  Internet Advertising - The Changing Face of an Agency The days of the bloated advertising agency, with their innately-slow processes and exorbitant fees, are over. The Internet has changed the way that consumers and businesses interact with one another. The traditional media models are being smashed and replaced with strategies that integrate multiple digital sources (web, pay-per-click, search engines, rich-media, email, wireless, news syndication, flash, interactive video) with established outlets (newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards, direct mail) and offer state-of-the-art metrics to gauge the effectiveness of each component. What Happened to the Dinosaurs? Some time ago, a large meteor struck the earth and caused years of darkness that wiped out the dinosaurs. I think that many "Old-Guard" advertising agencies are going to look back and say that internet did the same thing - destroy their precious business model of overcharging and underperforming. This is not to say that all agencies are inept. A large agency typically brings a strategic approach, compelling creative work, and a full complement of in-house promotion services. These can be an asset to your business, but without a pure digital advertising strategy, the campaign effectiveness will be exponentially lower. Changing Demographics The Census Bureau has recently reported that single-adult households have displaced two-parent families with children as the most common kind of U.S. household. Nuclear-family households, which are two married parents and a child, were the most common as recently as 1990, when there were 25 million such households. But by 2000, nuclear-family households fell to second place, both because there were almost a half-million fewer of these types of homes and because the number of single-adult households surged past 27 million. Married households without children remained the third most common, with 20 million in 1990 and 22 million in 2000. So how does this affect advertisers and content creators in the digital age? Target markets are shifting as consumers demand things on their own terms at their own pace. Marketers must embrace emerging media to spread its message. A great example is RSS, really simple syndication, in which people subscribe to news and content feeds that "push" digital content to be read at the convenience of the reader. It is like a digital paper boy that delivers what you want when you want it. The Cost-Effectiveness of Digital Media As opposed to traditional media outlets, digital and internet advertising can provide "the most bang for your buck". Television, radio and print are VERY expensive. You can achieve greater market saturation through a targeted online strategy that utilizes search engine marketing, website and rich-media advertising. PPC programs, such as Overture and AdWords, allow you to reach an enormous market through extremely targeted messages, while strictly adhering to any budgetary constraints through highest bidder systems. State-Of-The-Art Metrics - A New Level of Analysis To truly be effective, a marketing campaign must be measured and judged on its effectiveness. When you are working across multiple media formats, this process can become very complicated. Custom software solutions that include customer tracking, advanced data analysis and reporting can help you to make sense of the sea of information. By better understanding how and why your customer's make their buying decisions, your company can make better informed marketing assessments that have a direct impact on your bottom-line revenue. Knowledge is power! DTCS offers a complete suite of internet advertising services including pay-per-click management, search engine optimization, content management, keyword creation, keyword position tracking, rich-media ads, email newsletters, wireless web, news syndication, flash content creation and interactive video. Contact Us today and put the power of the internet to work for your company. |
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