READ THIS: If you are truly serious about the “Online Advertising Ppc Adwords” marketing strategy to grow your home based internet marketing business.

A few years ago, the online advertising ppc marketing or pay per click marketing is the most popular & effective method of advertisement employed by various websites on the Internet. The online advertising ppc marketing may often be referred to as pay for position, cost per click or pay for performance. But regardless of the term used, the online advertising ppc marketing is the online advertiser’s medium of choice for promoting products and services to online consumers.

The online advertising ppc marketing is beneficial to both the advertiser and the consumer. Advertisers using the online advertising ppc marketing only need to pay for the actual click through linked to their sites from search engines. At the same time as consumers are relieved of having to get annoying emails or pop-up ads for products and services.

When an online consumer searches for a specific product or service on the Internet, corresponding online advertising ppc marketing ads are also displayed alongside the results generated by the search engine. This forms a highly targeted consumer group that is more likely to purchase a specific product or service. In addition, websites get to limit their advertisement costs with the use of online advertising ppc marketing. The online advertising ppc marketing is truly a winning solution for both parties.

However, in “The Death of Adwords for Affiliates” report, it shows that there is NO room for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs in this Internet Marketing Advertising Ppc Adwords game. Also, it reveals that big companies have very large budget for keyword bidding and have a TON of keywords to reach their targets. And those companies want to kick out the low-budget players of this game.

Personally, I believe that the large companies have their large budget for keyword bidding and it is difficult for small home based internet marketing business to go into the bidding war. Nevertheless, I disagree that there is NO room for small home based internet marketing business. I strongly believe that there are no any companies trying to be ALL things to ALL customers. If those small home based internet marketing businesses can’t find the opportunity to make profits on the internet through the “Internet Marketing Advertising Ppc Adwords” game, then they have to create their own opportunity in the industry.

Also, how many large companies with large budget are there in the markets right now? How many keywords do they cover? Is it 10,000 keywords per market? There are a lot questions in my mind now. And it is hardly for me to believe that Adwords for Affiliates are death completely!

Additionally, I believe that Google loves high quality, original, relevancy and unique content website. The key of their success is “relevancy”. They have to give exactly whatever people search. They hated rubbish, non-relevancy or spam websites. It is a great real home based business opportunity for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs to build a high quality website rather than a spamming website.

However, in my opinion, you’ll discover the possible drawbacks of Online Advertising Ppc below.

Despite the obvious advantages of online advertising ppc marketing, there are possible drawbacks that can cancel out its benefits. One of the most common problems associated with online advertising ppc marketing is the inexperience of many internet entrepreneurs attempting to use this profitable advertisement method. Simply submitting online advertising ppc marketing ads to a search engine such as Google, does not make up the entire campaign.

The online advertising ppc marketing requires a calculated and systematic approach to setting up ads. Online Advertising Ppc marketing involves the use of keywords and biddings in order to get top placement on a search engine. Getting top search engine placement helps boost traffic to a website that can easily translate into profit.

Without the necessary experience and knowledge to carry out a typical Online Advertising Ppc marketing ad, may turn into an expensive campaign that does not convert into profit. PPC marketing ads also require continuous funding, as discontinued payments will also result in discontinued ads. This can be unfavorable for a website that has already built high rankings with their PPC marketing ads.

Bidding on keywords can also be quite costly, as the growing number of websites on the web struggle against each other to bid on the most popular keyword for their PPC marketing ad. Obviously small home based affiliate businesses are at a disadvantage here since big business websites are able to pay more for popular keywords related to their site. This is because most small businesses only set aside a small portion of their capital for advertisement, putting them at a disadvantage.

You’ll also discover how to run your own effective Online Advertising Ppc marketing campaign below.

There are a number of things that a website should consider when running an effective Online Advertising Ppc marketing campaign. It is important to develop a marketing plan in order to get the most return on investment from Online Advertising Ppc marketing. Selecting the most appropriate keywords that relate to the site’s business is essential in Online Advertising Ppc marketing.

However, simply choosing the most popular keywords does not necessarily translate into profit. Selecting more specific keywords that will put a site within the first ten results of a search also gets greater awareness from online consumers. In addition, it doesn’t cost as much as getting the top spot for Online Advertising Ppc marketing.

It is also important that a website constantly monitors the performance of their Online Advertising Ppc marketing campaign. This will help the site modify any existing Online Advertising Ppc marketing ad to make it more productive. At the same time any Online Advertising Ppc marketing ad that has not proven effective can be immediately discontinued. Altering Online Advertising Ppc marketing ads is a continuous process that many websites do in order to increase their return on investment.

My highest recommendation is to find the RIGHT professional & success internet entrepreneurs to help you and be a personally mentor for building highly profitable Online Advertising Ppc campaign.

The popularity of Online Advertising Ppc marketing has given rise to professionals offering PPC marketing services for small and big businesses. One of the most effective ways is to hire a professional PPC marketing company is advisable for a small business without experience in PPC marketing. Most Online Advertising Ppc marketing companies offer reasonable rates for their services and at the same time produce acceptable results.

An Online Advertising Ppc marketing professional can attend to all the details commonly involved in a PPC marketing campaign. Handling an Online Advertising Ppc marketing campaign is a time consuming process that can be overwhelming for a small business. An Online Advertising Ppc marketing professional can help set up an Online Advertising Ppc marketing campaign and later on trains someone from within the business to handle it to ensure its continued success.

Click here now to find great mentors for “Adwords for Affiliates” and get up-to-date information to build highly successful Online Advertising Ppc campaign. You’ll find great successful ppc advertisers and top secrets of how to build & run profitable successful online advertising ppc campaigns.

Finally, there are some good points in “The Death of Adwords for Affiliates” report. Meanwhile, there are also some statements I disagreed completely. My highest recommendations for affiliate marketing entrepreneur who are using Online Advertising Ppc to boost their affiliate commission are: to build a high quality & relevancy website to your niche markets, discover & expand more nice keywords with “think out of the box” attitude, avoid the keyword bidding war and find great mentors for your home based affiliate business.

Read more articles about how to build & run highly profitable successful online advertising ppc campaigns at: http://www.iPayByClick.com

1. Give up too quickly. Many studies reveal that most Adwords advertisers are failure because they give up too quickly. They expect to earn money quickly and easily by setting up a campaign and wait for money rolling into their bank, without any further action, in short term. They are wrong. It is not easy like that!

2. Lack of the strategy planning. It is obviously that planning is a key success factor for all kinds of business. It will help you to minimize redo and undo tasks. Also, it will help you to settle your own direction. Most Adwords advertisers should plan their strategies, budget, and their action in the PPC online advertising game, but they do not.

3. Lack of creativity. The internet marketing and PPC online advertising is an art, not pure science. All Adwords advertisers should come up with their ideas, creative and new strategies for testing their PPC advertising campaigns all the time. Otherwise, they will fail and can not win this game.

4. Lack of systematically testing system. In the internet marketing, particularly in PPC online advertising world, you must test everything in the systematic way, which you can test. In the Adwords advertising, you should test: (1) keywords (2) ad-copy (3) landing page (4) campaign management and organization and (5) other things, of which you can think. Most failed advertisers do not test in the systematic way and some of them do not test anything.

5. Lack of well-understand in the market and people. There is no doubt that the more you understand your market and people, the more opportunities to earn money on the internet you have. You have to put yourself into the customer’s shoes. You have to think like customers. Most Adwords advertisers fail to do this. They are rush to set up their PPC advertising campaigns with their mind and hope that they will generate a lot of money for them without any additional actions. They are wrong!

6. Lack of well monitor, tracking and evaluation system. In the PPC, other keys to your success are: (1) monitoring your campaigns, keywords, ad-copy and landing page (2) tracking the sales, keywords, conversion rate and cost, and (3) evaluate the high performance campaign, ad-group, keywords and landing page. Most of advertisers can not do these systematically. They wait and guess for their monitoring, tracking and evaluation!

7. Lack of consistency. This is a really important factor to your success in any kinds of business in the world. Many researches reveal that most successful entrepreneurs love what they do and they do their works consistency and continuously. On the other hand, other entrepreneurs can not achieve this. They give up and do not do their work consistency when they do not see big money and big results in short term, like weeks, months. That is another reason why they fail.

8. Lack of keyword bidding strategy. This strategy is one of the most significant strategies in the PPC online advertising. The golden rule of winning this game is to avoid the bidding war! Most new and failed advertisers have not the keyword bidding strategy. Without the bidding strategy, there is no any effectiveness at all!

9. Lack of well-organize campaign. Well, many researches reveal that managing and organizing are two of the best behaviours for advertisers to do for building their highly relevancy and successful PPC advertising campaign, particularly Adwords. With the well-organize, it is easier for advertiser to run and grow their relevancy PPC advertising campaigns.

10. Lack of niche profitable and negative keywords. The PPC online advertising is similar to the keyword auction game. With this sense, keywords will become the first critical factor for success and winning the PPC advertising game. Without niche profitable and negative keywords, you are losing your own money. This reveals that keyword research is one of the most important processes to success in PPC online advertising. Most people fail with their effective keyword research.

11. Write the poor and unattractive ad-copy. Without the attractive and eye-catching ad-copy, you can drive visitors to your landing page through PPC online advertising. Your click through rate (CTR) will be definitely low. Most advertisers are failed to write the powerful and attractive ad-copy. There are a few basic rules for writing the ad-copy in PPC online Advertising, which are to: (1) include the keywords in your title of ad-copy (2) address the benefits of your products to your ad-copy and (3) test various strategies for writing your ad-copy.

12. Drive visitors to the poor landing page with low conversion rate. The conversion rate is the best critical factor for all advertisers to concern and test heavily. Without high conversion rate, you can not turn your visitors into customers and earn big money on the internet; even you have a lot of traffic. There are many guidelines of how to build a high conversion rate landing page on the internet. However, one of the most critical factors for your landing page is “headline”. You have a several seconds to load your website and grab your visitors’ attention with your title.

13. Lack of secrets weapon software. With the appropriate software, it is easier for you to manage, monitor, track and evaluate your PPC advertising campaigns. There are many kind of secrets weapon software you must have for your own PPC online advertising if you do not want to fail: (1) keyword research tools (2) keyword bidding software (3) campaign management software (if you are running multiple campaigns in multiple search engines) (4) monitor and tracking software and (5) spy competitors software. Most advertisers do not invest on those tools. They believe that they can do everything by themselves and free tools. Many researches show that those paid tools can help advertisers a lot in term of effective researching, managing, monitoring, tracking and evalution.

14. Can not stay on top in the trend of PPC online advertising. There are many changes rapidly in the world of PPC online advertising. Most advertisers are tired of staying on top in the trend and do not want to keep updated the technology. Those are reasons why they are failed in the PPC online advertising world. Current technologies or solutions can not solve tomorrow problems in some situations!

15. Focus on only one PPC search engine. Many advertisers are only focus on one PPC search engine at a time. Obviously, if you want to drive more traffic to your website and earn huge of money on the internet and do not want to fail in PPC online advertising, it is a great idea to run multiple PPC search engines at a time. You can test keywords, ad-copy, landing page across those engines as well.

Final thoughts, if you do not want to fail in PPC online advertising, particularly in Adwords, you have to avoid those above mistakes. You have to be self-improvement, be patient, be consistency and be strategic to build, run and grow your success PPC online advertising campaigns. It requires a lot of effort and time to build super-profitable PPC advertising campaigns!

Learn more secrets of how to success in PPC online advertising and become a wealthy affiliate millionaire. You will learn great tips, inside secrets and workable techniques on PPC online advertising, particularly Adwords, every singly month. Also, you will discover and learn monthly up-to-date affiliate information, top profitable recommended online affiliate marketing programs, do effective research, improve continuously your home based affiliate business, learn how to make big money online from home over $5,000 a day and participant with other successful affiliate marketing entrepreneurs. You will discover great tips on internet affiliate marketing for your highly successful. Also, you will save your time and money for your trial & error.

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*Reprint Policy: Reprint in full with writer’s name, contact information, active links and brief bio.

In essence, PPC advertising is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. Advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services – the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites. Advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.

PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:

• Pay per placement

• Pay per performance

• Pay per ranking

• Pay per position

• Cost per click (CPC)

Here are the benefits of PPC advertising are:

1. With PPC advertising you need not be a genius in computer and technology to be able to run this ad campaign.

2. PPC Advertising make immediate results are seen after a few days.

3. No need to make a website conform to the SEO rules.

4. Nothing to lose even if you do not top the pages of different search engines. You can still always choose PPC advertising.

5. You can make use any PPC advertising search engine available.

6. With PPC Advertising you can type in any keyword you like.

How exactly PPC advertising can increase traffic, leads and sales?

Pre-qualified traffic. PPC advertising leads your customers to you for a lesser cost.

Instant exposure, immediate profits. PPC advertising search engines enable you to get your desired results fast.

Consistent top listings. This is to get your website on top of the sponsored search results for free.

PPC advertising enables advertisers to control their advertising campaigns. Advertisers have effectively targeted their audience and set their own price per click. PPC advertising networks provide the platform to identify the desired audience by geographic setting, topic and industry.

Tools are provided by the networks to check how the pay per click limit is working for a certain advertiser. Of course, if the advertiser made the highest bid, the better chances the ad will be seen in the search engine. These networks too provide protection for the advertisers against click fraud. This advertising set-up allows advertisers to set a daily budget for his ads, thus, less spending for unnecessary clicks. Advertiser will never go over his budget.

In PPC advertising, what are important are the keywords and phrases. Then, write the ad creatively but straightforward. Good thing if your product or service will not disappoint those that are relying on your ad’s promise – but what if it did otherwise?

More and more advertisers have been using PPC advertising and it will continue to grow faster than any online advertising techniques. From revenues of $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009, cost per click will dramatically go up as well from $0.29 to $0.36.

PPC advertising is new in online marketing and it is going to continue in the years to come. For advertisers, this means increase revenues with fewer advertising expenses, savings, more sales, good return of investment (ROI) and effective ad campaigns in the days to come.

In essence, Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. PPC advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services – the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites (this is why some people call it “keyword auctioning” or “keyword bidding”). PPC advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.

Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) is also known under the following names/variations:

- Pay per placement

- Pay per performance

- Pay per ranking

- Pay per position

- Cost per click (CPC)

Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) is usually done with the following standard procedures:

1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.

2. Creating a relevancy keyword list.

3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.

4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.

5. Writing out an ad copy.

6. Setting up the ‘landing pages’ for your ads.

7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.

There are many benefits to Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising), making it an effective way of advertising your own business ‘online’. Personally, I believe that Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) is one of the most effective way to promote the NEW online business. You can drive laser-targeted traffic to your website and start advertising online & increasing your business’ reputation dramatically.

READ THIS: If you are interested in Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) and how to make big money online at home through search engines. You’ll discover the benefits of Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) below:

- Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly – they can go ‘online’ within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.

- Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) provides you with a quality or a well-targeted traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into ‘qualified’ people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer – those who are more likely to become a ‘lead’ (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.

- Widen your reach. Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) provides additional traffic to your website, aside from the natural or “organic” search engines.

- Track your ROI investment. Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive – the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).

My experiences reveal that you have to know what you are doing with Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising). Without the appropriate knowledge and marketing strategy, you are losing big money from your pocket.

Keep reading this article, if you are interested in Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) and are looking for the significant things to consider while you are creating your own Ppc Online Advertising campaign.

Below are some important things to consider when planning on Ppc Online Advertising campaign. You’ll discover my recommended 7 easy tips to create your profitable PPC online advertising campaign and make big money through Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc).

1. Know your product very well. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer (before anything else).

2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.

3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right effectively – a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.

4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your Ppc Online Advertising campaign – if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.

5. Find the right targeted keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some effective keyword research, either by actually looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.

6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:

- Discount offers

- Testimonials

- Celebrity/famous endorsers

- Money-back guarantees

- Free trials or sample offers

- Freebies

- Reverse psychology

- Major benefits (“Lose weight”)

- Direct instructions (“Click here”)

7. Maintain a high quality & professional-looking website. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple – designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.

My bottom line is that if you’re done your own Ppc Online Advertising campaign properly, Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment. Also, you can make big money online at home through your Ppc Online Advertising campaign.

Learn More About Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising (Ppc Online Advertising) at: http://www.iPayByClick.com. You’ll find everything you have to know for building your profitable PPC online advertising campaigns. Also, you will learn how to become a super and success PPC advertiser on the website.

Businesses around the world invest, or to be more precise, they spend, untold numbers of dollars to advertise, market and promote their products and services to make sales and gain new clients. In an economic downturn these expenditures may be reduced due to cost constraints and consumer reluctance to buy.

As an example it costs around $1,000usd for a small classified advertisement in the weekend editions of major USA newspapers, $2-3,000usd for a similar placement in monthly travel magazines.  Radio spots, from ‘cheap and nasty’ during the hours when nobody is really awake to prime time messages to thousands, the majority of whom may not be interested and many of the rest may just go to a competitor.  In effect, business advertisers may often pay for ‘lack of performance’.  Either the advertising copy was ineffective or the reach of the medium and quality of the audience was ineffective.

In other fields of endeavour we work, perform, produce and then get paid.  Why not in advertising? 

It may be the time to rethink the effectiveness of our advertising spend and to rethink who we spend it with, what we spend it on, when we should spend it, where we should spend it, why we are spending it, how we should spend it?  Or even, ‘if’ we should spend it.

In other words, how can we get more value from our advertising spend? Is there a better way?

The internet affords us all exceptional opportunities to showcase our wares but the same problem arises: how do small businesses let the world know about their own websites when contending with the major players who are always able to buy more  ‘googling’ stuff than they can?

As well as being approached by media reps from local to national newspapers and magazines, small businesses now get inundated with internet offers such as: ‘top 10 search engine rankings for your website;  50,000 hits guaranteed;  increased visits assured with our email programs to our double opt-in email clients.’ And so on and so forth. The emails arrive daily to inboxes everywhere.

Businesses do not want looky-loos clogging up their websites. They want committed buyers to review and compare their products to others.  They do not want to give their hard-earned money to advertisers who simply want to sell advertising space. They want advertising partners.

Businesses should be given the opportunity to work with a ‘pay for performance’ option for their own advertising spend. In other words, “work with me, perform with me, produce with me, get results with me and then bill me.”  The P4P partnership could generate more advertising revenue than the old system of  “just pay, shut up, wait and be thankful for what you get.”  Let’s consider a P4P arrangement where a percentage of sales is given to advertisers who produce sales. Many businesses might welcome such an opportunity to partner with forward-thinking advertisers. Just consider how much more advertising copy could be placed.

An example:

A business that operates websites that offer travel in over 70 countries and with products available to travellers in all countries.  This company needs to advertise in every country, in all traditional media and in all e-commerce media such as e-newsletters, ezines and websites plus tv, radio and of course the electronic social media. To do this would take an enormous budget, which is not available, but to do this on a P4P arrangement could lead to sales growth that could never be realized with the traditional methods.  There could be many similar businesses around the world that could also grow more quickly.  Advertisers who are willing to accept a radical change in their business practices by operating a P4P option could also benefit from the business growth of the thousands of global businesses that would embrace this innovative new concept.  Sharing the risk of both success and failure.  End of example.

The way we now advertise, market and promote business must change.  Advertisers should consider P4P and share the risk and the greater rewards for performance. The advertising industry could experience more business, more profits and lead global economic recovery.

More global businesses will readily accept a P4P partnership.  Businesses and advertisers can perform together and make better returns for both by sharing the risk and producing improved sales.  However, the P4P format should only be implemented when both parties agree that it could produce better incomes for both parties.  If advertisers consider that there would be no benefits for them with a P4P arrangement, the business has to also rethink their own advertising methods and lack of confidence of the advertiser for declining the arrangement.  A catch 22, but real world.

Although most businesses do not want window shoppers, looky-loos, timewasters, or those who unfortunately cannot afford to buy, they must also be aware that, in travel anyway, “today’s backpacker may be tomorrow’s luxury travel buyer” and should be nurtured and even developed as future customers.  A P4P partnership of media and business could develop improved campaigns leading to healthier long-term business growth for all partners.

A recent real case example for internet advertising is as follows:

An internet marketing company stating that they had ‘a list of 3,000,000 enthusiastic travellers’ recently approached a local business.  Before even asking for the cost of using their services the business owner switched the tactics by offering them the opportunity to send their message to this list over a period of months, but on a P4P basis (at their cost).  The business owner offered to pay them $10usd per sale (out of a $35 total sale).  Their comments, “we do not do business that way.” 

The retort from the business owner:  “if you are not prepared to try and get 1% (yes one percent) of your database to buy my offer (30,000 x $10 = earnings of $300k), it appears to me that you do not have any confidence in your own database, my offer, or my product, but you would take my money upfront even though you have no belief in the success of the mailing. This is not the way I want to do business and you are not the company I want to do business with.”

If advertisers believe that your advertisement will work for you why would they not want to earn a better income from a P4P arrangement?  Or do they really have an in-house ethical conflict between editorial and advertising departments?  If so, what are advertorials and the published press releases sent from public relations agencies?

Over the years all types of businesses have been convinced by all forms of media to advertise but rarely are they asked to assess the results of the advertisement.  Advertisers keep taking the money.  Businesses keep on doing the same thing because they have been convinced that they need to be seen and to “do it this way.”  Well, maybe it’s time for a change.

The present economic climate is causing stress and strife around the world. Advertisers could find that they have so much white space available forcing them to print thinner newspapers and to offer discounted rates to their recession-proof clients.  But what if these advertising agencies and media outlets started to work on a P4P basis with all types of businesses to create new partnerships of media and frontline operations from restaurants to who knows what?  A win for the media, a win for the businesses and a win for the buyers who stay informed and are kept aware of local, regional or international opportunities.  And maybe full staffing, thick papers and magazines, robust ezines and e-newsletters that will make us all feel more confident about the economy.

Not all situations will allow a p4p partnership but there are enough out there to reward all parties and all we need to do is develop simple operating systems to make this new way attractive and secure for all participants.

The business in the example above could operate on a P4P basis.  It could have a P4P arrangement with many different partners in many different countries at the same time. Any downside for the media partners would be minimized by their thorough understanding of the business services and products. They would know the wants and needs of the business and so be in a position to not just accept an advertisement but to be totally involved in the generation of leads and buyers.  All partners could get the maximum benefit from the opportunity because the only way to earn revenues is to produce results by better use of skills, creativity, contacts and advertising reach.

A simple method for internet businesses is for unique pages or URLs to be set up for each P4P operation so that accurate assessments can be made of the specific promotion and the fees based on the same statistics and buyers.   Another ‘comfort-zone’ action could be for the media P4P partner to collect the ‘gross takings’ and to remit the net after deductions, to the other partner.  Vouchers can be created giving all parties an audit trail.  Trust is paramount in P4P partnerships.

Many small businesses will survive and help save the global economies. Big business will continue heavy layoffs, cutbacks and corrections until the good times roll again, which could be a long way into the future.  Let’s take action now.

Small business together with Small Internet Media (e-newsletters, ezines) and other Smart Media can try new ways to pull us all out of the economic mire. If they seriously consider this new way of advertising, marketing and promotion ‘with’ their clients, not ‘for’ their clients, they can  “get going now, or they can sit back, take no risks, take no chances, ignore P4P opportunities, downsize, get laid off, change careers, move away or just keep doing the same old thing and stagnate.”

Thousands of businesses around the world would welcome approaches from all forms of media to advertise, market and promote within a P4P partnership arrangement. This could be a simple way to not only help business survival in the recession but will enable us to prepare for future growth.

We go to work, perform our duties, finish the job, produce results and then we get paid. Why then should we not expect to pay only for the ‘results’ of’ our advertising and not just ‘for’ advertising?

Imagine the global acceptance of P4P.  Businesses would be able to advertise anywhere and would never again have budgetary restrictions to advertise, market and promote sales. Media businesses would be getting new clients from places that they would never have considered and at the same time, helping their own clients to expand.   Why don’t we do it?

Just because; “We don’t do business that way” is unacceptable!

The positive side of an economic downturn is that new opportunities arise for creative and progressive entrepreneurs to start new ventures such as P4P advertising.  They are out there.

It will not be exaggerated if we conclude that we are ’soaked in this cultural rain of marketing communications’ through TV, press, cinema, Internet, etc. (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). But if thirty years ago the marketing communication tools were used mainly as a product-centered tactical means, now the promotional mix, and in particular the advertising is focused on signs and semiotics. Some argue that the marketers’ efforts eventually are “turning the economy into symbol so that it means something to the consumer” (Williamson, cited in Anonymous, Marketing Communications, 2006: 569). One critical consequence is that many of the contemporary advertisements “are selling us ourselves” (ibid.)

The abovementioned process is influenced by the commoditisation of products and blurring of consumer’s own perceptions of the companies’ offering. In order to differentiate and position their products and/or services today’s businesses employ advertising which is sometimes considered not only of bad taste, but also as deliberately intrusive and manipulative. The issue of bad advertising is topical to such extent that organisations like Adbusters have embraced the tactics of subvertising – revealing the real intend behind the modern advertising. The Adbusters magazine editor-in-chief Kalle Lason commented on the corporate image building communication activities of the big companies: “We know that oil companies aren’t really friendly to nature, and tobacco companies don’t really care about ethics” (Arnold, 2001). On the other hand, the “ethics and social responsibility are important determinants of such long-term gains as survival, long-term profitability, and competitiveness of the organization” (Singhapakdi, 1999). Without communications strategy that revolves around ethics and social responsibility the concepts of total quality and customer relationships building become elusive. However, there could be no easy clear-cut ethics formula of marketing communications.

ADVERTISING – PRESCIOUS INFORMATION OR VICIOUS MANIPULATION?

In order to get insights into the consumer perception about the role of advertising we have reviewed a number of articles and conducted four in-depth interviews. A number of research papers reach opposed conclusions. These vary from the ones stating that “the ethicality of a firm’s behavior is an important consideration during the purchase decision” and that consumers “will reward ethical behavior by a willingness to pay higher prices for that firm’s product” (Creyer and Ross Jr., 1997) to others stressing that “although consumers may express a desire to support ethical companies, and punish unethical companies, their actual purchase behaviour often remains unaffected by ethical concerns” and that “price, quality and value outweigh ethical criteria in consumer purchase behaviour” (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Focusing on the advertising as the most prominent marketing communication tool we have constructed and conducted an interview consisting of four themes and nine questions. The conceptual frame of this paper is built on these four themes.

THEME I. The Ethics in Advertising

The first theme comprises two introductory questions about the ethics in advertising in general.

I.A. How would you define the ethics in advertising?

The term ethics in business involves “morality, organisational ethics and professional deontology” (Isaac, cited in Bergadaa’, 2007). Every industry has its own guidelines for the ethical requirements. However, the principal four requirements for marketing communications are to be legal, decent, honest and truthful. Unfortunately, in a society where the course of action of the companies is determined by profit targets the use of marketing communications messages “may constitute a form of social pollution through the potentially damaging and unintended effects it may have on consumer decision making” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999).

One of the interviewed respondents stated that “the most successful companies do no need ethics in their activities because they have built empires.” Another view is that “sooner or later whoever is not ethical will face the negative consequences.”

I.B. What is your perception of the importance of ethics in advertising?

The second question is about the importance of being moral when communicating with/to your target audiences and the way consumers/customers view it. In different research papers we have found quite opposing conclusions. Ethics of business seems to be evaluated either as very important in the decision making process or as not really a serious factor in this process. An example of rather extreme stance is that “disaster awaits any brand that acts cynically” (Odell, 2007).

It may seem obvious that the responsibility should be carried by the advertiser because “his is the key responsibility in keeping advertising clean and decent” (Bernstein, 1951). On the other hand the companies’ actions are defined by the “the canons of social responsibility and good taste” (ibid.). One of the interviewees said:

“The only responsible for giving decent advertising is the one who profits at the end. Company’s profits should not be at the expense of society.”

Another one stated that “our culture and the level of societal awareness determine the good and bad in advertising”.

The increased importance of marketing communications ethics is underscored by the need of applying more dialogical, two-way communications approaches. The “demassification technologies have the potential to facilitate dialogue”, but the “monologic” attitude is still the predominant one (Botan, 1997). Arnold (2001) points out the cases of Monsanto and Esso which had to pay “a price for its [theirs] one-way communications strategy”. In this train of thought we may review ethics in advertisements from two different perspectives as suggested by our respondents and different points of view in the reviewed papers. The first one is that it is imperative to have one common code of ethics imposed by the law. The other affirms the independence and responsibility of every industry for setting its own standards.

THEME II. Which type of regulation should be the leading one in the field of advertising?

The next theme directs the attention towards the regulation system which should be the primary one. Widely accepted opinion is that both self regulation and legal controls should work in synergy. In other words the codes of practice are meant to complement the laws. However, in certain countries there are stronger legal controls over the advertising, e.g. in Scandinavia. On the other hand the industry’s self regulation is preferred in the Anglo-Saxon world. Still, not everyone agrees with the laissez-faire concept.

One of our respondents said:

“I believe governments should impose stricter legal frame and harsher punishment for companies which do not comply with the law.”

Needless to say, the social acceptability varies from one culture/country to another. At the end of the day “good taste or bad is largely a matter of the time, the place, and the individual” (Bernstein, 1951). It would be also probably impossible to set clear-cut detailed rules in the era of Internet and interactive TV. Therefore, both types of regulation should be applied with the ultimate aim of reaching balance between the sacred right of freedom of choice and information and minimizing possible widespread offence. Put differently, the goal is synchronising the “different ethical frameworks” of marketers and “others in society” in order to fill the “ethics gap” (Hunt and Vitell, 2006).

THEME III. Content of Advertisements.

Probably the most controversial issue in the field of marketing communications is the content of advertisements. Nwachukwu et al. (1997) distinguish three areas of interest in terms of ethical judgment of ads: “individual autonomy, consumer sovereignty, and the nature of the product”. The individual autonomy is concerned with advertising to children. Consumer sovereignty deals with the level of knowledge and sophistication of the target audience whereas the ads for harmful products are in the centre of public opinion for a long time. We have added two more perspectives to arrive at five questions in the conducted interviews. The first one concerns the advertisement that imply sense of guilt and praise affluence that in the most cases cannot be achieved and the second one is about advertisements stimulating desire and satisfaction through acquisition of material goods.

III.A. What is your attitude towards the advertisement of harmful products?

A typical example is the advertisement of cigarettes. Nowadays we cannot see slogans like “Camel Agrees with Your Throat” (Chickenhead, accessed 25th September 2007) or “Chesterfield – Packs More Pleasure – Because It’s More Perfectly Packed!” (Chickenhead, accessed 25th September 2007). The general advertisement, sponsorship and other marketing communications means are already prohibited to be used by cigarette producers. Surprisingly, most of the answers of the respondents were not against the cigarettes advertisement. One of the respondents said:

“People are well informed about the consequences of smoking so it is a matter of personal choice.”

As with many other contemporary products the shift in communications messages for cigarettes is oriented towards symbol and image building. The same can be said for the alcohol ads. A well-known example of emotional advertising is the Absolut Vodka campaign. From Absolut Nectar, through Absolut Fantasy to Absolut World the Swedish drink actually aims to be Absolut… Everything.

Advertising of hazardous products is even more harshly criticised when it is aimed at audiences with low individual autonomy, i.e. children. Two main issues in this respect are the manipulation of cigarettes and alcohol as “the rite of passage into adulthood” and the fact that “sales of health-hazardous products (alcohol, cigarettes) develop freely without much disapproval” (Bergadaa, 2007).

III.B. What is your attitude towards the advertisement to children?

Children are not only customers, but also consumers, influencers and users in the family Decision-Making Unit (DMU). Additional difficulty is that they are too impressionable to be deciders in the DMU. At the same time it is not a secret that marketers apply “the same basic strategy of trying to sell the parent through the child’s insistence on the purchase” (Bernstein, 1951). It is not a surprise then that “spending on advertising for children has increased five-fold in the last ten years and two thirds of commercials during child television programs are for food products” (Bergadaa 2007). In the US alone children represent a direct purchases market of $24 billion worth (McNeal cited in Bergadaa, 2007) which certainly is on the top of the agendas of many companies. While exploiting children’s decision-making immaturity advertisers often go too far in dematerialising their products and “teleporting children out of the tangible and into the virtual world of brand names” (Bergadaa 2007). Teenage virtual worlds like Habbo where snack food brands run advertising campaigns are already a fact of life (Goldie, 2007). The imaginative worlds are popular not only online. Hugely successful for creating a fantasy world is Mc Donald’s. The company tops the European list of kids’ advertisers while more than half of the children’s adverts are for junk food.

In some countries there are harsher restrictions to the children advertising.

• “Sweden and Norway do not permit any television advertising to be directed towards children under 12 and no adverts at all are allowed during children’s programmes.
• Australia does not allow advertisements during programmes for pre-school children.
• Austria does not permit advertising during children’s programmes, and in the Flemish region of Belgium no advertising is permitted 5 minutes before or after programmes for children.
• Sponsorship of children’s programmes is not permitted in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden while in Germany and the Netherlands, although it is allowed, it is not used in practice.” (McSpotlight, accessed 20th September 2007).

According to a research by Roberts and Pettigrew (2007) the most frequent themes in children advertising are “grazing, the denigration of core foods, exaggerated health claims, and the implied ability of certain foods to enhance popularity, performance and mood.” But the junk food is not the only reason for parents’ preoccupation. According to a study of Kaiser Family Foundation (Dolliver, 2007) parents are concerned about the amount of advertising of the following products (in order of importance): toys, video games, clothing, alcohol/beer, movies, etc.

The interviewed respondents were unanimous: “The advertising to children should be strictly monitored.” Similar results were obtained in surveys by Rasmussen Reports and Kaiser Family Foundation. Nevertheless, the legal means are just one part of the children’s protection. The other part involves “the decision-making responsibility of parents and teachers” which is “to assist their children in developing a skeptical attitude to the information in advertising” (Bergadaa 2007). The marketers themselves should also be involved in shaping the moral system of our future and “each brand should have its own deontology – a code of practice regarding children – rather than rely on industry codes” (Horgan, 2007).

III.C. Do you think there are many misleading, exaggerating and confusing advertisements. Are many ads promising things that are not possible to achieve?

It will not be exaggerated to state that advertising is in a sense “salesmanship addressed to masses of potential buyers rather than to one buyer at a time” (Bernstein, 1951). Since “salesmanship itself is persuasion” (ibid.) we cannot merely blame advertisers for pursuing their sales goals. However, in the last twenty years or so advertisers have increasingly applied semiotics in their messages and as a consequence ads have begun to function more and more as symbols. One extreme case in this stream of advertising is the creation of idealised image of a person who uses the advertised product. Bishop (2000) draws our attention to two “typical representatives of self-identity image ads” which entice consumers to project the respective images to themselves through use of the products:

- “The Beautiful Woman”;
- “The Sexy Teenagers.

Through setting of such stereotypes advertisers not only mislead the public and exaggerate the effects of products but also provoke low self-esteem in consumers. At the same time they promise results that in most cases are simply impossible to achieve. Instead of promoting “‘glamorous’ anorexic body images” communication messages should use “varied body types” and should drop the idea of the “impossible physical body images” (Bishop, 2000).

To question III.C one of the respondents commented:

“The customers of these products [the ones advertised through thin models] are mostly people who do not have the same physical characteristic. For me, this type of advertising is deliberately aimed at people to make them feel not complete, far from attractive social outsiders.”

However, another interviewed stated that: “every person has his own way of evaluating what is believable and what is misleading. Consumers are enough sophisticated to know what is exaggerated.”

Similarly, Bishop (2000) concludes that “image ads are not false or misleading”, and “whether or not they advocate false values is a matter for subjective reflection.” The author argues that image ads do not interfere with our internal autonomy and if people are misled, it is because they want it. It is all about our free choice of behaviour and no advertisement can modify our desires. Perhaps, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two extreme positions.

III.D. What is your attitude towards advertisement that imply sense of guilt, and praise affluence that in the most cases cannot be achieved?

A more specific case of controversial advertising is the one used to “promote not so much self indulgence as self doubt”; the one that “seeks to create needs, not to fulfill them: to generate new anxieties instead of allaying old ones” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). A response of our interviewee reads:

“It is not only a matter of advertising. It has to do with the social inequality and the desire to possess what you can not.”

Hackley and Kitchen (1999) refer to this discrepancy as to “when reality does not match the image of affluence and the result is a subjective feeling of dissonance”. The issue could be elaborated further through the next question.

III.E. Are advertisements stimulating desire and satisfaction through acquisition of material goods moral?

We live in a society which is more or less marked by materialism. Advertisements are often blamed to fuel consumption which is allegedly leading to happiness. The role of promoting satisfaction through acquisition of material goods has become so important that currently the “media products are characterised by relativism, irony, self referentiality and hedonism” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). Is the popular saying “those who die with most toys win” really a motivator in consumers’ behavior and could consumption be the cure of emotional dissonance? This seems to be the case provided a brand succeeds to enter in the evoked set of consumer choices. This new “kind of materialism” goes hand in hand with “the emergence of individualism via sheer hedonism along with narcissism and selfishness” (Bergadaa 2007).

THEME IV. Is the quantity of advertisements justified?

IV.A. Do you think there is too much advertising?

An audit of food advertising aimed at children in Australia by Roberts and Pettigrew (2007) revealed that “28.5 hours of children’s television programming sampled contained 950 advertisements.” Actually, we all are being bombarded by ads on TV, Internet, print media, etc. The amount and content of marketing communications messages puts the consumer’s information processing capacity to a test. The exposure to marketing data overload often leads to diluted consumer’s selective perception. Whether our responses are circumscribed by “confusion, existential despair, and loss of moral identity” or we “adapt constructively to the [communications] Leviathan and become intelligent, cynical, streetwise” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999) is a question open to debate.

Two opposite streams of attitudes were produced in our research. One stance is concerned with the undue quantity of advertisement. The other stream proclaims that “If there is an advertisement, so it is justified by a need.” We agree that the communications overload may indeed have “pervasive effect on the social ecology of the developed world” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). If the increasing communication pollution is not managed properly by both legal and industry points of view yet again the advertising will manage “to hoist its foot to its own mouth and kick out a couple of its own front teeth” (Bernstein, 1951).

CONCLUSION

In preparation of this paper we have used qualitative depth interviews in order to get insights for what actual customers opine. We have also substantiated our presentation with references to a number of influential articles in the field of ethics in marketing communications. Generally, our respondents as well as various authors have taken two opposing stances. The first one affirms that ethics in marketing communications matters considerably, whereas the other one downsizes the importance of ethics, thereby stressing the role of other factors in consumer decision-making, i.e. price, brand loyalty, convenience, etc.

Marketers should understand their “responsibility for the emerging portrait of future society” (Bergadaa 2007). Not only there is a need of legal ethical frame but also professional ethical benchmarks and deontology should be in place. One of the main challenges is to avoid creating “a happy customer in the short term”, because “in the long run both consumer and society may suffer as a direct result of the marketer’s actions in ’satisfying’ the consumer” (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001).

The strength of the advertisement influence exerted on consumers is only one part of the equation. On the other hand we may affirm that consumers are not morally subservient and according to the information process models there is a natural cognitive defense. The communications tools “offer us a theatre of our own imagination” (Hackley and Kitchen, 1999). Consequently, we accept the reality in terms of our own experiences. In this sense marketers do not create reality – they are simply a mirror of the society. We may argue that unfortunately this is not always the case.

Advertising is often deservedly seen as the embodiment of consumer freedom and choice. Notwithstanding this important role, when the choice is “between one candy bar and another, the latest savoury snack or sweetened breakfast cereal or fast food restaurant” (McSpotlight, accessed 20th September 2007) it represents anything else but not an alternative and certainly not a healthy one.

The words of Bernstein (1951), said fifty-six years ago are still very much a question of present interest: “It is not true that if we ’save advertising, we save all,’ but it seems reasonable to assume that if we do not save advertising, we might lose all.”

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Traditional television audiences are eroding.  In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49.   Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online.  Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online.  And more than a third of all 12 – 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly.   With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.

So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right?  The picture is not that clear.  The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board.  TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter.  MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008.   They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003.  Others offer an even gloomier outlook.  In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.

And even worse news for media companies: rates that advertisers are paying for digital ad space, as traditionally measured by cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), are trending downward.  According to research by Morgan Stanley, the average CPM for a banner ad has dropped from  $3 to $1 over the past decade.  Consensus seems to be this is because of the proliferation of available inventory (places on the internet to display these ads).  In China, advertisers are paying as little as $.05 CPM because of the rapid explosion of inventory.  And MediaPost predicts that this decline in the rates advertisers are paying will extend to online video advertising in 2009, which is an area that has been enjoying a two year spike in CPMs.

But what about those social networks to which television viewers are being drawn?  Do they offer hope?  Halyard Capital found that 68% of those surveyed believed social networks are in the “strongest position to expand” among the alternative marketing channels over the next two years.   Advertisers see vast potential in social networking as a channel in which to better target advertising to consumers because of all of the personal information being shared.  And content providers see opportunities to tie together traditional media and social networking.  Broadcasters are starting to incorporate community features into their online video players.  Companies like Joost are tapping into social networks like Facebook for social video sharing.

At first glance, then, social networks seem to offer promise as an advertising haven in an economic downturn.   Sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube boast a tremendous number of pageviews, a higher than average number of pageviews per user, and a longer average time-on-site.  In a CPM-driven world, this massive pool of pageviews represents a virtual treasure trove of “inventory,” because of the sheer number of eyeballs.  The problem, however, is that the data shows that the actual performance of ads on these social networks is absolutely dismal. Click-through rates on these sites are 10 to 100 times lower than the average for banner ads, which were already in the 0.1 percent to 1 percent range.

According to Dr. Augustine Fou, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at MRM Worldwide, a digital marketing agency, the very nature of social networking sites make them unsuitable for traditional advertising:

“While the largest Web 1.0 sites (Yahoo, CNET, New York Times, etc.) were content sites that aggregated massive audiences and supported large numbers of pageviews, the largest Web 2.0 sites are social networking sites. The nature of these two types of sites is very different. Users go to Web 1.0 sites and portals to read content or do e-mail by themselves. Users go to Web 2.0 social networks to interact with others and are usually so immersed in socializing they are even less likely to see, let alone act upon, ads, despite the large number of pageviews generated per session. This may partially explain the dramatically lower click rates for ads on social networking sites. “

Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., postulates that social networks are not only ineffective channels for advertising, they are wholly inappropriate places to market in which attempts to do so alienate consumers.   McConnell poses the question to advertisers: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”   He makes the point that “social media” is not really “media” at all.  Media is a one-way communication that contains blank spaces that constitute inventory for advertising.  Social networking is a dialog between consumers, in which advertising becomes disruptive.  Consumers were not intending to create media, they were intending to talk to someone.

If television ad revenue is on the decline, digital ad spending on the whole is trending downward, and social networks are failing to deliver on their promise to reach consumers, what can advertisers and media companies do to weather the storm?  Advertisers must ensure that they are getting the best return on investment they can on their remaining ad spending dollars.  Instead of paying for the biggest number of eyeballs they can, they should focus on advertising best positioned to make a conversion.  Online, this likely signals a needed shift from a CPM model, where advertisers pay for the number of folks who will see an ad, to performance-based measurements.  An ad model based on performance would have advertisers paying only for clicks or other targeted consumer actions.

McConnell predicts that as the economy worsens, the fortune of performance-based advertising will rise as impression-based models falter. “‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure,” he said. “So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.”

And according to Dr. Fou, “in the Web 2.0 advertising landscape, many advertisers have already moved beyond the cost-per-impression (CPM) model to a more measurable and accountable cost-per-click (CPC) model (e.g., Google Adwords) in which they only pay when users click through, no matter how many times the ad is displayed. Some have even moved to the next step of cost-per-action (CPA), where the advertiser does not pay until the user does the desired action-e.g., make a purchase. “

How can media companies respond to the demand for performance-based advertising?  It is no longer enough to simply make inventory available, now these companies must ensure that the advertisements will be effective.  This means that it will be more important than ever to target the right advertising to the right consumer at the right time.  And media companies will have to work directly with the advertisers to ensure that advertising is tightly integrated with the content in a way that provides the right context and timing for the message.

One channel that offers some interesting promise for targeting of content is mobile.  62% of AdTech’s attendees responding to the survey by Halyard cited mobile as the advertising platform that will grow the most in the next two years.   Mobile has the potential to target a consumer at exactly the right time and the right place.  Imagine walking into a drug store and receiving a coupon by text message on your mobile phone for an over-the-counter pain reliever.  That is the power of location-based advertising, made possible by the proliferation of global positioning system (GPS) technology on mobile phones, that allows providers to know exactly where you are.  This is not science fiction – companies like Loopt and NAVTEQ are already starting to serve up location-based ads on a handset near you.

And while social networks may not prove to be the holy grail in providing a channel for advertising, their vast potential for understanding and targeting consumers may still be the key to effective advertising in a performance-based world.  Dr. Fou explains that “By redefining social networks as ‘the collective conversations and actions of customers, evidenced online,’ marketers can instead use social networks as places to do research-e.g., test messages with real customers in a real environment, listen to how customers describe their products or services to peers, or get ideas for new products or how to improve current products. And finally, advertisers can identify influencers, mavens or ‘heavies’ on social networks (the ones who are most active in talking, posting or sharing) and let them beta-test and write about their product or service.”

Not only can social networks help advertisers better identify, understand and influence their targets, they have the potential to exponentially extend their reach.   According to Advertising Age, there is “emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers — creating so-called social graphs — can be just as valuable as traditional targeting and segmentation in predicting how people will respond to marketing messages.”  The idea is to not only market to your identified target consumer, but market to the other people in that consumer’s social network.  The theory is that advertisers should associate “consumers who are already connected and share values and beliefs, a concept called homophily.”  Yahoo and several small start-ups are starting to prove out this theory.

Finally, there may still be hope for television.  In early November, Dish Network struck a deal with advertising technology firm Invidi that involves the creation of “advanced receivers” capable of “targeted advertising delivery” and “dynamic commercial insertion.”  According to Advertising Age, what this means is “[r]ather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households — making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn’t have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn’t have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts.”  Industry experts believe that if consumers are presented with highly relevant advertising, they are far less inclined to skip the ad on their DVR.

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These agencies have media experts that place the client’s ads strategically across the ad spaces, which are likely to attract relevant visitors. The premieradvertisement agencies make sure that the campaign’s performance is conveyed or reported to the advertisers. The advertisers have to do modifications or increase the intensity of targeting the users. The advertisers can also choose the number of visitors that they expect over their web presence. These entities also rotate the ads in a strategic way across partner networks for providing maximum exposure to the brands.

The expertise of the advertisement agencies helps the advertisers to penetrate their target market. The audience is targeted according to various criteria like earning, demography, interests etc. Moreover, the media experts also devise tools to generate leads for the client. In this way, the business organizations move further to increase their sales and revenue. The extensive relevant response achieved from the effective advertising tactics contributes to the growth of brands.