or an email address, or by giving them a printable fax form.
Take meal orders for pickup or delivery via phone, email, or fax.
Keep patrons up to date on upcoming shows and special events with a regularly updated billboard on your web site.
Use a coupon or special offer in your web site to encourage customer traffic and sales.
Survey your customers about their preferences and encourage them to respond to you by email.
Use your ad and site performance data to track results and evaluate your advertising efforts.
Test different promotional offers before rolling them out in other media.
The effectiveness and success of your Internet advertising requires a little skill, some homework, and a lot of commitment. With imagination, you can maximise the return on your investment, attract new business as more customers move to the web, and build a loyal customer community.
Establish a clear objective
As with any marketing communications effort, your presence on Internet needs to be driven by a set of advertising objectives. Ask yourself what you are trying to do:
Build brand awareness?
Create customer loyalty?
Generate sales?
Increase traffic?
Improve customer convenience?
Ideally you want to do all of this, but to be successful you must set priorities and focus on the most pressing strategic need.
Targeted web advertising
Make sure your message gets noticed among the other ads on the Internet. The best way to do this is to keep in mind the basic principles of online advertising.
Make your message simple to see, simple to read, and enticing. People visit the Internet to get information, research, and find out what's happening. Encourage them to look at your ad.
On your ad, stay within a five- to seven-word limit. Keep the message short and easy to grasp. As visitors surf through Internet, your ad needs to quickly grab their attention and entice them to learn more.
Use your ad and its text to drive visitors to your web site. You cannot tell your whole story in a two-and-a-half-inch box, but you can use it to attract visitors to your web site where you can tell them your whole story.
Optimize your web site
When many of us think about how we want to show our advertising message, we start by visualizing an A4 size of a piece of paper. Unfortunately, the computer screen with an Internet browser allows you about one-half to one-third of that amount of space even though you can scroll down a web page.
Here are some tips to consider:
Keep pages simple and easy to load. Don't clutter with too much information or too many graphics.
Break up text into narrow columns and short paragraphs to make written content easy to read.
Use hyperlinks to streamline navigation within your site and lead visitors to the most important information.
Structure the page order of your site so the hierarchy of information and the flow of content make sense.
Update your web site regularly as key information about your business changes. Let visitors know you've got new information (through Internet advertising) to keep them coming back.
Choose a design that accommodates changes quickly and easily, mainly by using graphics sparingly.
Take advantage of the Internet's interactive capabilities
Your ability to make Internet advertising work for you is only limited by your imagination. More is expected in an online ad than a print ad. Here are just a few things you might try on your web site .
Take reservations by directing customers to a toll free number or an email address, or by giving them a printable fax form.
Take meal orders for pickup or delivery via phone, email, or fax.
Keep patrons up to date on upcoming shows and special events with a regularly updated billboard on your web site.
Use a coupon or special offer in your web site to encourage customer traffic and sales.
Survey your customers about their preferences and encourage them to respond to you by email.
Use your ad and site performance data to track results and evaluate your advertising efforts.
Test different promotional offers before rolling them out in other media.
The effectiveness and success of your Internet advertising requires a little skill, some homework, and a lot of commitment. With imagination, you can maximise the return on your investment, attract new business as more customers move to the web, and build a loyal customer community.
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