Online advertising – Is it right for your business?
We’ve all heard the speculation and at times cold hard facts. The sales of print media are down, particularly in the US and the UK and the popularity of online advertising is increasing!
According to an Online Advertising Expenditure Report, compiled by Price Waterhouse Coopers for the quarter ending September 30, 2008, “Online advertising has experienced a 30% growth year-on-year, with advertisers spending a record $450 million in the third quarter of 2008′.
These figures suggested that advertisers did not pull back on their online spend as the global downturn took hold. ‘In fact advertisers spent over $100 million more during July to September 2008, than they did in the same period in 2007′.
Meanwhile a 2009 market forecast by Frost and Sullivan indicated that for the first time “… advertisers will cannibalise their traditional media budgets, particularly print, to spend more on measurable and accountable online advertising, as opposed to increasing overall budgets.” Source.
Established online advertising methods like pay-per-click (PPC), think Google Adwords, and targeted banner advertisements on high traffic media properties are still gaining popularity, and their cost increasing inline with increasing demand. However, with social networking quickly increasing its chunk of eyeballs with advertiser competition still relatively low, the channel is fast becoming ‘the place’ for some advertisers to allocate their budget.
Is Facebook advertising right for your business?
Consider this case study, which came to us via Ken Burgin of Profitable Hospitality.
The ads he recommended produced some amazing results for retail and hospitality businesses targeting the lucrative 18-30 year old market.
‘I just thought I would let you know about some results I received with Facebook advertising after following your advice.
Previously, I have run out like most other businesses and spent significant money on glitzy ad campaigns to appear in the local paper and TV advertisements. Little did I realise at the time that the kids and diners who i was trying to advertise too were either a) dining out with my competitors or b) on Facebook.
I have been running a Facebook campaign (linked to our websites) for a restaurant and also a clothing shop. I have targeted this campaign specifically to the geographic market (quite easy to do on Facebook when you have a play with it) and to my surprise, we have had a significant number of visits to our restaurant’s website and last night for example, our $$$$ were up by over $1000 in the till. The shop has had record sales with revenue up by 80%…and the cost? About $0.05 per click.
“I was blown away by the response I received to these campaigns and even more blown away by the number of people who actually read Facebook adverts.”
Need assistance to determine what type of online advertising would best suit your business? Give Merilyn or Cal a call on (03) 9819 2566 and arrange to come in for a coffee and a chat.