OPINION: Delay no longer; now is the time for online advertising

<p>An ex-colleague of mine with vast experience in the ad business </p><p>recently admitted that in the early days of colour television, he </p><p>recommended to his clients not to run colour television ads. The reasons </p><p>he cited back then, were that the vast majority of consumers still owned </p><p>black and white telly sets; that there were no case studies to prove </p><p>that advertising in colour was any more effective to justify the cost </p><p>and effort; and while there was huge potential in the medium it </p><p>certainly wasn't going to hurt by delaying its use for a couple more </p><p>years. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>History has a habit of repeating itself! There continues to be a lot of </p><p>similar stories when it comes to using the Internet as a marketing </p><p>channel. Generally, for most advertisers the question is not, 'Should I </p><p>be considering the Internet?' but 'When is the right time to opt in </p><p>online?' And, 'What are key points to consider when going ahead?' Let me </p><p>try to bring some perspective from my own experiences. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Forget the website </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One reason often cited by marketers for not moving ahead with online </p><p>advertising is that they don't feel they have a strong enough </p><p>website. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Actually, there's no golden rule that says you need to even have a </p><p>product website. Most traditional marketers aren't selling products </p><p>online; often there's actually little reason for consumers to choose to </p><p>want to go to a company's product website; and its expensive to drive </p><p>traffic to your site. More microsites (mini websites of three to five </p><p>pages) which have specific promotional objectives are better. Marketing </p><p>your brands on other web publishers' sites that have perfected the art </p><p>of attracting millions of consumers each day is the bigger </p><p>opportunity. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>-Bed-wetting </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Alternatively, having made a significant investment in building a </p><p>website and not promoting it is a crime. I call this the bed-wetting </p><p>syndrome: you get a nice warm sensation that only you know about. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>There are now over 2 billion Web pages on the Internet. People are not </p><p>going to visit your site unless you put specific marketing effort into </p><p>driving traffic. Online is the most direct and efficient medium to </p><p>increase visitors. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- All the numbers you'll ever need </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I've heard some people suggest that there isn't sufficient research on </p><p>the Internet compared to traditional media. Not only is there </p><p>substantial data on 'Net marketing, but it is more dynamic and </p><p>actionable. For example, in a banner campaign, not only can we identify </p><p>individuals by demographic profile and interests, but are also able to </p><p>filter and only pay to reach that desired group. We can serve specific </p><p>creative on specific sites to specific individuals and then measure if </p><p>they actually buy your product. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>We can alter a campaign in midstream to improve its performance and cost </p><p>effectiveness. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- It isn't a cure for cancer </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Of course the interactivity and measurability elements are wonderful, </p><p>but I have to admit the Internet isn't going to fix every marketing </p><p>problem on its own. Being fairly new, it is still going through the </p><p>mandatory teething process to which all other mediums were subjected at </p><p>the beginning. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But then I'm not advocating putting your complete marketing budget </p><p>online. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I'm talking about initiating an integrated marketing exercise to marry </p><p>the best of online with offline, to achieve your end objectives. And </p><p>bearing in mind that it is possible to add more depth and presence to </p><p>your overall marketing efforts by deploying between 5 to 10 per cent of </p><p>your total budget to online activities. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Who needs more awareness </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For most established brands, awareness already exists and marketers are </p><p>more focused on generating preference and loyalty leading to more </p><p>sales. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For dotcoms that spent significant funds on high profile awareness </p><p>building campaigns earlier this year, ultimately their business now </p><p>needs to settle into the real business of creating revenue and driving </p><p>eyeballs to their site. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In the US, 36 per cent of dotcom advertising budgets is placed </p><p>online. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Conversely, in Asia, few dotcoms have yet to employ a focused online </p><p>marketing strategy. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- We tried it, but it didn't work </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Guess what? There are good online campaigns and bad online </p><p>campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Just as there are good and bad ads, sales people, products and </p><p>services. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Spending the money on the Internet is an opportunity to gain a marketing </p><p>advantage, not a guarantee. Normal marketing rules apply. You still need </p><p>a clear strategy; you still need to execute sexy creative; you most </p><p>definitely need smart media planning; and you need to measure the </p><p>effect. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- You need money to make money </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>A budget of under HK$20,000 is not going to achieve that much. </p><p>Having a clear expectation of performance delivery against the budget is </p><p>important to measuring a campaigns effect. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Summary </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As for when should advertisers consider Internet? There are now 75.5 </p><p>million Asian consumers online. The time to implement an online campaign </p><p>is now. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Internet waits for no one ... </p><p><BR><BR> </p>