Marketing on the Internet: Net v traditional marketing

Internet marketing has many advantages - and a few major disadvantages - compared with traditional methods. You should always use it in conjunction with your existing marketing plans and techniques.

Internet advertising statistics always sound impressive, but consider all the extra costs before launching an ad campaign:

• Finding the right sites and negotiating sensible prices for advertising space on them may be harder than you think.
• You will need to hire a specialist designer to produce a good banner advert within the tight technical constraints.
• Visit the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s website (www.iabuk.net) for the specifications of standard banner sizes.

The Internet may provide a better way of reaching a particular target audience than traditional advertising or direct mail:

• Hard-to-reach niche audiences are often accessible directly through email lists, newsgroups or by advertising on a specialist website.
• Web adverts are better at getting people to visit your website than print ads, partly because people can immediately click through to your site.

Brand values must be handled with care in the web environment:

• Your online brand must reflect your real brand image in design and name. Register your brand name as a domain name.

Internet delivery of mailshots and newsletters offers some real benefits:

• Selective lists of good quality prospects will normally be priced at about £100 per thousand names, as against, say, £150 per thousand for a good direct mail list.
• Only mail those that have specifically opted to receive marketing mailings.
• Your own customer lists are likely to be more effective than any you can buy.

Marketing using the Internet does not guarantee low cost. Traditional marketing methods can be cheaper:

• Internet marketing is generally less expensive for small, niche campaigns, where traditional print and postage costs are prohibitive or lists are not available.
• Per-customer costs for Internet advertising may be as high as for print advertising.
• Internet marketing is more cost-effective for distributing information to customers and the press on a regular basis.
• Most businesses now use spam filters to automatically filter out all email from unknown sources to reduce the threat of spamming or virus attacks. It is not unusual for legitimate emails to be identified as spam and deleted. This means fewer successful deliveries and a higher net cost per customer.