about internet advertising

Each corporation has a target demographic, and it is critical that goods reach consumers on schedule. There are many methods that businesses may use to bring their goods to the target market. Companies may make their product popular through traditional or internet advertisements. Most businesses already use online marketing, which has grown in popularity over the years. It is an ideal way for businesses to reach clients all around the globe. Furthermore, since many consumers buy online, web advertising is an ideal way to advertise with the click of a mouse. Interactivity, versatility, and personalization are some of the reasons for the rise in internet use. It is not only convenient for communication, but as a sales tool as well. The Internet has changed the way of trading. There has been a rise in the number of organizations that have embraced the internet as a marketing medium. Enterprises are spending millions on internet marketing. Web advertisement has given individuals control since they can get information on products and services. The internet enables to get products from any part of the world. People no longer spend hours for shopping. For a long time, internet marketing has caught the attention of marketers. Knowing how online marketing works is essential for any enterprise, as it helps to streamline techniques to satisfy custom needs. There are several reasons why internet marketing is an effective method for getting the target markets, for instance, cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and the ability to access a wide global reach.

Research Objectives

i. Identify how web advertising is effective with regards to reaching the target audience

ii. To identify the level of reliability of internet advertising

iii. Identify how web advertising influences a consumer’s purchasing decision

Literature Review

Nowadays, people can get access to their favorite websites using their cellphones, tablets, and computers. For some time, the internet was associated with the younger generation; however, adults are fast catching up. Thus, it gives firms an opportunity to market their products online. According to Baltas (2003), there are 65% adults who use social networking platforms. Social media platforms enable individuals to communicate with their friends and families online. Some of the social networking that is commonly used includes Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Consumers can get access to all these websites through their mobile phones, tablets or computers. Facebook is the social media site with the highest number of users. There are over a billion registered users on Facebook. There are 159,646,460 Facebook users in the United States. Twitter has 35 million users.

Internet advertising has provided a cost-effective way for organizations to reach their target market. Organizations can make their advertisements to meet the audience. Marketers know how useful it is for people to interact in regards to the products on Facebook. Product marketing may evoke both negative and positive emotions. Marketers use the positive responses to increase the customer’s chance of making a purchase. The negative reactions allow marketers to make changes in the product to satisfy the customer’s needs.

According to Edwards (2005), businesses spend billions of dollars in internet marketing. There are different forms of internet marketing that firms can use; they include social media, blogging, online classified ads, banner ads, email marketing, and advertising networks. The advertisements are placed on websites where there is a high chance of reaching the audience. Marketing is necessary for driving sales. Clients can gather information on products and services. Through internet advertising, a firm can get a feedback. Positive feedback will help to get the right promotion. On the other hand, the firm can use negative feedback to solve any concerns that the customers have on products. Consumers’ behavior is the actions that influence the purchase decision. Businesses have to understand the customer’s behavior to know the consumer shopping preferences. There are several factors that affect the customer’s purchasing behavior. Such factors include culture, economic status, personality, beliefs, education and age (Kotler, 2004).

Internet Advertising

The Internet provides marketers with a wide variety of marketing tools. Display marketing and related search advertising make up 70% of total advertising revenues (Yoon, 2003). There are online tools like email, blogs, podcasts, games, and social networks. Internet advertisement is inexpensive and quick thus attracting marketers, as it includes the use of social media; pop-ups paid search, banner ads among others. The average user used social networking site about 12% of the time and was on Facebook most of the time (Baltas, 2003). Only a small number of adults in the United States reported deciding to buy a product based on social network information. Internet advertisement is challenging than the traditional method. The internet provides an alternative to mass media communication by using discussion groups and web pages.

Advertisers have an advantage in that they can communicate directly with the customers. Marketers are also able to promote products to their target market. Thus, there will be reduced wastage of advertisement funds. Internet users consider online advertisement as an educational method. However, there are many people who were not persuaded to make any purchases (Schlosser, Shavitt & Kanfer, 1999). Marketers need to use web advertisements but target it to the respective user groups. According to Ducoffe (1996), internet advertisement is informative, useful, entertaining, and valuable.

Search Marketing

It refers to all the techniques used in ensuring that a website becomes visible to search engines. Paid search results and organic search results are the primary search results. According to the study by Berthon (1996), the majority of users do not look at online advertisements. From the survey, there were only 28% participants who admitted to viewing the posters that were on the right side of the Google search engine while 21% of the users did not see the ads which were on the right side of a Bing search engine. Therefore, it is evident that users ignore the search advertisements.

Online Public Relations

Particular activities were done by an organization to increase the number of times their brand is mentioned on third-party websites, like social networks and blogs where there is a target audience. Adding interactivity is the best way to make online public relations a success. It is essential to have consistent conversations to build an engagement in social networks. Furthermore, it is better to use short messages rather than long ones.

Opt-in Email

In this kind of marketing, the firm uses email to reach consumers. Companies can use email discussion lists, and email newsletters. Email is an excellent way to communicate; however, it is the least effective internet advertising method. Using recurring email advertising creates a negative impression of the ad. Such recurring emails could be categorized as being a spam email.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

To develop successful internet advertising through YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, advertisers must look for the advertisements that make the web pages popular. Research has shown that individuals use social media platforms to nurture relationships. According to Dreze and Hussherr (2003), adults of ages 18 and 65 and above use social networking to communicate with family members, and friends. Another research shows that klients in the age bracket 18 to 25 use Facebook to create an identity for themselves and act on their narcissistic tendencies. Electronic Word of mouth is a vital factor in buyer decision making (Chu & Kim, 2011). From the research, it is evident that buyers spend most of their time on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These viral marketing have gained online presence, but it is necessary to know how they affect buyer behavior, and attitudes (Phelps, Lewis, Mobilio, Perry & Raman, 2004). Buyers are surrounded all over by intrusive advertising, but it is not a guarantee that the target market is paying any attention to the ads. Businesses have to learn how to connect with the target audience. According to Schlosser, Shavitt and Kanfer (1999), assert that giving users a choice to view the advertisements or refuse, will increase the effectiveness of internet marketing.

Expanding Ads

The expanding ads are the ones that become larger when the user clicks them. These ads may take long to download and thus can negatively affect the user experience.

Internet Advertising Effectiveness

There have been researchers who have carried out studies on the factors that affected internet advertising. Some of those elements include internet users viewing, innovative advertising, advertising characteristics, campaign publicity, and duration of viewing (Danaher & Mullarkey, 2003). Danaher and Mullarkey (2003), examine the effects of the factors like visit duration, viewing mode, and the banner ads style to purchasing decision. The authors did not find the impact of these factors on the advertising call-up. The main finding by the authors was that the page viewing duration determines the ability of call-up on the banner ads. Dreze and Hussherr (2003) identified the importance of the ad characteristics of consumer behavior. The researchers also observed that the banner message would influence the brand recognition and aided advertising. Therefore, what the advertisement is saying is very important than how the ad says it.

Danaher and Mullarkey (2003) found that a favorable attitude on the ad can increase the ability of buyers buying the product after viewing the advertisement. The authors also found a relationship between the positive response to websites and increasing sales. Buyers who have a positive attitude on the ad have a higher chance of recall compared to the buyers with a negative opinion on the commercial. According to research conducted on internet advertising effectiveness. Some of the favorite online activities include email at 90%, reading news online at 82%, banking online at 7% (Goldsmith & Lafferty, 2002).

Consumer Behavior

Buyer behavior refers to study individuals and the process they use in choosing and disposing of products or services. Measuring buyer behavior in any business is essential. Knowing what the buyer wants will help an organization to improve its product design assessing buyer behavior is vital in determining how to meet the client needs. It will help the company to improve its products. Buyer behavior can be measured using surveys. It can be qualitative or quantitative. Whereby qualitative involve asking the buyer’s questions while quantitative is convenient for determining the market that has a new product. A qualitative study is appropriate when amending products. Buyer surveys could also be done through observing consumers in shopping malls. Observing the way the buyers do their shopping will provide a lot of information on their behavior. Clients can be affected by their friends. People who are at the middle-income level, are highly influenced by individuals on the social media platform. On the other hand, people on the higher income level are not affected by their peers.

Analysis

As much as online marketing can reach many people, the problem comes in remembering the ad. The facts imply that web marketing may not be as effective as some authors have outlined. There are authors who have opposing views on the effectiveness of online marketing. Some authors believe that internet marketing is not as effective as conventional methods. Danaher and Mullarkey (2003), found out that television advertisements are reliable than web marketing. According to the study, family and friends are a primary influence when it comes to decision making. It indicates that conventional advertising is effective in terms of consumer preference. Danaher and Mullarkey (2003), also found out that there were high preferences in traditional advertising than internet advertising. Another author who also had an opposing view on the effectiveness of internet advertising is Cho (2003), who found out that in the developing countries, there is a more significant percentage of conventional methods than internet advertising. The study also determined that web advertising is a determinant in the purchase decision. Therefore, there is a link between the purchasing decision and web advertising. Despite the fact that the internet has gained a broad audience, its ability to create consumer awareness is low. It is evident given the small number of people who make purchases after seeing the advertisement. Internet advertising determines the customers purchasing decision. Customers consider web marketing as an interaction between them and the organization.

Future Research

The study has explored the effectiveness of internet advertising in reaching the target market. However, a similar investigation should be carried out for comparison purposes. Future research can be done on how web advertising in different countries to ensure that there is a global understanding of the effectiveness of web advertising.

The study has shown findings on the strategies that can be used in internet advertising; there is a need for conducting more studies to identify ways that firms can place their advertisements on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. It would be vital for enterprises to become part of the conversations on the social media platforms and to force customers to view the ads. In addition, firms have to do due diligence before settling for a particular social media platform. Companies must identify their target market to know the needs and thus know the right strategy to use. Firms also have to keep in mind that the online world is always changing. Therefore, it becomes necessary to have marketing strategies that can be updated to meet the market needs. There are specific ways that advertisers can use to increase the sales using online advertising.

Use of Multiple Languages

Using multiple languages on the website will be of great help in attracting customers. Nowadays, it is common to find sites in Czech, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, German and French. Having a translation on the site will also help in retaining customers. Multiple languages attract an audience from different parts of the world. Moreover, viewers will feel a connection to the company knowing that the advertisement is in their language.

Using Multimedia

In the recent studies, there is a potential for using internet and banner ads. However, the ads have to be creative and informative. Moreover, the site should also have innovative designs that attract customers. A website with slow download time can prevent from buying a product. Therefore, the downloading speed should be very fast. Customers will be invited to a site that loads faster. One should not take any chances when it comes to internet advertising. Any mistake can lead to loosing thousands of customers.

Using Banner Ads

Banner designs to enable the client printout the product sheet. Additionally, customers should be able to order products through the banner. It is essential to give customers flexibility when using the internet. In addition, website owners ensure the customer to be directed to a product marketing page (Cho, 2003).

Free offers

Most people like to free thing and marketers that give their customers some free stuff to increase the conversion rate. Sponsoring a freebie is a great way for customers to view the ads and enable firms to make more sales.

Sponsoring contests

Majority of the people love to win things thus marketers can offer their product or service as the prize. Once the winner has been choosing, their name can be published. Having a reciprocal link is a way of saying thank you to the customer. Furthermore, it is not costly. Contests will attract people to the website and increase the sales.

Website testimonials

One can build trust online using testimonials. Testimonials from satisfied customers will encourage new customers to buy the product. It is essential to make sure that the testimony is a quote. Additionally, it is necessary to reveal the name and email address of the customer. It will show that the testimonial is not a fake one. The testimony should be in a few sentences.

Conclusion

Consumers of all demographics and ages are spending a lot of time online. As a result of the trend, businesses have maximized their advertising campaigns to reach consumers on the various websites. The popularity of social media websites has been on the rise, and businesses are utilizing these methods to advertise their products and services. As far as people are of the opinion that online marketing is effective, companies must have social media presence to increase sales. The effectiveness of the online advertising methods is still under debate. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the most popular social media platforms. When the advertisers use social media, they maximize their chances of getting a high recall on the ads. There are millions of people accessing these sites. If businesses use the correct method of advertising their products online, then it is a way to reach the vast population online. Consumer’s desires and opinions will help enterprises to achieve effective marketing strategy. From the surveys carried out, most of the people are not receptive to the marketing on the social media platforms they use. Many people are annoyed by the advertisements. The primary reason for conducting the study was to find out how effective web marketing on reaching the target market. From the survey, the web advertising depends on the level of knowledge of the existing advertising platforms. Internet advertising is a method of raising consumer awareness. However, the problem comes in recalling the ad. Only a few consumers remember the commercials. It means that there is the low reliability of web advertising. From the literature analysis, there are authors who have conducted studies on internet advertising. There are some studies that do not have enough data. Based on the literature analysis, pop-ups are the least effective internet advertising method. On the other hand, the most effective advertising methods are banner advertisements. Interactivity, content relevance and creativity affect consumer buying behavior. There is no doubt that web advertising affects individuals just like how traditional advertising. Emphasizing brand effects will expand the target audience. Further studies to carry out online marketing are highly appreciated to ensure that there is more data which can be helpful in doing a thorough analysis of internet trade.

References

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