| Internet
Advertisement Explained : Part 8
Does Internet Advertisement
Work ?
"How important is on-line advertisement and promotion
for my business ? Is it worthwhile to spend money on
this ? Does it give any return on investment ? If at
all I decide to pay - to what extent should I go ? "
These are some of the questions uppermost in the minds
of most aspiring on-line advertisers. Given the virtual
character of Internet and common perception of on-line
advertising as perplex to bizarre - one should not get
surprised at such reaction. But what is the truth ?
Does on-line advertisement work ? What's wrong if I
continue to work with free e-mails and other resources
available free in Internet ?
Let us analyze the situation step by step and examine
the issues.
How Important is Internet for your Business ?
To evaluate value of Internet advertisement - its necessary
to understand first what role does Internet play for
your business.
If your business model is such that Internet is used
only for research or dissemination of information -
on-line advertisement may not be considered critical
for business success. Consequently, you may not keep
much in your promotion budget for Internet.
Off-line business models such as large business houses
(e.g. Reliance, Tata, IBM etc) Realty, Distribution,
Transportation etc. may fall in this category.
However, if your business uses Internet for sourcing,
selling, distribution, marketing etc. - significant
Internet presence becomes critical for business success.
Spend Money to Earn Money
It really surprises me that many people, who otherwise
are astute business men, fail to grasp this simple concept
whenever Internet is concerned.
Mind you, these are the same people who do not think
twice before spending significant amount in print or
electronic media advertisements.
There is a misconception that everything is free in
Internet. Nothing could be further from truth than this
!
If Internet is important for your business - there
is no escaping the fact that you need to spend money
and effort for its optimum utilization.
All businesses need to spend money on marketing and
promotion - Internet based business can not be an exception.
For healthy growth of any business - it is important
that a part of profit is re-invested in the business.
There is no 'free' substitute to this age-old adage
How Much and Where to Spend ?
The amount of money to be spent is dependant on your
business - important thing is to accept the fact that
there is no free substitute. You may start with a small
budget and increase it as your business grow.
Priority should be on establishing web presence and
developing credible ways of communication such as business
e-mails. After this preliminary expense - one should
explore ways of attracting customers to web-site and
finding useful trade leads. Search engine submission
and on-line advertisement are some of the ways of attracting
customers to your web-site. Subscribing to trade portals,
trade information services etc are some of the ways
of finding useful trade leads.
Conclusion
One look at bottom-line of major Internet advertisement
firms such as Yahoo! and Google is enough to convince
any astute businessman on importance of on-line advertisement.
If Google can become larger than Coca Cola in less than
6 years by selling on-line ads - its time to take notice
and become aware of huge money businesses are spending
for on-line advertisement throughout the world. Ignore
the trend at your own peril !
Happy and Productive
Surfing
Dr. Amit K Chatterjee
Related Links:
Author
: Dr.
Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15
years in various capacities like Research and Information
Analysis, Market Development, MIS, R&D Information
Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce venture
in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are
of his own. |
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