The World Wide Web as an Advertising Medium

of TV and the interactivity available on the Internet. The trend is to make ads more involving and interactive. Thus, increasingly advertisers are using enhanced banner ads—banner ads with complete information already in them, as opposed to having to click for additional information. Some also include rich media based on software technologies, like Shockwave, Java, Acrobat, and Enliven —audio plug-ins, media streaming, or some other enhancement. Generally, these ads with full motion, animation, and sound perform better than traditional banner ads because they allow interactivity. Consequently, click-through rates are 2%-plus, whereas click-through rates for typical display ads hover between .1-.2%. However, their complex graphics and animation increase Web page load times. Creative agencies usually work with rich-media companies, like Eyewonder, DoubleClick, PointRoll, and Unicast, to develop the ad.

Also, the trend is to replace small banner-size ads with larger display ads that mimic traditional newspaper and magazine ad types.

The trend is moving away from banner ads and experimenting with games (e.g., the Bounty Match Game in which the consumer identifies and matches spills), pop-up ads (open a separate window containing an ad and an invitation to link to another related site) <14-4>.

Also increasingly popular are keyword-activated banner ads or smart banners, which pop up when users input keywords in a major search engine. For instance, auto-by-tel.com could buy a smart banner that is prompted only when users type the keyword “auto.” Interactive banner ads, which came into being in the mid-2000s, spring to life when the Web surfer crosses them with the cursor (no click necessary). Performance ads are display ads that allow advertisers to use data analysis and user-tracking technologies to match ads more closely with prospects and measure mouse clicks and other actions so advertisers pay only when ads deliver.

2. Corporate home pages/Websites. Corporate home pages/Websites. The most basic mode of Internet advertising is to

establish a corporate home page and a number of linked subsequent pages providing further information which serve as a Website. Here, a marketer makes available detailed information about the firm and its products. These range from being reminiscent of product brochures to full-fledged showrooms with a searchable library of stories and data about the firm, its brands, etc. Domain names (URLs) should be intuitive or easily guessed (e.g., WWW.companyname.com) and descriptive to increase chances that visitors who don’t know the domain name can find your site. Domain names should also be unique and memorable. Firms such as VeriSign, idNames, and Godaddy Software, Inc. assist companies in identifying, registering, and managing domain names. Others, like 1 & 1, offer hosting that includes maintenance of domain names, website connectivity, e-mail accounts, and some limited applications for as little as about $10 per month.

The home page (welcome page, start page, landing page) represents the consumer’s “first look’ at the website. Therefore, it plays a pivotal role in gaining and maintaining consumers’ attention, either driving them further into the Web site or away from it. Home page “essentials include information clearly identifying the company and its brands, what is inside the Website, and how to contact the company. Including much more than these “essentials,” such as complex graphics, might make the home page too complex and slow to download. The home page can be one to several pages long, but short is usually better, with hyperlinks offering routes to additional information. It can be thought of as an alternative “storefront”—a location where people can come to find out more about the company and its products.

The nature of these sites varies—some companies treat them as a brochure to promote their products; others try to create a “cool” information and entertainment environment that people will often visit; and still others treat it as an online catalog store or virtual storefront where merchandise can be purchased (e-commerce).

There are two types of websites. Corporate (brand) websites are not designed to directly sell merchandise but rather to build customer goodwill, collect customer feedback, and inform customers. For example, you can’t buy anything at P&G’s Tide to Go brand site, but you can learn how to use this stain remover stick, watch recent ads, and share “Tide to Go” saves the day!” stories with others. Another example is Unilever's campaignforrealbeauty.com, where consumers can share thoughts, view ads and viral videos, and download self-esteem assessment tools and workbooks. Marketing websites engage consumers in an interaction that will move them closer to a direct purchase or other marketing outcome. Thus, websites can be hard sell (designed to stimulate an immediate purchase) or soft sell (indirectly promote the product via informational or lifestyle presentations). The Saturn site is more hard sell, providing information on the product line, prices, and closest dealers. It is interactive in that consumers can request brochures, communicate their comments and questions to the Saturn Corp., and locate a dealer when ready to buy. Pampers.com, one of the most-trafficked consumer goods websites, has an archive of parenting advice heavily indexed by search engines. The Absolut vodka site is more soft sell, providing entertainment by letting surfers create music mixes enhanced with flashing, moving images. Crayola’s FamilyPlay site is also soft sell, being lifestyle oriented. Visitors can read bedtime stories, search for local childcare providers, and find hints on how to get kids to help with housework, while kids can color with computerized crayons. Q. How does all of this help Crayola? The company name is prominently displayed and it creates a positive brand image.

If the hard-sell approach is used, it is important to make the information useful. For example, P&G places tips about treating stains and using Tide detergent on its site. But Tide also has a Candystand game site where users can soil a shirt and then wash it. We’ll discuss Websites more in Part III below.

Some companies also set up channels on YouTube that include information, videos, and video sharing.

3. E-mail is now the number one most-used Internet application (search is number two). As you might have noticed, the volume of e-mail messages has been growing exponentially over the past several years, with the average consumer with an electronic mailbox receiving about five messages a day in 2002. Until about 2000, e-mail advertising wasn’t widespread because consumers resented it as being too intrusive. However, with better targeting and permission-based e-mail marketing (e-mails are sent only to customers who request them), plus advanced features like personalized audio messages, color photos, and streaming video, e-mail advertising grew rapidly in the first few years of the new Millennium. In the wake of the anthrax threat that surfaced in September and October 2001, this usage among direct marketers was given a further jolt.

E-mail ads are commonly used to follow up previous customer searches, alert consumers to new promotions and cross-sell them, or attract new customers (by buying contacts from a lead-generation company). In fact, permission e-mail marketing is the fastest, most flexible direct marketing medium. Sending e-mail is virtually free and much quicker than sending something through the U.S. postal service. However, in general, e-mail marketing is not replacing direct mail; rather, it is being used to alert customers and prospects that a direct mail package is coming through the postal service to ease concerns over mail from an unknown source.

The best way to get an e-mail list is to use a house list—internally generated by collecting e-mail addresses from customers, prospects, and Website visitors. Companies develop profiles of characteristics of their best customers. List rental based on these profilers is another option, although it brings higher opt-out rates. Companies like the DM Group maintain a list of e-mail groups, each of which has a list of e-mail addresses.

List hygiene entails ensuring that an e-mail list is ‘clean”—of top quality. Always find out how names and addresses were acquired. Also, ask how often the recipients’ interest and their e-mail addresses are verified—ideally twice a year or more often. List providers should, at a minimum, supply information on list members’ age, sex, and zip code.

To avoid wasting time and money sending e-mail to non-prospects, who will treat it as spam, it is best to use opt-in-e-mail, which targets users who have voluntarily signed up receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest. This is especially important when prospecting for new customers as, without your permission to send a message, it might be perceived as spam—unsolicited commercial e-mail for things like Viagra, pornography, get-rich quick schemes, mail-order brides, mortgages, and loans. (Spam is named after the Monty Python sketch in which a couple in a restaurant attempt to order breakfast, but discover, to their dismay, that every item in the menu contains Spam. Worse, each time he waitress recites names of dishes, such as “Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon and Spam,” a group of Vikings at the next table loudly sing, “Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, drowning out other conversations in the same manner e-mail spam disrupts online communication.) Double opt-in lists are even better because they require subscribers to confirm their sign-up via e-mail. You can build a prospect list by enticing consumers to visit your website, providing special offers to those who opt in to your list.

Marketers can easily find out about who wants to receive e-mail by using registration forms on their Websites which include these “opt-in” or “opt-out” checkboxes. They can also collect e-mail addresses via direct mail response devices like business-reply cards as well as third-party sources (such as list broker yesmail.com). For example, if you permit, The New York Times will e-mail you information about specific promotions, articles that will appear, books on sale, etc. It is always a good idea to give consumers the opportunity to “unsubscribe’ or opt out of receiving further e-mail messages.

E-mail’s strong advantage is its efficiency: for just pennies per contact typically $30 per thousand for basic consumer lists to $150 CPM for highly targeted consumer lists, and $100 to $300 for business lists), companies can send targeted messages to people who actually want to receive them. Also, e-mail ads allow companies to track how many people open the e-missives and who clicks through to the Website. And, it is a very rapid way to send communications and receive back direct responses.

A major disadvantage is commercial clutter—these days our in-boxes are filled with e-mails from hundreds of companies—so-called spam. Thus, many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block mass e-mailings and many consumers download e-mail filters or ignore some of their email messages. Therefore, it’s important for marketers to negotiate with ISPs over how many messages may be sent at once. . Delivered messages should clearly define why the recipient is receiving the message (“You are receiving this message because you subscribed to…”).

Opt-out information should always be provided at the bottom of the message for any recipient who wishes to unsubscribe. In fact, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (the CAN-SPAM Act), the first federal law regulating unsolicited junk e-mail. makes illegal misleading subject lines (regarding the contents or subject matter of the e-mail) in bulk commercial e-mails; mandates that an e-mail’s “From” and “To” and routing information (including the original domain name and e-mail address) be accurate and identify the sender; requires unsolicited e-mail to include a means for recipients to “opt out” to a return e-mail address or other Internet-based response mechanism; that a sender’s message contain a clear and conspicuous notice that a message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out; and the sender’s valid physical postal address. In short, while the law doesn’t ban spam, it does require that unsolicited commercial e-mail be accurate and honest and that consumers be able to opt out of receiving it.

. There are three formats you can use: plain text, HTML, and rich media. Generally, text-based messages work best with b-to-b audiences who, even though they have broadband, don’t want to wait for messages to download. HTML (graphics) works better with consumer audiences. HTML appeals to the heart, while text appeals to the head.

A trend is to use rich e-mail—e-mail messages that use streaming audio and video and allow recipients to place orders within the e-mail message. If you have compelling audio or video content, or if your product requires demonstration, consider rich media. Companies have begun using video e-mail--e-mailing commercials to consumers. For example, prior to the launch of “Survivor,” CBS e-mailed a miniature version of a TV commercial, and the band ‘N Sync sent a video commercial to many of their fans. E-commercials can track who watches, for how long, and to whom (if anyone) they forward it. They are fairly popular with consumers, with 46% claiming to like streaming adds online as much as TV ads, while only 25% of consumers like Internet advertising in general. Unfortunately, the streaming ads only fill a small portion of the TV screen, no more than a few inches high and wide, to reduce loading time.

Another trend is viral marketing. One way to attract customers to your Website or otherwise get more customers involved with your e-commerce efforts is via viral marketing— creating an ad that is so informative or entertaining that consumers will want to pass it along to others. Viral marketing entails getting customers to pass your marketing message so that it spreads like the flu, passed by word of mouth from one friend to several more, each of whom spreads the message to several of their friends, etc., until there’s a full-blown epidemic and products are flying off of the shelves. It involves creating an e-mail so compelling—either graphically or by using an incentive—that customers want to pass it along. The beauty is that when an e-mail comes from a friend, the recipient is much more likely to open and read it.

For example, one of the early users of viral marketing was Hotmail—at the bottom of each of their e-mails was a message that said, “GET YOUR FREE E-MAIL AT HOTMAIL.COM.” Hewlett Packard featured a button allowing readers to forward an informational newsletter to friends or colleagues. Customers can be invited to visit the marketer’s Website for more details, in which case viral success is measured by click-throughs (typically 5 to 15 per cent of those receiving viral messages click through to the links).

Customers can be offered incentives to forward your message, such as discounts (e.g., IKEA offered customers discount coupons for forwarding e-mail postcards), free merchandise (e.g., refer 10 friends to Procter & Gamble’s Website for Physique shampoo, and you’ll get a free travel-sized styling spray and be entered in a sweepstakes to win a year’s supply of the shampoo), and sweepstakes (e.g., “Like this site? Click to recommend it and you can win $10,000). To curtail spamming, limit the number of pass-alongs you reward customers, and reassure customers that you won’t keep their e-mail addresses without their permission.

A few hints on copywriting for e-mail:

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  Short, digestible copy blocks and bulleted lists work well, because most people scan their e-mail before reading it, and the average person’s attention span is much shorter online than when reading offline direct marketing media.
  
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  In the subject line mention your offer and, if it is well known, your brand name. This will improve your open rate in a world of cluttered e-mail boxes.
  
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  Most e-mail advertisers drive campaign responders to a Website via a link in the e-mail message. It is a good idea to provide multiple links—at least one toward the top and another at the bottom of the message.
  

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  It is good practice to give recipients the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time.
  
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  Test, test, test. Via testing responses to different variables, you can optimize them. Such variables include the offer (e.g., $10 off vs. 10% off), subject line, message format (text, HTML, or rich media) and incentives (such as sweepstakes and contests).
  

A variation on this sporadic campaign e-mail marketing is regularly scheduled, recurring e-mail campaigns, such as an e-newsletter or a weekly sale announcement. This becomes anticipated, valued communication with recipients.

Unfortunately, some consumers are cutting back on the commercial e-mails they read and on opening attachments because they no longer trust in e-mail. Consequently, open rates—how often recipients click “open” for e-mail marketing messages—are declining. This is due to:

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  Spam—About two-thirds of e-mail is now junk e-mail.
  
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  Phishing—These are scams to filch personal information. Phishers trick consumers into surrendering personal data by posing as a bank or e-commerce site (e.g., eBay, PayPal) and requesting personal information. The result is identity theft—cybercrooks use the personal data to pose as a customer and buy goods.
  
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  Computer viruses—Hackers send sophisticated worms and viruses can muck up peoples’ computers and even command infected PCs to send spam and phishing schemes.