Spending on Internet advertising surpasses £3bn

New research from the Advertising Association and The World Advertising Research Centre has highlighted the increasing importance advertisers are putting on the internet and its role in the future of their businesses.

2007 saw spending on online advertising surpass 3bn for the first time in the UK, accounting for a 16% share of the total advertising market. The research illustrates how this rapidly growing sector is taking priority from other traditional advertising formats such as magazines, newspapers and direct mail.

Press advertising is still the single largest sector with a 40% market share equating to 7.7bn worth of ad spend. However in contrast this sector saw a drop of 1.5% year-on-year in 2007 as opposed to online advertising which experienced an increase of 39.5%.

These shifts in the way advertisers are spending their valuable marketing budgets is undoubtedly a reflection of the continual increase in the online shopping industry, however they're also a reflection of how cost effective it is to promote your business on the internet compared with more traditional media.

So why choose online marketing?

Search engines such as Google are the driving forces behind today's internet, and they're designed and engineered with one thing in mind, to sell advertising. The main objective behind any advertising is to expose your business to the maximum amount of targeted consumers. Traditionally this has meant an ad in a magazine or newspaper, perhaps a billboard campaign or even a TV or radio campaign if your budget allows for it. However the main downfall with all these kinds of formats is that there still relatively inaccurate as regards targeting consumers, primarily those most likely to convert into actual paying customers.

With search engines the very principle to which they've been developed is what makes them such effective advertising platforms. By the simple fact that they revolve around consumers entering a search they give advertisers the unique opportunity to put there businesses right in front of those specifically searching for their products and services. Advertising rarely gets more targeted.

Marketing on the internet also has the added advantage that it can be measured and recorded particularly accurately compared to traditional marketing. You can literally track a customer from the advertisement to the point they exit your website, hopefully at your 'thankyou page' after they've made a purchase. Either way this ability to track and record results means that you can objectively alter and develop your online marketing campaigns quickly and efficiently helping to maximise your return on investment.

Of course the effectiveness of any kind of marketing relies upon the end product or service that you ultimately provide to the customer. If you advertise a free phone order line which never gets answered or fail to deliver products advertised as 'FREE Next Day Delivery' you'll probably deserve the return on investment that you'll get. Exactly the same applies with a website, potential customers should be able to find what they want easily, access the information they want to know whether it be product details or delivery information, and purchase with as little hassle as possible, all of which will encourage them not only to spend their money with you but also potentially return.

As we're all well aware there is usually more going on behind a successful marketing campaign than meets the eye. Technicalities behind what grammar engages consumers to act upon an advert for example is almost a science in itself. Equally ensuring that those who act upon your advertising are converted into paying customers whether via a website, by phone or other is crucial to being able to sustain your marketing and develop your business.

The prospect of marketing can seem overwhelming and undoubtedly internet marketing has its very own unique pitfalls. Google's Pay Per Click marketing for example, is in the right hands the most cost effective form of marketing available, equally it can be one of the most efficient ways of losing money very quickly indeed. So understanding the basics is your very first step, with this in mind it's well worth acquiring a degree of consultation on the subject before spending your marketing budget.

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