Advertising in one way or another is of course the primary way in which businesses attract potential customers. Throughout the ages there have been many different forms of advertising, but one common goal – to get your business noticed by as many people as possible (preferably people who are in your target market.)
Different forms of national press were of course ideal in the early days, such as national newspapers and radio, and then came the invention of what was to temporarily become the greatest advertising medium in history, television. I say temporarily because although for several decades TV ads have been by far the most effective way of advertising, there is now a method that surpasses it.
The method of course is the Internet. The Internet is used by over 1.3 billion people worldwide; you are able to select who out of those 1.3 billion people you wish to sell to. This means you are able to target your advertisements solely to them which there has never been a way to do effectively before.
The most popular way to go about doing this is to set up a website for your company and then set up a pay-per-click campaign on Google. For example, if your company were to sell vacuum cleaners, if you set up a pay-per-click campaign on Google then each time someone searches for vacuum cleaners, a link for your site will appear as one of the sites that have paid to be there and a site that can provide the person with what they have been searching for.
The amazing thing about pay-per-click is that you do exactly what the name suggests. You only pay a couple of pennies each time a qualified lead (a person who is looking for vacuum cleaners) clicks onto your website. This is then the most targeted form of advertising and the most cost effective. This is because you don’t end up paying a huge amount of money hoping that someone will like your advert and visit you but you only pay for those clients that come directly to your site.
There are several options when it comes to internet advertising, and deciding which one will be the most effective for you is vital in order to optimise results. There are websites that offer free internet advertising. There are places on the web where you can get Internet advertising that offers great exposure and promotion for your site.
Good post. I agree with your points. I would add that the most advantageous part to using PPC is you can microniche your advertising. For example you mentioned vacuum cleaners. You could advertise to people who are looking for "bagless vacuums" and there will be less bidders so the cost goes down. You could advertise to people looking for "bagless vacuums under $100". So you narrow it way down to the absolute niche market to maximize your ad budget and your click traffic….Direct Sales Marketing Coach Kenny Atcheson