Rob Stokes
eMarketing The Essential Guide to Online
Marketing
advance quotes about eMarketng:
the essential guide to online marketing
“Qurk’s eMarketng handbook covers all the most mportant concepts whch are necessary for eMarketng excellence today. I would hghly recommend t as both a study gude and a practtoner’s reference manual. Congratulatons to the QurkStars on all the thought, research and work that has obvously gone nto ths.”
Dave Duarte, founder and drector of Nomadc Marketng, UCT Graduate School of Busness
“WOW! It s an nspraton to see such a well wrtten and truly essental gude to onlne marketng beng wrtten by South Afrcans! eMarketng: The Essental Gude to Onlne Marketng should be read and referenced by every smart marketer who s dealng wth the complcated world of eMarketng.”
Bronwen Auret, Onlne Marketng Specalst, South Afrcan Toursm
“The perfect startng pont for anyone enterng the world of onlne marketng…. truly
mpressve.”
Stafford Mase, Country Manager, Google South Afrca
“I’ve known Qurk for many years and t’s very exctng to see all ther experence dstlled nto ths textbook. Furthermore, ther contrbuton to Open Educaton by lcensng ths book under Creatve Commons s an ntatve I strongly support. Read ths book.”
Scott Gray, Interactve Marketng, BMW South Afrca
v v eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing
By Rob Stokes
Compled by Sarah Blake
Frst publshed 2008 by Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd.
© Copyrght 2008 Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd.
Ths book s publshed under the Creatve Commons Attrbuton-Noncommercal-No Dervatve Works 3.0 Unported Lcense. Ths means that you can share and dstrbute ths work and you can even modfy t, as long as you do not use t for commercal gan, you share all modficatons and you credt Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd. For more nformaton, you can vst www.creatvecommons.org or www.qurk.bz/emarketngtextbook.
ISBN: 978-0-620-41135-6
Book desgn and typesettng by Solveg Bosch. Cover llustraton nspred by Crag Raw and desgn and llustraton by Peter Lehto.
We’ve used the font DIN n ths book and t s prnted n South Afrca on recycled paper by Shuman Prnters (www.shumanprnters.com).
Trademarks
All terms or names used n ths book that are known to be trademarks or servce marks have been approprately captalsed. Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd cannot attest to the accuracy of ths nformaton. Use of a term n ths book should not be regarded as affectng the valdty of any trademark or servce mark.
We have also made every effort to obtan permsson for and to acknowledge copyrght materal. Should any nfrngement of copyrght have occurred, please contact us and every effort wll be made to rectfy omssons or errors n the event of a reprnt or new edton. You can contact us on textbook@qurk.bz.
Warning and Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to make ths book as complete and accurate as possble, but no warrantes regardng ts contents, whether fact, speculaton or opnon, are made nor
s fitness for any use mpled. The nformaton provded s on an “as s” bass. The author, compler and Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd shall have nether lablty nor responsblty to any person or entty wth respect to any loss or damages arsng from the nformaton contaned
n ths book.
Full detals of Qurk eMarketng (Pty) Ltd may be obtaned va ts web ste (www.qurk.bz) or may be requested drectly at textbook@qurk.bz.
eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing by Rob Stokes
compled by Sarah Blake
v v
When I started Qurk almost 10 years ago, t was yet another one of my crazy entrepreneural adventures. I had lttle dea back then of what Qurk would grow
nto today.
There are key moments that stand out for me as havng shaped Qurk. I could count the jonng of Crag Raw and Janne Carpenter and the experences learned n buldng our first emal applcaton n the early days of Qurk as two of them. But there s one
ncdent that started a journey for me personally; n 2001 a fantastc man named Coln Palmer nvted me to gve a talk on emal marketng at a Drect Marketng Assocaton breakfast. It was my first real publc speakng experence and I was scared wtless, but I had a lot of fun.
But t was Coln’s next nvtaton when the educaton bug really bt me. He nvted me to lecture to hs thrd year Busness Scence Marketng students at the Unversty of Cape Town I had been n that very class only two years before, so I began the lecture wth mxture of nerves and exctement. Two thngs happened at the end of the lecture that changed me. The first was the questons from the students. Some were easy, but some really challenged me and I found myself havng to thnk n ways I ddn’t expect.
The second was a student who came up to me and thanked me for the lecture, and told me she had learned somethng valuable. That s stll one of the greatest experences I have ever had.
Sadly, Coln passed away a few years later, but I learned a huge amount from hm n the tme that I knew hm and for that I am very grateful. He showed me how rewardng
t s to gve someone knowledge; t was enlghtenng. Thank you, Coln.
From that day on I was hooked. I am passonate about onlne marketng and I wanted to tell the world and have them share my passon. Ths has led me to all manner of teachng experences, from awesome post graduate marketng schools lke Red and Yellow n Cape Town, to conferences on the other sde of the planet.
Over the years, Qurk has become a busy agency and unfortunately my tme has become more and more scarce. Ths has meant I’ve been able to embrace fewer of the teachng and speakng opportuntes than I would have wanted. Thankfully I seem to have nfected many of the QurkStars to carry the torch wthout me and Qurk has become a company where we are all passonate about sharng our knowledge.
preface
Snce Qurk’s ncepton, we have been steadly buldng a huge amount of nformatve content around the varous elements of onlne marketng. Ths turned nto our eMarketng 101 seres, almost a mn verson of ths book. When I read about the Open Educaton Declaraton n September 2007, I knew exactly what Qurk should do. We needed to take all our knowledge, experence and educatonal content and create a textbook that we could share wth the world by lcensng t under Creatve Commons.
The Open Educaton Declaraton was sgned n Cape Town and t ams to accelerate efforts to promote open educatonal resources, technology and teachng practces.
Qurk has always been an agency whch s fanatcal about Open Source technology, and ths seemed a perfect fit. It’s almost a culmnaton of everythng we stand for as an organsaton.
So here we are wth a book that I’m terrbly proud of. It’s been much harder than we thought to put t together wth many late nghts and mssed deadlnes, but every mnute has been worth t. In partcular I should pont out the treless work of the lovely Sarah Blake. Wthout her ths book could not have come together lke t has. Not only dd she wrte a huge amount of t, but she has been nstrumental n ensurng that we can make ths contrbuton to educaton wth the confidence that we are dong somethng of the hghest qualty.
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank my team and everyone who has helped to make ths dea a realty. I’ve been nvolved wth many exctng clents and projects over the lfetme of Qurk, but I can honestly say ths s the project I am most proud of. Ths book s a dstllaton of all of Qurk’s knowledge and to be able to offer t to all wthout boundares and lmtatons s a prvlege. I can only hope that others follow across all spheres of educaton and understandng. I beleve educaton s the one thng that can change the world and n partcular my South Afrca. It’s up to those wth knowledge to do what they can to put t n the hands of others.
Please enjoy our book and share t wth others…
Rob Stokes
v x
About the Open Educ ation Declar ation and the Cr eat v e Commons
The Cape Town Open Educaton Declaraton s the product of a meetng
n Cape Town of a coalton of educators, foundatons, and Internet poneers n September 2007. The meetng was organsed by the Open Socety Insttute and the Shuttleworth Foundaton. Lnux entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth sad, “Open sourcng educaton doesn’t just make learnng more accessble, t makes t more collaboratve, flexble and locally relevant.” The Declaraton’s prncples of openness n educaton and the sharng of knowledge resonate strongly wth us.
To show our commtment to the Open Educaton Declaraton, all of the contents of ths textbook are freely avalable, as are supportng materals for lecturers and for students. We know how quckly thngs change when t comes to the Internet, so we are commtted to regular updates of ths resource. A free download of the textbook and further materals and resources are avalable at www.qurk.bz/emarketngtextbook.
For more nformaton on the Open Educaton Declaraton, and to add your name to the lst of ndvduals commtted to ths cause, you can go to www.capetowndeclaraton.org.
Creatve Commons recognses that content can be freely shared and dstrbuted wthout negatng the rghts of the author of the work. It’s an exctng chartable organsaton that s helpng creators around the world to share ther work whle stll beng recognsed for ther authorshp. We have chosen a Creatve Commons lcence for ths work that means that the contents may be freely shared as well as modfied and shared as long the source materal s acknowledged and t s not used for commercal gan.
For more nformaton on the Creatve Commons, please vst www.creatvecommons.org.
x x
con tents
1. introduction to eMarketing ... 1
references ... 6
further readng ... 6
2. email marketing ... 7
ntroducton ... 8
hstory ... 8
key terms and concepts ... 9
how t works ... 10
tools of the trade... 19
pros and cons ... 19
summary ... 20
case study ... 20
references ... 22
further readng ... 23
3. online advertising ... 25
ntroducton ... 26
hstory ... 26
key terms and concepts ... 27
how t works ... 28
puttng t all together ... 35
emergng technologes ... 36
the good and the bad ... 37
summary ... 39
the bgger pcture ... 40
case study ... 41
references ... 42
further readng ... 43
4. affiliate marketing ... 45
ntroducton ... 46
hstory ... 46
key terms and concepts ... 47
how t works ... 48
tools of the trade... 57
settng up a campagn ... 58
pros and cons ... 60
summary ... 60
the bgger pcture ... 61
case study ... 62
references ... 64
further readng ... 64
5. search engine marketing ... 65
key terms and concepts ... 68
the mportance of search ... 68
references ... 72
6. search engine optimisation ... 73
ntroducton ... 74
hstory ... 74
key terms and concepts ... 75
how t works ... 76
tools of the trade... 86
pros and cons ... 87
the bgger pcture ... 88
case study ... 89
references ... 90
further readng ... 91
7. PPC advertising ... 93
ntroducton ... 94
key terms and concepts ... 95
hstory ... 96
how t works ... 96
onlne comparson engnes ... 107
tools of the trade... 109
pros and cons ... 110
summary ... 111
the bgger pcture ... 112
case study ... 113
references ... 115
further readng ... 115
Google AdWords Voucher ... 117
top 10 optmsaton tps for advertsng on google... 118
8. social media... 121
ntroducton ... 122
hstory ... 122
key terms and concepts ... 123
how t works ... 124
tools of the trade... 141
pros and cons ... 142
summary ... 142
the bgger pcture ... 142
case study ... 143
references ... 145
further readng ... 146
9. viral marketing ... 147
ntroducton ... 148
hstory ... 148
key terms and concepts ... 149
how t works ... 149
summary ... 156
the bgger pcture ... 157
case study ... 158
references ... 159
further readng ... 160
10. online reputation management ... 161
ntroducton ... 162
key terms and concepts ... 164
dell hell ... 164
how t works ... 166
10 rules to recover ... 173
summary ... 174
case study ... 175
references ... 177
further readng ... 177
11. webPR ... 179
ntroducton ... 180
hstory ... 180
key terms and concepts ... 181
how t works ... 182
webPR tactcs ... 183
tools of the trade... 191
webPR ... 192
summary ... 192
the bgger pcture ... 193
case study ... 193
references ... 196
further readng ... 196
12. web site development and design .... 197
ntroducton ... 198
how t works ... 198
key terms and concepts ... 199
pros and cons ... 214
summary ... 214
the bgger pcture ... 215
case study ... 216
references ... 218
further readng ... 218
13. online copywriting ... 219
ntroducton ... 220
key terms and concepts ... 220
how t works ... 221
neologsms and buzz words ... 230
summary ... 230
chapter questons ... 232
references ... 232
further readng ... 232
14. web analytics and conversion optimisation ... 233
ntroducton ... 234
hstory ... 234
key terms and concepts ... 235
how t works ... 235
tools of the trade... 247
settng up a campagn ... 248
pros and cons ... 248
summary ... 248
the bgger pcture ... 249
case study ... 249
references ... 251
further readng ... 252
15. last words ... 253
further readng ... 255
16. glossary ... 253
17. contributors ... 277
x 1
1. intr oduction t o eMark et ng
2 3
ntroducton to emarketng › a brief timeline of Internet developments
Whle the Internet was developed n order for academc and mltary nsttutons to share data, t has become a sharng tool for anyone wth an Internet connecton the world over.
1990 Senator Al Gore cons the term ‘nformaton superhghway’.
1991 Web Father, Tm Berners-Lee releases World Wde Web (www) wth scentsts from CERN.
1992 Amerca Onlne (AOL) s launched and rases $23m n floataton.
The term ‘surfing the net’ s ntroduced by Jean Armour Polly.
The World Bank goes onlne.
1993 Manstream meda attenton ncreases awareness of the Internet.
Frst Internet publcaton. Wred, goes on sale.
Mosac ntroduces the first web browser wth graphcal nterface and s the forerunner of Netscape Navgator.
Frst onlne shoppng malls and vrtual banks emerge as does evdence of spam.
Frst clckable banner advert s sold by Global Network Navgator to a law firm.
1995 Amazon s launched by Jeff Bezos.
Tral dal up systems such as AOL and CompuServe launch.
Chargng s ntroduced for doman names.
Search technology companes such as Alta Vsta, Infoseek, Excte and Metacrawler rapdly appear.
1996 Yahoo! s launched on the stock exchange and shares are up nearly 300% on first day.
1997 MP3.com s founded.
The term “search engne optmsaton” s used for the first tme n a forum.
1998 XML s released to enable compatblty between dfferent computer systems.
Google founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brn.
1999 Peter Merholz cons the word “blog”.
2000 AOL and Tme-Warner announce they are mergng.
Pay-per-Clck campagns are ntroduced for top ten search rankngs.
Google AdWords launches, chargng for adverts on a CPM bass.
2002 UK onlne monthly consumer shoppng breaks through the £1 bllon barrer.
Google AdWords charges on a PPC bass nstead of CPM.
2003 eBay topples Amazon as the most vsted UK web ste.
2004 CD-WOW loses court case and rghts to source cheaper CDs outsde EU, undermnng the global concept of the Internet.
2005 Iceland leads the world wth broadband penetraton: 26.7 nhabtants per 100 have broadband compared wth 15.9 per 100 n the UK.
2006 Google buys YouTube for $1.6 bllon.
Facebook membershp opens to anyone.
Technorat notes that a blog s created every second of every day.
Tme Magazne names “You” as person of the year, due to onlne actvty.
2008 Frefox 3.0 launches wth over 8 mllon downloads n 24 hours.
Internet usage tops 1,407,724,920 worldwde.
source: Gay (2007)
ntroducton to emarketng › introduction
introduction
There s no doubt about t – the Internet has changed the world we lve n. Never before has t been so easy to access nformaton, communcate wth people all over the globe and share artcles, vdeos, photos and all manner of meda.
The Internet has led to an ncreasngly connected envronment, and the growth of Internet usage has resulted n declnng dstrbuton of tradtonal meda: televson, rado, newspapers and magaznes. Marketng n ths connected envronment and usng that connectvty to market s eMarketng.
eMarketng embraces a wde range of strateges, but what underpns successful eMarketng s a user-centrc and cohesve approach to these strateges.
Whle the Internet and the World Wde Web have enabled what we call New Meda, the theores that lead to the development of the Internet were beng developed from the 1950s.
a brief timeline of Internet developments
1958 US ARPA (advanced research projects agency) establshed to lead scence and mltary technologcal developments.
1961 MIT research paper of Packet Swtchng Theory.
1961-69 Ongong research nto nter-computer communcatons and networks.
1969 ARPANET, commssoned by US Defense Department, goes lve.
US unverstes connect up network facltes for the first tme.
1971 Ray Tomlnson creates first network emal applcaton.
1973 Development of protocols to enable mult-network Internet opportuntes.
Frst nternatonal ARPANET connectons made.
1976 HM Queen Elzabeth II sends an emal.
1978 Frst spam emal s recorded.
1980 Tm Berners-Lee develops rules for the World Wde Web and s credted as the Web Father.
Alan Emtage develops the first search tool known as ‘ARCHIE’.
1982 Standard network protocols are establshed: Transmsson Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), commonly referred to as TCIP/IP.
1984 Jont Academc Network (JANET) s establshed, lnkng hgher educaton nsttutons.
Doman Name System (DNS) s ntroduced.
1985 A company named Symbolcs becomes the first regstered dot.com doman.
1987 Natonal Scence Foundaton (US) s the catalyst for the surge n funded work nto the Internet.
Number of Internet hosts ncreases sgnficantly n ths perod.
1988-90 28 countres sgn up to hook up to the NSFNET, renforcng nternatonal Internet potental.
4 5
ntroducton to emarketng › what does this all have to do with marketing?
how do people access the Internet?
People connect to the Internet and access content n many dfferent ways. When t comes to the physcal connecton to the Internet, the market presents a number of optons:
Dal-up 3G
WF and WMax Broadband ADSL
And that lst goes on. The devces people use vary from moble phones and handheld small devces to personal notebooks and desktop computers. The envronment that people are n when they access the Internet also dffers:
At home
At the office or place of work Lbrares and educaton centres Internet cafes and coffee shops
Not only do these envronmental factors affect how people use the Internet, but ther reasons for usng the Internet also have an effect on how they nteract onlne.
For some people, t s prmarly a communcatons channel, and ther onlne actvty
s focused on ther emal nbox, whle for others t may be a research channel, wth search engnes playng a large role n ther onlne experence.
Havng such a dverse audence means that there are many channels avalable to marketers when t comes to eMarketng.
what does this all have to do with marketing?
Marketng s about conversatons, and the Internet has become a hub of conversatons.
The connected nature of the Internet allows us to follow and track these conversatons, and provdes entry ponts for all partes. What follows n ths book are ways of conversng wth potental and exstng customers usng the Internet.
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ntroducton to emarketng › it’s all about being connected
it’s all about being connected
In ts smplest form, the Internet s a collecton of connected documents or objects.
Hyperlnks are what connect these documents.
A hyperlnk s a vrtual lnk from one document on the World Wde Web to another. It
ncludes the URL of the lnked-to document whch descrbes where on the Internet a document s. It s what you enter n the address bar of the browser, because t s the address of that document on the Internet.
A URL provdes nformaton to both browsers and people. URLs nclude doman names whch translate to IP addresses. Every web ste corresponds to an IP address, whch s a structured seres of dots and numbers ndcatng where t s physcally located. When you enter a URL nto the address bar of a browser, the Doman Name System record
ndcates where the document s that you are lnkng to. Many domans can translate to the same IP address.
Confused? Look at the doman name and IP address for Qurk’s web ste:
Doman name: www.qurk.bz IP address: 212.100.243.204
A doman name looks somethng lke ths:
www.domanname.com
But a lot more nformaton can be ncluded n ths. Doman names can carry the followng nformaton:
subdoman.doman.tld/drectory
Domain - the regstered doman name of the web ste Subdomain - a doman that s part of a larger doman
tld – the top level doman, uppermost n the herarchy of doman names Directory – a folder to organse content
The tld can ndcate the country n whch a doman s regstered, and can also gve
nformaton about the nature of the doman.
.com – s the most common tld
.co.za, .co.uk, .com.au – these tlds gve country nformaton .org – used by non-profit organsatons
.gov – used by governments .ac – used by academc nsttutons
Doman names must be regstered and there s a fee for dong so.
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wide network which allows for information to be shared between users (also known as nodes).
The World Wide Web is a sub-set of this which caters specifically for web sites.
note
6 7
2. email mark et ng
What’s inside:
An introduction to emal marketng, and a bref history of emal, whch predates the World Wde Web. Get started wth key terms and concepts and then learn how t works wth the dfference between promotons and newsletters. Learn the 9 steps to executing an email campaign, as well as the parts of an emal. Get started wth some basc tools of the trade, the pros and cons of emal marketng, and a chapter summary and a look at how it all fits together.ntroducton to emarketng › further reading
references
Crocker, D. Emal Hstory,
http://www.lvngnternet.com/e/e.htm, lvngnternet.com, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Gay, R. et al (2007) Onlne Marketng – a customer-led approach, Oxford Unversty Press, Oxford, England, pp 8-9
Stewart, W (1996-2007) Lvng Internet, www.lvngnternet.com,
LvngInternet.com, [accessed 21 June 2008]
Merholz, P. (17 May 2002) Play Wth Your Words, www.peterme.com/archves/00000205.html, peterme.com, [accessed 27 May 2008]
MnWatts Marketng Group, World Internet Usage and Populaton Statstcs, www.nternetworldstats.com/stats.htm,
MnWatts Marketng Group [accessed 22 June 2008]
Rachel Rosmarn,R (11 September 2006) Open Facebook,
www.forbes.com/2006/09/11/facebook-opens-up-cx_rr_0911facebook.html, Forbes.com [accessed 22 June 2008]
Sfry, D. (Aprl 17, 2006) State of the Blogosphere, Aprl 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth, www.sfry.com/alerts/archves/000432.html,
Sfry’s Alerts, [accessed 27 May 2008]
Sullvan, D. (14 June 2004) Who Invented the Term “Search Engne Optmzaton”?, http://forums.searchengnewatch.com/showpost.php?p=2119&postcount=10, Search Engne Watch [accessed 6 June 2008]
further reading
Tm Berners-Lee’s Answers for Young People s a bref outlne of how he nvented the World Wde Web:
www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Kds.
Hs book Weavng the Web: The Orgnal Desgn and Ultmate Destny of the World Wde Web covers ths n far more depth.
sethgodn.typepad.com
– the blog from Seth Godn, best-sellng author, entrepreneur and agent of change.
8 9 emal marketng › key terms and concepts
key terms and concepts
B2B
Stands for Busness to Busness. When busnesses sell products/servces to other busnesses and not to consumers.B2C
Stands for Busness to consumers. When busnesses sell products/servces to consumers.Call to action
A CTA s a phrase wrtten to motvate the reader to take acton. (sgn up for our newsletter, book car hre today etc.).CAN-SPAM
The U.S. law that regulates commercal emal. It stands for “Controllng the Assault of Non-Solcted Pornography and Marketng Act of 2003.”CRM
Customer Relatonshp Management.Database
In emal marketng, the database s the lst of prospects to whom emals are sent. It also contans addtonal nformaton pertnent to the prospects.DNS (Domain Name System)
DNS converts a doman name nto an IP address.DomainKeys
An emal authentcaton system desgned to verfy the DNS doman of an emal sender and the message ntegrty.Double opt-in
The act of gettng subscrbers to confirm ther ntal subscrpton va a follow up emal askng them to valdate ther address and hence opt-n agan.Hard bounce
The faled delvery of emal communcaton due to an undevatng reason lke a non- exstent address.House list
An emal database that a company generates tself wthout purchasng or rentng names.HTML
HyperText Markup Language. HTML emals usually contan graphcs and can be nteractve.IP Address
The Internet Protocol (IP) address s a exclusve number, whch s used to represent every sngle computer n a network.ISP
Internet Servce Provder – ths s the company that s provdng you wth access to the Internet e.g.MWEB, AOL, Yahoo! etc).
Open rate
The percent of emals determned as opened out of the total number of emals sent.Opt-in
Gve permsson for emals to be sent to you.Opt-out
Also known as unsubscrbe - The act of removng oneself from a lst or lsts so that specfiednformaton s no longer receved va emal.
Sender ID
A method used by major ISPs to confirm that emals do orgnate from the doman from whch t clams to have been sent.SMTP
Smple Mal Transfer Protocol s a protocol for sendng messages from one server to another.Soft bounce
The faled delvery of an emal due to a devatng reason lke an overloaded mal box or a server falure.Spam
Emal sent to someone who has not requested to receve t - EVIL!SPF
Sender polcy framework s an extenson of SMTP that stops emal spammers from forgng the“From” fields n an emal.
Text
Text emals or plan text emals do not contan graphcs or any knd of markup.Unique forwarders
Ths refers to the number of ndvduals who forwarded a specfic emal on.White list
A lst of accepted emal addresses that an ISP, a subscrber or other emal servce provder allows to delver messages regardless of spam filter settngs.emal marketng › introduction
introducton
history
At ts core, emal marketng s a tool for customer relatonshp management (CRM).
Used effectvely, ths extenson of permsson based marketng can delver one of the hghest return on nvestment (ROI) of any eMarketng actvty.
Smply put, emal marketng s a form of drect marketng whch utlses electronc means to delver commercal messages to an audence. It s one of the oldest and yet stll one of the most powerful of all eMarketng tactcs. The power comes from the fact that t s:
Extremely cost effectve due to a low cost per contact Hghly targeted
Customsable on a mass scale Completely measurable
Furthermore, emal marketng’s man strength s that t takes advantage of a customer’s most prolfic touch pont wth the Internet… ther nbox.
Emal marketng s a tool for buldng relatonshps wth both exstng and potental customers. It should maxmse the retenton and value of these customers, whch should ultmately lead to greater profitablty.
Emal s probably ubqutous to you, but there was a tme when there was no emal!
Emal actually predates the Internet, and was first used as a way for users of the same computer to leave messages for each other all the way back n 1961. Ray Tomlnson
s credted wth creatng the first network emal applcaton n 1971. He ntated the use of the @ sgn and the address structure that we use today (username@hostname) (Crocker). Emal was used to send messages to computers on the same network, and
s stll used for ths purpose today.
It was only n 1993 that large network servce provders, such as Amerca Onlne and Delph, started to connect ther propretary emal systems to the Internet. Ths began the large scale adopton of Internet emal as a global standard. Coupled wth standards that had been created n the precedng twenty years, the Internet allowed users on dfferent networks to send each other messages.
The first emal spam dates back to 1978. Spam s defined as unsolcted commercal or bulk emal, and today s sad to account for 80 to 85% of all emal (Waters 2008)!
Drect marketng has long played an ntegral part n marketng campagns, but the hgh cost meant that only large companes were able to pursue ths. However, wth the growth of the Internet, and the use of emal to market drectly to consumers, marketers have found these costs droppng, and the effectveness ncreasng.
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10 11 emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
9 steps to executing an email campaign
9 steps to executing an email campaign
1. strategic planning
The first part of any emal campagn should nvolve plannng around the goals you wll need to acheve. These wll probably be n lne wth the goals of your web ste, wth emal marketng beng used as a tool to help you acheve those goals.
As dscussed n the chapter on analytcs and converson optmsaton, you wll decde on the key performance ndcators (KPIs) for your campagn as well.
Promotonal emals wll usually have an mmedate goal:
Users make a purchase Users download a whtepaper Users request further nformaton
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how it works
If you consder marketng as communcatng wth current and potental customers, you wll see that every emal that s sent from your organsaton should be consdered as part of your emal marketng plan.
Does that sound a lttle complcated? Consder an onlne retaler, www.zappos.com.
Zappos s an onlne shoe retaler. What are the ways that, as a customer, you mght receve emals from Zappos?
Transacton emals: when you place an order, there wll be a number of emals that you receve, from confirmaton of your order, to notce of shppng. Should you need to return an tem, you wll no doubt communcate wth Zappos va emal.
Newsletters: these are emals whch are sent to provde nformaton and keep customers nformed. They do not necessarly carry an overt promoton, but
nstead ensure that a customer s n regular contact wth the brand.
Promoton emals: should Zappos have a summer sale, they wll send an emal relatng drectly to that promoton.
There are other emals sent by Zappos, for example:
Emals to supplers
Communcaton wth affilates
All of the communcaton sent out can be used to convey your marketng message.
Every touchpont wll market the organsaton. However, here we wll focus on commercal emals.
There are two types of commercial emails:
Promotional emails: these are more drect and are geared at entcng the user to take an mmedate acton.
Retention based emails: also referred to as newsletters, these may nclude promotonal messages but should be focussed on provdng nformaton of value to the user, geared at buldng a long term relatonshp wth the user.
As wth all eMarketng actvtes, careful plannng s called for, as s careful testng and evaluatng, so as to optmse your revenue. Emal marketng may be hghly cost effectve, but the cost of gettng t wrong can be very hgh ndeed.
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12 13 Opt-in and double opt-in: the integrity of the database can be safeguarded with a double opt in process. An email is sent to the email address supplied, and the user has to click on a link within that email to confirm their subscription. This means that dud email addresses are kept out of the database, and confirms that the user has granted explicit permission.
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emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
There are a myrad of ways to attract prospects to opt n to a database. Key s an emal sgn-up form on a company web ste. Vstors to a web ste have already expressed an
nterest n a company by clckng through to the web ste – ths s an opportunty to develop that nterest further.
Sgn-up forms best practce:
Put the sgn-up form where t can be seen – above the fold and on every page.
State your ant-spam stance explctly, and be clear about how you value subscrbers’ prvacy.
Use a clear call to acton.
Tell subscrbers what they wll get, and how often they wll get t. Include a benefit statement.
Ensure the emal address s correct by checkng the syntax.
Test to see what works best!
Every nteracton can be used to ask permsson to send emals.
Offer somethng valuable for free, and ask f they would sgn up to your newsletter at the same tme (e.g. whte paper, gft voucher, musc track).
Add a subscrbe box to the checkout process of your retal ste.
Use nteractons at trade shows to ask for emal addresses.
3. creative execution
Emals can be created and vewed as HTML or as text emals. Bear n mnd, though, that sometmes HTML emals are rendered as text emals.
Text emals are the plan ones – text only, as the name suggests. If you have a Wndows computer, and you open up notepad and type there, you wll be creatng a text file. These emals are smaller, and planer. As these are text only, the copy really counts here.
HTML emals are the emals wth all the bells and whstles. These emals can contan
mages, dfferent fonts and hyperlnks. It’s probably what you’ve had n mnd throughout ths chapter when we have referred to emal marketng.
parts of an email
header
Ths has the “to”, “from” and “reply to” fields. These are also opportuntes to buld a relatonshp through creatng a percepton of famlarty. In other words, the reader needs to perceve that the newsletter s somewhat unque for them and sent personally by the publsher. Usng a personalsed company emal address (e.g.
trevor@companyname.com) for the “reply” field creates famlarty and bulds trust wth the reader. The “from” address should also nclude the organsaton’s name. A meanngless “from” address whch the reader cannot dentfy only serves to confuse the orgn of the newsletter.
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emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
Pepper and Rogers refer to gathering information over a period of time as
“drip irrigation”, since it never overwhelms nor parches the prospect.
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ROI can be a goal of the campaign, and it can be used as a KPI.
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Newsletters tend to focus on longer term goals, and so your KPIs become more
mportant here.
KPIs nclude:
Open rate Clck-through rate
Number of emals forwarded ROI
A successful emal campagn s most lkely to be the one geared at retanng and creatng a long term relatonshp wth the reader.
Know your audence! They wll dctate the nteractons.
2. define list
Runnng a successful emal campagn requres that a busness has a genune opt-n database. Ths database, the lst of subscrbers who have agreed to allow a company to send them emals wth marketng messages, s the most valuable asset of an emal campagn.
Permsson must be explctly gven by all people to whom emals are sent. Companes that abuse ths can put ther reputaton n jeopardy, and n some countres, legal acton can be taken aganst companes that send unsolcted bulk emal – spam.
Growng ths database, whle keepng t targeted, s a key factor n any emal campagn.
The database needs only have one entry – the prospect’s emal – but the followng should also be consdered:
Frst name, surname and ttle Date permsson granted Source of permsson Gender
Country
Telephone number Date of brth
Felds such as name, surname and ttle should be separated n your database. You should also gather date of brth as opposed to a prospect’s age – t ensures your database can stay up to date!
However, don’t be tempted to ask for more nformaton than s requred. The more
nformaton a marketer can gather, the better she can customse her marketng messages. However, the more nformaton a prospect s requred to gve, the less lkely he s to sgn up. Further nformaton can be requested over a perod of tme.
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14 15 HTML email with mentioned elements shown
emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
subject line
The subject lne could be the most mportant part of an emal! Subject lnes ad the reader n dentfyng the emal, and also entce the reader to open t. The subject lne s also scrutnsed by spam filters, and so should avod words lke “free”, “wn” and “buy now”. Consstent subject lnes, usng the name of the company and the newsletter edton, can buld famlarty and help readers to sort ther nbox. As wth everythng onlne, testng dfferent subject lnes wll lead marketers to the formula that works for them.
personalised greeting
Wth a database that has entres for readers’ names, t s possble to personalse the greetng of the emal. “H Km Morgan” can elct far better responses than “Dear Valued Customer”, but t s possble to create a greetng wth personalty wthout personalsng t. Occasonally, the subject lne can be personalsed as well to boost responses.
body
Ths s where the content of the emal goes. Don’t be tempted to use too many mages:
t can ncrease the sze of the emal, and t can obscure text when mages do not load. Be sure that text s not on the mage, but rather can be read wthout an mage beng loaded.
footer
A standard footer for emals helps to buld consstency, and s the customary place to keep the contact detals of the company sendng the emal. At the very least, ths should nclude the name and contact emal of the company. It can also nclude the prvacy polcy of the sender. One way to grow the emal lst s add a “forward to a frend” lnk n the footer. The most mportant part of the footer s a clear unsubscrbe lnk.
unsubscribe link
It s mandatory to have an unsubscrbe lnk on all commercal emals.
Interactve emals are best constructed wth lghtweght HTML capablty allowng the emal to open quckly. Ths helps to capture the user’s attenton before he/she moves on. The structure must allow readers to scan and navgate the emal easly. The length of paragraphs, emphass through boldng and colours as well as sectonng nformaton wth bullets and borders all contrbute to a well-structured emal.
create content
Emal content that s relevant and somethng that readers wll value, s vtal to ensurng the success of an emal marketng campagn. Valuable content s nformatve and should address the problems and needs of readers. It s mportant to realse that the reader determnes the value of the content, not the publsher.
16 17 emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
6. deployment
By creatng valuable content, establshng the correct frequency, and testng an emal for dsplay and delverablty, an emal marketer should be able to ensure an excellent delvery rate. Consstency n deployng newsletters also ads n fosterng trust and fulfillng expectaton. Emals should be delvered at consstent tmes, but the best tme for best results should be tested.
Email reputation, whch can determne whether or not your message s regarded as spam, s the general opnon of the ISPs, the ant-spam communty, and then subscrbers towards a sender’s IP address, sendng doman, or both. Ths opnon s a reputaton score created by an ISP or a thrd party provder. If the sender’s score falls wthn the ISP’s thresholds, a sender’s messages wll be delvered to the nbox. If not, the sender’s emals may arrve n the bulk folder, be quarantned, or be bounced back to the sender.
Becomng an effectve emal marketer requres constant lst cleansng and hygene. In fact, most lsts shrnk by 30% each year due to subscrbers changng emal addresses.
Make sure you are dlgent about mantanng a current opt-n lst to acheve maxmum delverablty va reputaton.
Tps to help reputaton score:
ISPs offer varous sender’s authentcaton standards such as Sender ID, SPF, and DomanKeys. Use these.
Out wth the old, n wth the new – keep your database clean.
Remove hard bounces after 3 delveres (ISPs don’t lke e-mal broadcasters who have a hgh bounce rate).
Remember that a huge but naccurate and outdated database s far less use to an emal marketer than a tghtly-mantaned, smaller database. Strve to boost your database, but don’t forget to clean behnd you as you go.
Ensure emal broadcast rates are not too hgh.
Respond to complants and unsubscrbe requests – f someone requests to be unsubscrbed, do so.
Educate users about whte lsts.
When to send mails:
Common sense tells you not on Monday mornng or Frday afternoon, but t vares by audence. Testng wll gude you.
If the recpent has gven permsson to be sent marketng messages by emal, then t
s not spam. Users gve permsson when they tck a box that says “Yes, please send me offers from your company by emal.” The emal address can only be provded to another company f the user tcks a box that says “Yes, please send me offers from thrd partes selected by you by emal.”
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An email white list is a list of contacts that the user deems are acceptable to receive email from and should not be sent to the trash folder
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When is email an email, and when is it spam?
Spam is unsolicited bulk email – it means that the recipient never gave permission to be sent that email.
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emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
Successful emal campagns provde value to ther readers. Ths value can vary from campagn to campagn. Newsletters can offer:
Humour Research Informaton Promotons
However, avod beng marked as spam by stayng away from words lke “free”, “buy now” and “dscount”.
test for display and deliverability
The emal should be scored to see that t wll pass spam filters, and the desgn should be tested to ensure that t renders clearly n as many clents as possble. Make sure that mages lne up, that copy s clear and that all the lnks work.
Emals can be tested for platform compatblty at www.stevsta.com/emal.asp.
An emal’s spam score can be checked at spamassassn.apache.org.
4. integrate campaign with other channels
Whlst emal marketng can operate as a stand alone marketng campagn, ntegratng
t wth other channels, both onlne and offlne, wll serve to both renforce a brand’s message and ncrease responses.
There should never be a dsparty between the content, tone or desgn of an emal when compared to the rest of a company’s offerngs. In-store promotons can be renforced and promoted to an emal database, or web ste nformaton can be summarsed for emal.
Custom landng pages, as requred, should be created for any promotons beng communcated n an emal communcaton.
5. personalise the message
The technology of emal marketng allows for mass customsaton – t s one to one marketng on a macro scale. Even smple personalsaton can see mproved results.
Customsaton starts at usng the recpent’s name and sendng ether HTML or text emals based on preference, to sophstcated measurement of a recpent’s preferences and talorng content to sut them.
Segmentng a database can allow for customsaton across demographcs or purchase hstory. Beng able to reconcle browsng actvty to an emal recpent can gve further opportuntes for customsaton.
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An email client is the software or programme that a person uses to access their email. Some of these are web-based, like GoogleMail and Hotmail, and there are also plenty of software clients. As well as many versions of Outlook, there is also Thunderbird, Eudora, Lotus to mention just a few. And yes, your email could look different on each one of those.
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18 19 emal marketng › pros and cons
Optmal number of lnks n an emal for clck through rates and conversons Dfferent copy styles and copy length
The effect of vdeo on delvery rates, open rates and conversons
Frst up, an emal campagn needs a database. A plan for growng ths database needs to be put n place. Most emal servce provders wll also provde tools for managng ths database.
All emals need to be tested for emal clent compatblty as well as for any potental spam problems.
Emal clent compatblty can be revewed at:
www.stevsta.com/emal.asp
An emal’s spam score can be checked at:
spamassassn.apache.org
Once an emal has been sent, results need to be analysed to pnpont areas for growth for the next campagn.
Permsson based emal marketng can gve the hghest return on nvestment of any marketng actvtes. Technology allows mass customsaton, allowng personalsaton across a large lst of subscrbers.
When used to foster relatonshps wth a customer base, emal marketng can go a long way to ncreasng the lfetme value of that customer.
Emal marketng s hghly measurable, and databases are hghly segmentable.
However, wth the ncreasng numbers of companes and ndvduals usng emal marketng, many consumers are emal fatgued. It requres ngenuty, focus and dedcaton to mantan an emal database and consstently delver useful qualty emals that wll be read.
It does not take much for emal to be marked as spam, and t can be dfficult to recover from beng branded as a spammer by the ISPs.
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tools of the trade
pros and cons
emal marketng › how t works › 9 steps to executing an email campaign
Permsson must be explctly gven to the company to be allowed to market to that user. Tryng to gan explct permsson n a sneaky way wll only annoy your users, and mght result n your emals beng marked as spam.
7. interaction handling
As well as the emals strategcally planned as part of a campagn (promotonal emals and newsletters) every nteracton va emal should be consdered as part of a company’s emal marketng practce.
Automated emals such as order confirmatons and even out of office reples are all opportuntes to engage wth customers. If a company has a partcular tone or content style, ths can be renforced n these nteractons.
These emals can also be an opportunty to cross-advertse other promotons that a company s offerng.
8. generate reports
As wth all thngs eMarketng, trackng, analysng and optmsng s key to growth.
Emal trackng systems produce statstcs n a user-frendly manner.
Key measurables for understandng of the performance of emal campagns:
Number of emails delivered.
Number of bounces (and ths should be separated nto hard bounces and soft bounces).
Number of unque emails opened: an emal can be delvered, but not opened.
Unsubscribes: sgnficant or consstent loss n subscrbers s a key ndcaton that you are not meetng the needs of your subscrbers
Pass on rate: hgh pass on rate (forwards) ndcates that your lst values the content enough to constantly share wth others. Puttng an easy “forward to a frend” lnk n every emal can ncrease ths. Addng a sgn-up lnk to forwarded emals wll organcally grow the opt-n lst.
Click-through rates and conversion: Ths measures the effectveness of an emal va the lnks placed n the content. When a reader clcks through to a webpage, these can be easly measured as a percentage aganst number of delvered, opened or sent emals. It reveals whch content or promoton was the most entcng for the reader.
9. analyse results
Once the reports have been generated, t s tme to work out what the numbers are revealng, and to use ths nformaton to mprove the next emal sent out.
Wth emal marketng, splt testng across a host of factors wll enable campagn optmsaton. Some factors to test nclude:
Open rates across dfferent subject lnes and delvery tmes
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discussion
20 21 emal marketng › case study
No other form of marketng was used and there weren’t any lnks to the Johnne Walker web ste or any other web stes. No search engne marketng, banner ads or offlne meda were used to promote ths campagn. Its success was purely drven by people forwardng the emal to others.
The emal campagn was very successful - 2630 new subscrptons were captured wthn the first week! Over 25 000 emals were sent to unque addresses n the duraton of the campagn, and t saw over 200% growth n subscrbers to Johnne Walkers’ Strdng Man Socety. The campagn acheved a converson rate of about 29%
- 29% of prospects who receved the vral emal from the orgnal lst of subscrbers, submtted ther detals, and agreed to become part of Johnne Walkers’ Strdng Man Socety. Remnder emals added a 10% ncrease n unque clck through actvty aganst the vral emal.
case study: Johnnie Walker
Johnne Walker South Afrca was lookng to ncrease a specfic segment of consumers on ts emal database.
The proposed target group was manly comprsed of South Afrcan black male consumers, 18 – 30 years of age wth dsposable ncome. The use of vral emal campagn/ refer a frend style tactc was chosen as the necessary medum. Although an emal campagn s a well used tactc wthn vral marketng, agency teams and clent felt confident due to the begnner to ntermedate user level of the lst. Connectvty s an ssue n South Afrca and most on the database would not have been heavly exposed to these types of campagns.
The creatve approach was prmarly to appeal to the target market’s connectvty by findng somethng whch would fit nto ther socal value system. Research of the group told us that they were hghly socal but also aspred towards older, affluent males of the same culture who had made a success of ther lves n the new South Afrca. Ths older affluent group was also regarded as Johnne Walker Black drnkers.
The central dea of “State a case for yourself” was proposed n order to nvte the target market to assess f they are worthy of beng part of the Johnne Walker Strdng Man Socety. The prze was n tself a “case” (12 bottles) of Johnne Walker Black whch further renforced the concept of “State a case for yourself”. Send to a frend technology was used so that prospects could state a case for themselves by nomnatng five frends worthy of the Strdng Man Socety. Pages specfic to the campagn were created for clck-throughs and data capturng.
The emal was sent to a lst of carefully chosen members of the Johnne Walker Black / Strdng Man Socety database who fit the requred profile. Remnder emals were configured to go out one week after the first emal.
emal marketng › summary
Emal marketng s a form of drect marketng that can render the best ROI of any eMarketng tactc. It s:
Hghly targeted and customsable Cost effectve
Ganng explct permsson to send emal marketng to a person s a prerequste for successful emal marketng, however all emals sent by an organsaton and the
ndvduals n that organsaton can be seen as marketng opportuntes.
Successful emal marketng requres careful plannng and testng. HTML emals need to be tested across a range of emal clents, and should be tested for a spam score, before beng deployed.
All emal sent to a lst of subscrbers needs to provde an easy and accessble unsubscrbe lnk n the emal.
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22 23 emal marketng › further reading
further reading
www.marketngsherpa.com
– MarketngSherpa provdes regular case studes, charts and how tos. Essental readng for any eMarketer.
www.emal-marketng-reports.com/blogs.htm
- ths one-stop resource provdes gudelnes, regular artcles and lnks to other excellent blogs n the emal marketng ndustry.
www.campagnmontor.com/blog/
- ths blog from Campagn Montor, a leadng emal newsletter software provder, keeps abreast of ndustry trends and best practces.
www.emal-standards.org
– the Emal Standards project s amed ensurng that emals can be rendered correctly across all clents. It also regularly tests how emal clents are performng on compatblty.
emal marketng › case study
case study questions
Why was emal an deal medum to reach ths target market?
Why does a brand lke Johnny Walker collect emal addresses?
How mportant was personalsaton n ths campagn?
chapter questions
What s meant by “mass customsaton” and why s ths so benefical?
What are the key dfferences between drect marketng by emal and drect marketng by post?
Why s t mportant for permsson to be ganed before marketng by emal to a prospect?
Emals that are expected and recognsed are more lkely to be read. How can a marketer use ths knowledge to ncrease the readershp of emals?
references
Brownlow, M. Emal promotons vs newsletters,
www.emal-marketng-reports.com/newsletterspromotons.htm, emal-marketng-reports.com, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Crocker, D. Emal Hstory,
http://www.lvngnternet.com/e/e.htm, lvngnternet.com, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Kollas, S. (18 February 2008) 2 emal strateges most marketers forget, http://www.medaconnecton.com/content/18346.asp,
medaconnecton.com, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Pepperrell, S. (27 March 2007) The Seven Deadly Sns of Emal Marketng Management, www.dgtal-web.com/artcles/seven_sns_of_emal_marketng,
Dgtal Web Magazne, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Templeton, B. Orgn of the term “spam” to mean net abuse, http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html, templeton.com, [accessed 18 March 2008]
Waters, D. (31 March 2008) Spam blghts e-mal 15 years on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h/technology/7322615.stm, bbc.co.uk, [accessed 18 March 2008]
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3. online adv ert s ng
What’s inside:
We begn wth an introduction to onlne advertsng wth a bref history of banner advertsng. What follows are the key terms and concepts requred, and then a breakdown of how it works. We look at how to show your message, and of course how to pay for t. There s an overvew of ad servers and advertising networks and the move towards ad exchanges. Puttng t all together helps you to plan a campaign, and we look at emerging technologies when t comes to advertsng onlne. Pros and cons are outlned n the good and the bad, followed by a summary and the bigger picture.26 27 onlne advertsng › key terms and concepts
key terms and concepts
Ad Space
The allotted space on web pages avalable for onlne advertsng.Animated GIF
A GIF whch supports anmatons and allows a separate palette of 256 colours for each frame. See GIF.Banner
An onlne advertsement n the form of a graphc mage that appears on a webpage.Banner Exchange
A symbotc advertsng ntatve whereby busnesses nvolved promote each other’s servces and web stes on an exchange rather than pad bass. Also known as lnk exchange.Call To Action
A phrase wrtten to motvate the reader to take acton. (sgn up for our newsletter, book car hre today etc.).Click Through
A clck on a lnk that leads to another web ste.Click Tracking
Usng scrpts to track clcks nto and out of a web ste. Can also be used to sheld a lnk from beng pcked up as a back lnk to another ste.Click-through Rate
The number and percentage of recpents who clcked on a partcular URLncluded n an emal, a webpage etc.
Cookie
A small text file that s stored on an end-user’s computer that allow web stes to dentfy the user, and allow the web ste owner to construct a profile of that user.CPA
Cost Per Acton. Refers to the cost of acqurng a new customer. The advertser only pays when a desred acton s acheved (sometmes called cost per acquston).CPC
Cost Per Clck. Refers to when an advertser only pays when ther ad s clcked upon, gvng them a vstor to ther ste - typcally from a search engne n Pay Per Clck search marketng.CPM
Cost Per Mlle. Refers to Cost per 1000 ad mpressons. An advertser pays each tme 1000mpressons of ther ad are shown.
GIF
Abbrevaton of Graphcs Interchange Format, a GIF s an 8-bt-per-pxel btmap mage format usng a palette of up to 256 dstnct colours. GIFs allow mages to be compressed for faster dsplay tme.Impression Fraud
The act of delberately generatng mpressons of an advert wthout the ntenton of clckng on the advert. The result s a reducton n clck through rate whch can affect Qualty Score n PPC advertsng and the ROI of a banner campagn.Impressions
The number of tmes a webpage or ad s vewed.IP Address
Used to unquely dentfy a computer and/or system on the Internet.Landing Page
The page a user reaches when clckng on a pad or organc search engne lstng.The pages that have the most success are those that match up as closely as possble wth the users search query.
Popup
Unrequested wndow that opens on top of the currently vewed wndow.ROI
Short for return on nvestment.Traffic
Ths refers to the vstors that vst a web ste.onlne advertsng › introduction
introducton
history
- show and sell
Smply put, onlne advertsng s advertsng on the Internet. Onlne advertsng encompasses adverts on search engne results pages (covered n the chapter on PPC advertsng), adverts placed n emals and other ways n whch advertsers use the Internet.
However, ths chapter focuses on dsplay advertsng or rch meda advertsng.
Whether onlne or off, the man objectve of advertsng s to ncrease sales. As well as ths, advertsng ams to ncrease brand awareness. Advertsng s based on the smple economcs of supply and demand. Advertsers am to stmulate a consumer need and then satsfy that need.
One of the greatest benefits of onlne dsplay advertsng s that the messages are not restrcted by geography or tme. Onlne advertsements are also much more nteractve than offlne advertsng. Whle both onlne and offlne advertsng can be dsruptve,
nteractve onlne advertsng can be desgned to be perceved as less so.
Onlne dsplay advertsng began as smple hyperlnked mages shown on a web ste and has snce progressed to nclude vdeo, sound and many other modern technologes. Today, messages and nteractons can be contaned wthn the advertsng dsplay, wthout ever takng consumers to a landng page.
Although the Internet provdes new scope for creatve approaches to advertsng, we see
ts true advantage when we realse how trackable, and therefore measurable, Internet advertsng s. Or, to take t from Erc Schmdt, CEO of Google cted by Leb (2002): “The Internet wll transform advertsng because of ts trackablty, not ts beauty.”
Onlne advertsng rapdly followed the developng Internet. And, as consumers are
ncreasngly spendng more tme onlne, and hours spent on the Internet start to eclpse hours spent watchng TV, the medum becomes ncreasngly mportant to any advertser.
Accordng to Wkpeda, the first clckable banner advert was sold to a law firm n 1993 by Global Network Navgator. HotWred, an early web magazne, was the first to sell advertsng space n large quanttes to a number of advertsers. One of the very first advertsers was AT&T (a US telecoms company), whch went onlne n October 1994.
Ths was part of a campagn that AT&T was runnng to promote the Internet to consumers, and ncluded televson and outdoor advertsng. Beleve t or not, but ths was cuttng edge back n ’94!
As web technology has developed, so has the technology that s used to create and serve advertsng onlne.
An early banner ad for AT&T
28 29 onlne advertsng › how t works › how to show your message
how to show your message:
types of display advertising
There are many dfferent ways to dsplay messages onlne, and as technology develops, so does onlne advertsng. Here are some of the most common.
interstitial banners
These are banners that are shown between pages on a web ste. As you clck from one page to another, you are shown ths advert before the next page s shown. Sometmes, you are able to close the advert.
pop-ups and pop-unders
As the name suggests, these are adverts that pop up, or under, the web page beng vewed. They open n a new, smaller wndow. You wll see a pop-up straght away, but wll probably only become aware of a pop-under after you close your browser wndow.
These were very promnent n the early days of onlne advertsng, but audence annoyance means that there are now “pop-up blockers” bult nto most good web browsers. Ths can be problematc as sometmes a web ste wll legtmately use a pop-up to dsplay nformaton to the user.
map advert
Ths s advertsng placed wthn the onlne mappng solutons avalable, such as Google Maps.
Google Map showing an advert (Holiday Inn) onlne advertsng › how it works
how it works
Advertsng, whether onlne or offlne, has a number of objectves:
Buldng brand awareness Creatng consumer demand
Informng consumers of the advertser’s ablty to satsfy that demand Drvng response and sales
building brand awareness
Makng people aware of a brand or product s an mportant long-term goal for any marketer. Once customers know about the brand, the marketer has taken the first step towards ganng the customer’s trust and patronage. The better known a brand s the more busness they can do. And the ultmate goal s to do more busness and sell more of the product.
Onlne, creatve advertsng or banner advertsng s largely vsual, makng t an deal channel for promotng brand collateral.
creating consumer demand
Consumers can’t want what they don’t know about. Advertsng needs to convnce consumers about what they should want and why they should want t. Modern onlne advertsng provdes a great way to communcate the USPs (unque sellng ponts) of a product, thereby helpng stmulate demand.
satisfying consumer demand
Once the consumer s aware of and desres a product, they need to find out how to satsfy that desre. If brand buldng has been effectve, they wll know that a partcular brand exsts. At ths pont, t s mportant for the marketer to show the consumer how ther partcular brand or product wll best meet that need.
driving response and sales
All forms of onlne marketng need to drve traffic and sales n the long term. However, the mmedacy of onlne advertsng also drves traffic and sales n the short and medum terms. Unlke tradtonal meda advertsng, onlne advertsng can turn the potental customer nto an actual customer rght there and then. What’s more,
t s possble to measure accurately how effectvely the onlne advertsng campagn does ths.
the key differentiator
Onlne advertsng s able to drve nstant sales and conversons. Unlke offlne advertsng medums, the consumer can go from advert to merchant n one easy clck.
Because of the connected nature of the Internet, onlne actvtes are hghly trackable and measurable, whch makes t possble to target adverts and to accurately track and gauge the effectveness of the advertsng. Each dsplay advert can be tracked for success.
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