Ten reasons to advertise online

Everyone knows that the internet is great for direct response advertising. The ability to measure the performance of online advertising through impressions, click-throughs and conversions means it’s easy for advertisers to optimise campaigns and maximise return of investment. However, advertisers are also discovering that online is a hugely effective brand advertising tool. As a result, brand advertising online has grown by roughly 200% between 2008 and 2010.

The advent of online video advertising in the form of pre and post roll ads around video content has provided advertisers with the type of opportunities for brand-based advertising normally associated with TV. Coupled with this, the massively impactful new display advertising formats such as custom backgrounds, billboards and half page skyscrapers, mean that brands can create amazing adverts online that they haven’t previously been able to execute. The combination of these factors means that online display advertising is changing. It isn’t necessarily about generating an initial response but is more focused on building brand awareness and driving purchase intent.

Advertisers have also realised that online advertising isn’t just about click-through rates. For an online ad to work users don’t have to act immediately. Just like TV, outdoor, print and cinema advertising, online has a positive long term branding effect – causing users to act long after they’ve seen an advert. Add great editorial environments and engaged users to this and you’ve got a great recipe for delivering real results for brands.

The IAB’s Building Brands Online Trilogy of research projects highlights how FMCG advertisers including Starbucks, Nestle and GSK are using online cost effectively to successfully establish and reposition brands online.

Online offers advertisers a limitless creative canvas. Back in the day of the notorious “12k gif banner” this may not have seemed to be the case as there were lots of restrictions – from the physical space, to the amount of animation, and even the number of colours you could use. Yet in just a few years, the very technology that makes the internet a living, breathing, ever-evolving platform - together with some clever minds - has created a rich landscape of digital disciplines.

Now, whatever you want to do, online advertising can deliver it. From an innovative display brand advert to the audiovisual impact of a pre-roll video, or from clever word play in search ads to deep, engaging and interactive experiences through games, online advertising delivers creativity in spades.

What’s more, online is best friends with innovation, presenting new opportunities to marketers every day. You just need to work out when to locate your customers and send them a relevant message - like Guinness’ iAd - or think laterally about how to usefully surprise and delight in real-time as demonstrated by John Lewis’ spring season campaign which employed geo-climatic technology.

And perhaps the best bit about online, is that it fits into consumers’ lives like no other medium - on the commute, at work, at home, on the plane and even on the beach. 

When you consider that TV advertising has been around for more than 25 years and radio advertising 70 years – you begin to realise that digital is still in its infancy. And yet since the internet began its spectacular rise to prominence in the early 90s, online has found its feet in no time with over 40m active UK users.

Part of online’s success is down to its inherent sociability which has universally changed the way we behave. You can have a water cooler conversation whenever and wherever you want. You can look up a new restaurant and in seconds scan dozens of reviews. And when you’ve experienced something mind-blowing you can share it with friends, family and frankly, the world – all at the tap of a touchscreen. All this has led to us as a nation, spending a massive quarter of our online time on social networks.

Since we’re spending so much time being social online, there are huge opportunities for brands to engage, as long as they complement the experience and emit a relevant message. For example, seeing a targeted ad on your Facebook feed for a local event where your favourite band is playing. Spot on. Or when searching for recipe inspiration, being presented a video recipe on a branded Youtube channel which also allows you to click and buy all the ingredients. Bingo.

And as people connect, they do more things together. Using group buying power to get the best deal, reacting to news in real-time or actually creating a third dimension to CSI or X Factor with fans while they watch the show.

The digital landscape is bursting with platforms, people and technology that make the world in which we live more connected, collaborative and more of a community. And really, we’ve only just begun.

The internet is both a push and pull medium that lets people click, type, talk, film and drag their way around websites, emails and other online services. And even better, it allows advertisers to directly respond and interact with their customers.

For advertisers, interactivity makes for an incredibly engaging, immersive experience for consumers. Online display adverts can deliver a brand message, but they can also offer much more – for example, forms to collect customer details, video clips, games and even shopping functionality.

 This double whammy of brand advertising coupled with interactive experiences extends the conversation, stirs emotions and encourages a response. Interactivity can be used to tell people about products or services, to entertain consumers, to build brands or even to collect feedback, leads and make sales.

The only limit to online interactivity is your imagination and the imagination of your consumers. For instance, Lynx and Tippex have both used interactive video ads that change their stories depending on words typed by users. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga and the Grammy Awards created a microsite that automatically updated with highlights of the latest and most popular social media videos, tweets, images and blog posts.

What these examples show is that you shouldn’t just push out a message. Involve the consumer and draw them in with online’s ability to encourage interaction.

Year on year, mobile continues to flourish. Indeed the usage of the mobile internet in the UK grew at the fastest rate on record in 2010. As of May 2011, 21.3m people used the mobile internet each month and 19.8m used apps. Mobile media has become a part of daily life, with the average mobile media user reaching for their phone 18 times a day - and this doesn’t even include calls and text!

Consumers are using their mobile for everything. For example, 30% of overall Google restaurant searches were made via the mobile internet. Likewise, 17% of automotive searches and 16% of consumer electronics queries were made on mobile devices. Importantly, not only are consumers surfing on their mobile, but they are also actually buying. IAB research shows that 51% of UK mobile phone owners have engaged with M-Commerce.

More advertisers are waking up to the potential of mobile. The IAB/PwC Mobile adspend study showed that spending on mobile advertising was up 116% from 2009 to 2010 on a like for like basis. The range of advertisers using mobile to benefit their brands is also becoming broader as more mainstream brands from sectors such as finance and consumer goods are investing on mobile.

When it fits, mobile can offer a wealth of benefits to advertisers. So get involved in mobile now to ensure your brand doesn’t get left behind.