A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that online advertising has finally pulled ahead of print advertising. This trend is likely to continue. Why? Because people are spending more time online than they are reading print publications or watching TV. In addition, the Internet is the number one place people go to for information.
This all points to the need to have an online marketing strategy. If you’re still throwing money at print publications, you need to rethink your marketing efforts. First, print advertising is too expensive. Small quarter page ads that run two or three times a month can cost thousands. Larger ads cost even more. But are you getting your money’s worth?
Let’s say you have a heating and cooling business. So you pay several hundred dollars to run a print ad. The advertising sales people will convince you that you need to run the ad consistently to see results. So you sign up for a six month campaign. Total cost $5,000. The publication where you are running your print ad has a circulation of 150,000. Now how many of those 150,000 are in need of heating and cooling service? 100? 500? You’re paying all of this money to reach 500 people.
What if you could just advertise to those 500 people looking for heating and cooling services? Well, that’s exactly what search advertising allows you to do. Additionally, with search advertising you can track and analyze your marketing efforts in great detail. That same six month targeted search advertising campaign will run you 50% or less than the print campaign. You’ll know instantly which ads are working and which are not.
So stop throwing money away. Be smart. Go ahead and Google your product or service. Is your competition showing up in the results? If so, you’re already losing ground.
Follow Us