For most marketers, there comes a time when you need to spend money to make money.
Online advertising, when done correctly, can rocket your web marketing into the stratosphere, but if you don’t have the right plan in place, you’ll blast a giant crater in your budget. Online advertising isn’t rocket science, but you need to know the basics to be savvy about where to invest your money.
John Nelson Wanamaker, the man who opened the first department store in Philadelphia in 1875, is reported to have said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” One of the largest distinctions of online advertising is its tracking capabilities, so there is no excuse for spending money on online advertising or search engine marketing without knowing what works and what doesn’t.
Today you can sift through analytics data to get very granular information about the success of your advertising. Initial tests may not be immediately successful, but if you take calculated risks, execute them in an organized and methodical manner, and continually monitor results, you can optimize your expenses to remove any that do not support your overall marketing goals.
Despite such a wealth of data available to online advertisers, many people who try online advertising (like banner ads and pay-per-click [PPC] ads) on for size end up losing their shirts.
Why? Because they did not plan to fail, they failed to plan.
Online marketing is not only online advertising. Advertising is simply one more tool in the wild, wild web marketing world that can be used to increase relationships. You can pay to maximize exchanges as long as you are ready to approach online advertising in a holistic way. Understand that the multiple variables online marketing presents need to all be considered, planned, tested, measured, managed, and optimized. Committing to building lasting, healthy relationships with your clients and customers is critical. Taking responsibility for buying online advertising and search engine marketing can be the missing link to building awareness and relationships.
