The History of Online Advertising - Research Paper Example

ONLINE ADVERTISING The History, Content and Tools of Online Advertising Word Count: 1510 (6 pages) I. Introduction Perhaps you have seen those annoying pop-ups and spam ads every time you try to watch your favorite movie or show on Hulu.com. Advertising in the online world is nothing new, and people are making billions off of advertising. The rumor that one Apple product will be released generates millions upon millions of free Internet publicity and advertisements for Apple Inc., for example. The history, the content and tools of online advertising inside the marketing communication mix is what will be discussed herein. It is a combination of all these factors which make online marketing a valuable tool in being able to reach legions of new customers for various brands. II. The History of Online Advertising Right now, having a website is what is paramount to one’s small business, company, or organization. According to Butow and Bollwitt (2010), “Your online marketing efforts start with your Web site. About 10 years ago, having a Web site was seen as a luxury…” (pp. 1-20). Now, it is very common for companies to pursue online marketing as an alternative method of garnering business. For some companies, online marketing is the only outlet which they have to gain new business prospects. Now, many organizations must have websites in order to stay competitive. Newspapers, for example, are increasingly moving online in order to cut costs of printing and so forth. According to Time Magazine (2009), “[There are at least] 10 major daily papers that are most likely to fold or shutter their print operations and only publish online. The properties were chosen on [three factors, including] how much money they are losing” (pgh. 2). There are also new techniques being used in order to gain business. With the advent of Google, Internet advertising began to become the norm and not the exception. Marketers have also started doing brain research to figure out what makes a good advertisement. According to Ohme, Matukin, & Pacula-Lesniak (2001), “Marketers in turn have sought new research paradigms to explore preconscious, nonverbal stages of information processing…As [it has been] note[d], conscious emotional information processing and perception have been studied extensively in consumer research, even though we know little about how the human brain processes marketing stimuli” (pgh. 4). III. The Content of Online Advertising The content of online advertising depends upon what the subject or brand being advertised consists of, generally speaking. Any type of marketing that has a personal touch rings true with consumers, as so many times there is mass media marketing which feels so cold and impersonal. Apple ads for the iPhone and iPad show the device users using the device up close in a camera shot, so that the customer can feel like they are part of the experience. This kind of individualized marketing is one of the keys—but by no means the only one—to Apple’s marketing success. According to Ahrens and Coyle (2011), “Customized or personalized advertising has the potential to be more cost efficient and effective than mass advertising, because the communications are tailored to individual users…” (pgh. 2). The content of online advertising can vary considerably, depending upon what one wants to accomplish in the marketing spectrum. There are several different types of advertising online. According to Holter (2011), “Online advertising has many flavors such as banners, blog ads, rich media ads, content sponsorship, email newsletter sponsorships and more. [The most popular was Google’s s]earch engine advertising…The lucrative Web 2.0 economy has been bolstered largely on Googles success in turning website traffic into money” (pgh. 1). Banners can be on the sides of web pages, as are blog ads. Media ads and content sponsorship through various social networking sites—mainly on Twitter and Facebook—make headlines. Email newsletters help spread the word about a particular company, organization, or individual trying to further their business(es). IV. The Tools of Online Advertising There are many tools and techniques which can be used for optimal placement in getting high Alexa rankings on the search engine results. There are several ways to do this. One can link build and link share; one can give regular updates on one’s site; one can include keywords in titles and copy of one’s posts; and one can provide one’s readership with great content which they will come back for over and over again. It’s important to make sure that the SEO keywords that are being used are the top-used keywords in Google AdSense. Using Google AdSense, one can find out what are the top-rated keywords associated with a particular word. Banners can be used to Also, there is the X factor of viral marketing. Viral marketing is when one person posts a video or comment and then the video or comment goes “viral,” where multiple people post the video or comment, until it builds in popularity—thus establishing a popular trending topic either on Yahoo! or Twitter. According to Eckler and Bolls (2011), “[With v]iral advertising…[t]he…act of spreading the message to ones social network constitutes an endorsement of [a] brand, which enhances its credibility in the eyes of the receiver…A successful viral promotion can reach thousands or millions of otherwise indifferent consumers and motivate them to endorse or interact with a brand” (pgh. 2). Viral marketing is a unique phenomena because it requires several users to repeat an action in order to garner sales or attention for a particular product or brand. For example, there is a website dedicated to “Purina All-Stars,” which features funny animal videos (mainly of dogs and cats, since Purina makes dog and cat food). These videos are usually charming as well as entertaining, and it makes Purina a more high-profile company when much of the viewership of these viral videos knows the brand. The thinking is that such videos will heighten brand awareness as well as be amusing at the same time. There are several different tools or outlets which organizations can use in order to promote their brands. Most commonly utilized in order to further brands and viral videos is the website YouTube. According to Fox (2009), “Today YouTube is often used as a viral platform because people enjoy sharing funny videos with one another. Online games, tools, or promotions that encourage you to participate and forward the promo to your friends are viral marketing, too” (pp. 95). Another website which people can use includes Xtranormal.com, where videos can be made using two cartoon characters; all the user has to do is type in a script and then the animated characters recite the script. It’s pretty funny. People have used Xtranormal in order to illuminate various issues, including campaign politics and the dominating nature of the iPhone in the smartphone market. All these videos are tactical ploys by either individuals, companies, or organizations which are looking for free publicity and exposure. Another website where people can view videos are on news websites, such as CNN and MSNBC. Also, celebrity news is commonly reported via videos on the websites “Omg!,” Access Hollywood, Us Weekly, People, and so forth. Blogs are also a major source of information about what’s happening in Hollywood, famously (or perhaps, notoriously) including Gawker, RadarOnline, Page Six, and PerezHilton.com. Many of these news and celebrity websites are dedicated to bringing the latest information and tidbits to the public via video because it is more convenient, and sometimes more expedient—to post a video rather than to have a long blog post or article about the news or a celebrity’s whereabouts. Whatever the case, video posting is probably going to be around for a long time to come. It is undoubtedly one of the easiest modes of communication that far outpaces writing and holds the interest of Internet readers, who commonly have attention span deficits when reading online materials. V. Conclusion Online marketing is the new black. It is going to explode at an exponential rate in the future, with several companies, organizations, and individuals expected to use the Internet for all their marketing purposes. According to Adler (2010), “Online marketing, especially search engine marketing, will continue growing in double digits in the next few years. At the same time there are an increasing number of households using the [I]nternet and search engines” (pp. 49). Online marketing has a variety of tools that are at one’s disposal in order to better further one’s projects, goals, dreams, and ideations of the future. Without online marketing, companies like Apple Inc. might not have had such major success. Without online marketing, Google would probably not have made the billions it pulls in in revenue every year. Online marketing, therefore, is increasingly becoming a tool that is being used throughout the spectrum of marketing communications. It is expected that, in the future, such online marketing will have advanced to new heights of advertisement so that ads will be more interactive with the consumers. Hopefully, one who is in business which needs marketing tools will be able to meet the challenges that lie ahead in the world of online marketing. Having reviewed the history, content, and tools of online marketing, the hope is that people will learn from this information and use it to their advantage to better their lives and the lives of others—as technology should. REFERENCES Adler M (2010). A study of marketing and online marketing tools which improve online success. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Ahrens J & Coyle JR (2011). A content analysis of registration processes on websites: how advertisers gather information to customize marketing communications. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 11(2): pgh. 2. . Butow E & Bollwitt R (2010). Blogging to drive business: create and maintain valuable customer connections. US: Pearson Education. Eckler P & Bolls P (2011). Spreading the virus: emotional tone of viral advertising and its effect on forwarding intentions and attitudes. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 11 (2): pgh. 2. Available: . Fox, SC (2009). E-riches 2.0: next-generation marketing strategies for making millions online. US: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Association. Holter E. (2011). Online advertising redux. Available: . Ohme R, Matukin M, & Pacula-Lesniak B (2011). Biometric measures for interactive advertising research. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 11 (2): pgh. 4. Available: . The 10 most endangered newspapers in America. (2009). Retrieved from Time Magazine. 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