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