Online Advertising, Online Marketing Research, Online PR

Online Advertising

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Many consumers find online advertising disruptive and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.

When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising.

Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on the publisher’s content. Other potential participants include advertising agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising affiliates who do independent promotional work for the advertiser.

Delivery methods

Display advertising

Display advertising conveys its advertising message visually using text, logos, animations, videos, photographs, or other graphics. Display advertising is commonly used on social media, websites with slots for advertisements, and in real life. In real life, displace advertising can be a sign in front of a building or a billboard alongside a highway. The goal of display advertising is to obtain more traffic, clicks, or popularity for the advertising brand or organization. Display advertisers frequently target users with particular traits to increase the ads’ effect. Online advertisers (typically through their ad servers) often use cookies, which are unique identifiers of specific computers, to decide which ads to serve to a particular consumer. Cookies can track whether a user left a page without buying anything, so the advertiser can later retarget the user with ads from the site the user visited.

Web banner advertising

Web banners or banner ads typically are graphical ads displayed within a web page. Many banner ads are delivered by a central ad server.

Banner ads can use rich media to incorporate video, audio, animations, buttons, forms, or other interactive elements using Java applets, HTML5, Adobe Flash, and other programs.

Frame ad (Traditional banner)

Frame ads were the first form of web banners. The colloquial usage of “banner ads” often refers to traditional frame ads. Website publishers incorporate frame ads by setting aside a particular space on the web page. The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Ad Unit Guidelines proposes standardized pixel dimensions for ad units.

Pop-ups/pop-unders

A pop-up ad is displayed in a new web browser window that opens above a website visitor’s initial browser window. A pop-under ad opens a new browser window under a website visitor’s initial browser window. Pop-under ads and similar technologies are now advised against by online authorities such as Google, who state that they “do not condone this practice”.

Floating ad

A floating ad, or overlay ad, is a type of rich media advertisement that appears superimposed over the requested website’s content. Floating ads may disappear or become less obtrusive after a pre-set time period.

Expanding ad

An expanding ad is a rich media frame ad that changes dimensions upon a predefined condition, such as a preset amount of time a visitor spends on a webpage, the user’s click on the ad, or the user’s mouse movement over the ad. Expanding ads allow advertisers to fit more information into a restricted ad space.

Trick banners

A trick banner is a banner ad where the ad copy imitates some screen element users commonly encounter, such as an operating system message or popular application message, to induce ad clicks. Trick banners typically do not mention the advertiser in the initial ad, and thus they are a form of bait-and-switch. Trick banners commonly attract a higher-than-average click-through rate, but tricked users may resent the advertiser for deceiving them.

News Feed Ads

“News Feed Ads”, also called “Sponsored Stories”, “Boosted Posts”, typically exist on social media platforms that offer a steady stream of information updates (“news feed”) in regulated formats (i.e. in similar sized small boxes with a uniform style). Those advertisements are intertwined with non-promoted news that the users are reading through. Those advertisements can be of any content, such as promoting a website, a fan page, an app, or a product.

Some examples are: Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories”, LinkedIn’s “Sponsored Updates”, and Twitter’s “Promoted Tweets”.

This display ads format falls into its own category because unlike banner ads which are quite distinguishable, News Feed Ads’ format blends well into non-paid news updates. This format of online advertisement yields much higher click-through rates than traditional display ads.

Online Marketing Research

Online Market Research is a research method in which the data collection process is carried out over the Internet.

Market Research is defined as the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service.

This research can evaluate the performance of a product or service and may allow companies to glean insight into consumer purchasing behavior. With the rising use of the Internet, online research has become a popular tool among market research firms.

The purpose of conducting online market research is:

1. Understand customer behavior

Why will the customer buy your product or services? What factors influence buying patterns, and how can you use it to your advantage?

2. Understand target customer

Who will buy your product or services and cater to your strategy aimed towards this target group.

3. Find revenue opportunities

Analyze buying patterns to find out what is the right pricing or positioning strategy to make the odds of success higher.

Advantages in Online Market Research

Conducting online research can be a complex procedure and may require considerable expertise on the part of researchers in obtaining accurate data.  It may be challenging to recruit participants in online research for several reasons.  Recipients may be reluctant to participate in online research because they may be afraid that the privacy and confidentiality of their personal information may be violated.  Since the identity of the researcher cannot be verified completely, people may find it difficult to trust such research methods.  Researchers often present participants with some monetary or non-monetary rewards for their participation.  Participants may be wary of monetary compensation promised online.

Benefits of Online Market Research

Online market research can be a beneficial tool for companies due to its reach and convenience. Online research tools can be used with relative ease and accuracy for both qualitative and quantitative research.

• Cost advantages
• Speed advantages
• Data collection in real-time
• Advanced analytics
• Efficient global and multi-country survey management

Online PR

Online PR (online public relations) is the public relations work of communicators via available online communication channels (and also communication tools). In addition to the online pages of classic media, these channels include social media, blogs and websites.

Based on the measures taken in the print sector, the possibilities and opportunities offered by online media are used and the strategies are adapted accordingly.

Role

• Acquisition and retention of new customers
• Communication of information
• Increase of attention
• Creating a high cost-benefit ratio
• Improving (online-) reputation
• Measuring and controlling success
• Achieving a high degree of actuality

Differences between online and traditional public relations

• The organizations can communicate with its audiences directly through a variety of online platforms instead of depending on the media channels only
• Audiences exposed to the information are linked to the network and then the flow of information is multi-directional among people
• Multiple sources of information provided can be accessible to audiences
• Audiences are entitled to the right to review, comment and assess
• Online PR targets social media, web searches, blogs, and websites in addition to targeting traditional media outlets

Differences between Views of Traditional Public Relations vs. Public Relations used as a Marketing Function

Views on Public Relation as more of Marketing Function

• Public Relations is an integral part of marketing communication mix, where the company promotes its brand and builds relationships with outside parties through its specialized functions, such as seminars and press conferences.
• Public Relations Department reports to the Marketing Department, whose act is to create a larger picture which focuses on the ultimate goal of in organization, which is strong branding and long term relations with its customers.

Views of the Traditional Public Relations Department

• It is a Department which acts as a link between an organization and outside parties (customers). Its work is to determine an evaluate the public approach
• Suggest management to construct guidelines and procedures relating to public interests
• It is a separate Department whose job is to sincerely execute communication program with outside parties and business partners