Online marketing trends

Online advertising has come a long way since the first banner ads in 1994. The internet, virtually unheard of just over a decade ago, is a vital part of our lives now. The many forms of marketing and advertising it enables include permission-based email, keyword-targeted search engine advertising, floating animated page

Marketers’ market

Today, marketers are demanding more accountability for the return they get on their advertising dollars. In the last few years, ad sellers have made great advances in demonstrating online media’s value also as a brand vehicle with significant audience reach. Internet’s accountability for measuring both brand and performance lift appears to be winning converts, as more mainstream ad dollars continue to shift rapidly online.

Consumers in control

Consumers, meanwhile, are reacting to their plethora of media choices and a growing volume of marketing messages. No medium has penetrated 50% of US households as fast as the internet. Unlike other media, internet is literally an interactive experience, where the consumer, with hands on mouse and keyboard, can read, research, watch, listen, write, send, meet, organize, post, program, purchase and do much more, all through various simple devices across a vast network of millions of collaborators and destinations.

Booming rich media

Rich media is gaining popularity. It includes high-quality animation, streaming audio and video, and software-like features that can be embedded in relatively small ad files, such as games, registration forms and detailed marketing information. A user can explore all of those features in the ad unit without ever leaving the content page on which the ad appears. Rich media has risen steadily in popularity with advertisers over the past five years, reaching a 35% share of all ad impressions.

Contextual advertising on the rise

The key reason for the prominence of search listings in the online ad mix is that consumers rely on search heavily to aid their online shopping behavior. Roughly, half the people examined in a web-usage study who made an online purchase, first conducted a search related to the product. So, placing your link at a place where the audience is looking for that information already makes more sense, plus you pay only if somebody clicks on your ad.

Targeted permission-based mailing among the mediums of choice

In a scenario where a prospect is subject to over 5000 ad messages a day, all traditional medium fail to get his attention as well as opt-in emailing does. You command full attention of your prospect as he has shown interest in that information in the past. Targeted email marketing is most personalized and promises the best ROI when compared to traditional mediums.

Conclusion

Strong growth in online marketing is projected in the coming years. Marketers will have to take a closer look at their marketing mix and get as targeted as possible. What the new media and marketing landscape will look like a few years from now is still unclear, but it is likely that the winners in both media and advertising will be those who adapt most effectively to the new consumer-centric model.