by: Stone Evans
When you are starting out in a new home business and no one
knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face
is how to drum up new business.
If there were not people in your community or marketplace that
you knew who needed your products or services, you probably
would not have started your business to begin with. But, once
you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your
what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will
help keep your doors open.
Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some
point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down
the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition.
But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with
creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising
needs while working within our budget.
Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of
money in order to advertise their home business. When you start
out, you honestly will not have much money available for
advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.
Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me
share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most
important topic.
LESSON #1
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home
business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising.
If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising
without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself
broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who
commit this error write off their failure on the home business
they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses.
But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their
mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let
this be you.
LESSON #2
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise
simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you
know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register?
You won't. All you will know that something might be working,
but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.
Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they
found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people
ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not
even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers
to tell you what advertising is working for your home business.
You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.
LESSON #3
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio
should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign.
Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to
determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be.
Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people,
but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the
additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep
your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from
your advertising dollars.
LESSON #4
As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising
investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first
starting out, whether you are running a home business or a
business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people
talking and thinking about your business.
If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper,
magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of
promoting your business that do not require large cash
expenditures. A few examples are:
· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:
WORD OF MOUTH
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet
--- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they
know anyone who could also use your products or services. When
they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be
willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the
word for you.
BUSINESS CARDS
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When
you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards
to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.
Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis.
Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an
extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that
if they write their name on the back of one of your business
cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a
referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much ---
sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and
your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.
PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your
home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is
always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the
business news section of the newspaper.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of
running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you
buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print
stories for special events and openings.
The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it
must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are
a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a
third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."
A Press Release should pack the most important information at
the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the
end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a
simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often
the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will
enhance their take on your story.
To learn more about creating Press Releases, you may check out
Rusty Cawley's site: http://www.PRrainmaker.com/
NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and
television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These
target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the
infomercial people in business.
These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.
Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television rates
for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With
television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is
8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to
advertise your home business at discount rates!
IN CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about
advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat,
everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your
bank account.
About the Author
About the author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where
you can find everything you'll ever need to start, run and grow a
home based business at: http://www.Home-Business.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, May 18, 2007
Advertising Consulting Services for the Internet
by: Randy Wilson
Advertising Consulting Services: Advertising is one of the most important expenses a business can have. Businesses large and small, have some form of advertising, be it word of mouth referrals or multi million dollar television campaigns. Business owners of all types will pay good money for the right kind of advertising. That is why advertising consulting services on the Internet is becoming so popular.
There are two key things you need to know when considering starting out as an internet advertising consultant. The first of course is advertising experience. If you have done advertising in the past and enjoy the work, then that is the first step.
Secondly, you need to know about the Internet. Your Internet knowledge needs to be updated constantly to keep abreast of the current trends. While contemporary advertising - television, radio, and print, are still effective means of advertising, the Internet needs to be approached a bit differently.
When watching television or listening to the radio, people don't generally have a choice about what they see and hear in the line of commercials. Those commercials of course are advertising. Even when reading the newspaper or a sale ad, people only see what is in front of them, not all the options available. If one grocery store buys an ad in the local newspaper and another grocer does not, the consumer is only seeing one ad.
The Internet has changed the face of this kind of advertising. Anytime that someone opens a web page; they are looking for something specific. People who surf five or six web sites are likely to see hundreds of ads without really knowing they are seeing advertising. Banners, affiliate links, tool bars and the like are all types of Internet advertising, revealing products or brands in front of the consumer.
If a consumer is looking for a product online, and does not know where to find it, or there are multiple sources to find it, the savvy Internet user generally goes to a search engine. Searching for the product by typing in the general name or brand that they are looking for, the consumer can then choose from a list of sites that offer that product. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a system of strategic placing of certain words or keyword phrases on a web site that will allow the search engine to select that site if someone types in that word or phrase. The key to SEO - the first sites to pop up are the ones that are hit on the most often.
Knowing these concepts and expanding on them allows internet advertising consultants to guide and direct business owners in the most effective line of advertising for their products. Many people who run successful Internet businesses are people who don't know much about the differences between Internet and other forms of advertising. You are the link that these business people need to market their products.
Internet Advertising Consulting Services are quickly becoming a specialized field. There are so many aspects of the Internet that business owners, especially those new to the web as a market, will not know and will be grateful to you for showing them. Knowing how to get those companies names and brands out their on the web will give you an edge over advertising companies that are still focusing on contemporary methods of advertising.
The Internet is not a fad or a passing phase. The challenges and changes that are coming with this relatively new market are going to be both exciting and profitable for anyone who embraces it. Open your own advertising consulting services business today and step into the future.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses, How to Plan a Baby Shower and Weddings Information. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.
Advertising Consulting Services: Advertising is one of the most important expenses a business can have. Businesses large and small, have some form of advertising, be it word of mouth referrals or multi million dollar television campaigns. Business owners of all types will pay good money for the right kind of advertising. That is why advertising consulting services on the Internet is becoming so popular.
There are two key things you need to know when considering starting out as an internet advertising consultant. The first of course is advertising experience. If you have done advertising in the past and enjoy the work, then that is the first step.
Secondly, you need to know about the Internet. Your Internet knowledge needs to be updated constantly to keep abreast of the current trends. While contemporary advertising - television, radio, and print, are still effective means of advertising, the Internet needs to be approached a bit differently.
When watching television or listening to the radio, people don't generally have a choice about what they see and hear in the line of commercials. Those commercials of course are advertising. Even when reading the newspaper or a sale ad, people only see what is in front of them, not all the options available. If one grocery store buys an ad in the local newspaper and another grocer does not, the consumer is only seeing one ad.
The Internet has changed the face of this kind of advertising. Anytime that someone opens a web page; they are looking for something specific. People who surf five or six web sites are likely to see hundreds of ads without really knowing they are seeing advertising. Banners, affiliate links, tool bars and the like are all types of Internet advertising, revealing products or brands in front of the consumer.
If a consumer is looking for a product online, and does not know where to find it, or there are multiple sources to find it, the savvy Internet user generally goes to a search engine. Searching for the product by typing in the general name or brand that they are looking for, the consumer can then choose from a list of sites that offer that product. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a system of strategic placing of certain words or keyword phrases on a web site that will allow the search engine to select that site if someone types in that word or phrase. The key to SEO - the first sites to pop up are the ones that are hit on the most often.
Knowing these concepts and expanding on them allows internet advertising consultants to guide and direct business owners in the most effective line of advertising for their products. Many people who run successful Internet businesses are people who don't know much about the differences between Internet and other forms of advertising. You are the link that these business people need to market their products.
Internet Advertising Consulting Services are quickly becoming a specialized field. There are so many aspects of the Internet that business owners, especially those new to the web as a market, will not know and will be grateful to you for showing them. Knowing how to get those companies names and brands out their on the web will give you an edge over advertising companies that are still focusing on contemporary methods of advertising.
The Internet is not a fad or a passing phase. The challenges and changes that are coming with this relatively new market are going to be both exciting and profitable for anyone who embraces it. Open your own advertising consulting services business today and step into the future.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses, How to Plan a Baby Shower and Weddings Information. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003.
Advertising Business Opportunity Reaches New Levels
by: Randy Wilson
An Advertising business opportunity on the Internet is just exploding with possibilities. This is one of the most profitable endeavors available in the field of Internet advertising. If you have advertising experience and know even the basics of Internet, you have potential to start your own advertising business on the Internet.
There are many areas of the Internet that need to be learned before starting your advertising business opportunity. Multi level marketing, or MLM, is one way of generating advertising and sales at the same time. MLM is a system that allows someone to collect commissions on their own sales as well as on people they recruit under them. This used to be known as pyramid schemes.
MLM has become very popular with product sales, helping the organization build wealth by paying commissions on multiple levels. The concept from an advertising point of view is great, the more motivation you have to recruit people to sell your product, the more your product is out there on the market. Some examples of companies that use MLM are nutritional product lines, make up product lines, and home decoration lines.
Multi level marketing has been around for years and not likely to go away anytime soon. Focus needs to be clear however on what the drive is for the company. If your focus is only on recruiting people to recruit more people, then your product sales are going to suffer. When your product sales suffer, your business as a whole suffers and then no one wants to be a part of the industry. Keep your focus when dealing with MLM with your advertising business opportunity.
Ezines are another emerging way to get a product or service out to the public. Ezines, or electronic magazines, are usually specialized to a certain areas of interest. This is very much like conventional magazines. However, advertising in ezines is low-cost and even occasionally free. Another advertising business opportunity that is wide open.
Ezines in themselves will need advertising to get their word out. A perfectly written ezine does no one any good if no one knows that it is out there to be seen. Finding an audience for your ezine may be easier than you think. Make sure when going into ezines that you know your material and that the writing is concise and accurate.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a proven method of advertising on the Internet and a field, which is very much in demand at this time. SEO is a system of writing web content that uses specific key words and phrases that will pull the page up when that keyword or phrase is typed into any of the search engines. Knowing how to effectively use keywords to get a site recognized is critical for small businesses on the web.
When you open a search engine such as 'Yahoo!' or 'Google', and type in the phrase Internet advertising, you will get a list of results. Those results are formulated by the words Internet and advertising. Sites that have those two words incorporated consistently throughout the site will come up on the list. These lists are in order by the most hit on sites at the top of this list. Of course, that is where you want your advertising business opportunity clients to be.
Educating your self on these concepts and a few more will allow you to start marketing your Internet advertising business. Becoming an Internet business advertising consultant to companies who are looking to expand their presence on the web is a first step in building your reputation and presence in this field.
You must have a well-written profile centered on your Internet advertising experience and an up to date resume'. Businesses today are being inundated with new, and sometimes bogus, advertising opportunities and you need to stand out above all those other offers. Keep your presence, online and in the field, professional at all times and make sure you can deliver what you promise. With those things in mind, you should be successful.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.
An Advertising business opportunity on the Internet is just exploding with possibilities. This is one of the most profitable endeavors available in the field of Internet advertising. If you have advertising experience and know even the basics of Internet, you have potential to start your own advertising business on the Internet.
There are many areas of the Internet that need to be learned before starting your advertising business opportunity. Multi level marketing, or MLM, is one way of generating advertising and sales at the same time. MLM is a system that allows someone to collect commissions on their own sales as well as on people they recruit under them. This used to be known as pyramid schemes.
MLM has become very popular with product sales, helping the organization build wealth by paying commissions on multiple levels. The concept from an advertising point of view is great, the more motivation you have to recruit people to sell your product, the more your product is out there on the market. Some examples of companies that use MLM are nutritional product lines, make up product lines, and home decoration lines.
Multi level marketing has been around for years and not likely to go away anytime soon. Focus needs to be clear however on what the drive is for the company. If your focus is only on recruiting people to recruit more people, then your product sales are going to suffer. When your product sales suffer, your business as a whole suffers and then no one wants to be a part of the industry. Keep your focus when dealing with MLM with your advertising business opportunity.
Ezines are another emerging way to get a product or service out to the public. Ezines, or electronic magazines, are usually specialized to a certain areas of interest. This is very much like conventional magazines. However, advertising in ezines is low-cost and even occasionally free. Another advertising business opportunity that is wide open.
Ezines in themselves will need advertising to get their word out. A perfectly written ezine does no one any good if no one knows that it is out there to be seen. Finding an audience for your ezine may be easier than you think. Make sure when going into ezines that you know your material and that the writing is concise and accurate.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a proven method of advertising on the Internet and a field, which is very much in demand at this time. SEO is a system of writing web content that uses specific key words and phrases that will pull the page up when that keyword or phrase is typed into any of the search engines. Knowing how to effectively use keywords to get a site recognized is critical for small businesses on the web.
When you open a search engine such as 'Yahoo!' or 'Google', and type in the phrase Internet advertising, you will get a list of results. Those results are formulated by the words Internet and advertising. Sites that have those two words incorporated consistently throughout the site will come up on the list. These lists are in order by the most hit on sites at the top of this list. Of course, that is where you want your advertising business opportunity clients to be.
Educating your self on these concepts and a few more will allow you to start marketing your Internet advertising business. Becoming an Internet business advertising consultant to companies who are looking to expand their presence on the web is a first step in building your reputation and presence in this field.
You must have a well-written profile centered on your Internet advertising experience and an up to date resume'. Businesses today are being inundated with new, and sometimes bogus, advertising opportunities and you need to stand out above all those other offers. Keep your presence, online and in the field, professional at all times and make sure you can deliver what you promise. With those things in mind, you should be successful.
© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Randy is owner of Profitable Home Businesses. Randy owned and operated a very successful storefront/mailorder business from 1988 to 2003. Currently full time owner/operator of several online businesses.
MSN PPC Advertising Network Finally Debuts
by: Joel Walsh
MSN PPC Advertising Network Finally Debuts
MSN is launching its own PPC advertising program with new demographic and behavioral targeting features in France and Singapore in mid-late 2005.
2005-03-17
Joel Walsh
MSN PPC Advertising Long-Awaited Debut Announced
You probably already know that there are really only two major players in the world of PPC advertising: Overture and Google Adwords. By the end of 2005, there will likely be a third: Microsoft's MSN Search.
Microsoft recently announced that it is launching its new MSN PPC advertising engine in Singapore and France by mid-late 2005. Smart marketers are probably already planning how they might justify advertising their products or services in Singapore to get a taste of the new service. The service's introduction into Canada, the UK, and the US may very well come before the end of 2005.
The new MSN advertising program has been long awaited. MSN is Microsoft's leading website property, and perhaps the web's most visited "portal" (website with both search and content such as news) after Yahoo! MSN's search engine accounts for one in five web searches, putting it in third place behind Google and Yahoo!
Search engine advertising mostly a two-player game
Currently, MSN shows advertising that comes from Overture, the web's largest online advertising network in terms of revenue. Overture was bought by Yahoo! a number of years ago. Since Yahoo! is the direct competitor of MSN in every way, plenty of people have been wondering why MSN didn't take its advertising program in-house long ago. It seems especially strange considering that even Lycos, whose search engine now accounts for a small fraction of total web searches, has its own advertising network.
In many minds, the fact that Microsoft would go to Overture only demonstrated how excellent an online advertising program Overture was, and just how hard it really is to set one up. Before going to Overture, MSN was getting advertising from LookSmart, an advertising network that does not own any websites that compete with Microsoft properties in any big way. Even before it had lost its largest advertising outlet, LookSmart was widely seen as a subpar second-tier engine, in a category with FindWhat or even Kanoodle. The fact that LookSmart had seemingly squandered a chance to make inroads into an online advertising market dominated by two big players cast a lot of doubt on whether there would ever be a serious challenger to Google Adwords and Overture.
What Microsoft's new advertising network means for the future
Will the new MSN advertising network succeed where so many have failed? Or will it become a bloated, relatively uncompetitive product only supported by Microsoft's vast bulk? (Not that Bill Gates has ever fathered such a bastard child.)
There's a very good reason to believe that the new advertising program bears the seeds of its own destruction, thanks to a typically Microsoftian act of overreaching and obliviousness to public opinion. That bad seed is the same bad seed that has spoiled the fruits of so many internet marketing labors: behavioral and demographic targeting, which always seems to disagree with some people's stomachs, no matter how delicately it is arranged in the bowl. (Editor's note: too extended a metaphor? Well, website copywriters have egos, too, you know, just like the rest of the web dev. community. At least you didn't have to sit through five minutes of flash animation to read this.)
Next: MSN PPC Advertising to Incorporate Demographic & Behavioral Targeting: Killer App. or Achilles Heel?
Microsoft's press release announcing the new MSN advertising program is also worth reading if you're that into this.
Joel Walsh is the head writer at UpMarket, internet marketing services, online copywriting services, & website content provider focusing on small and medium-sized businesses and those who serve them. Website: www.upmarketcontent.com
MSN PPC Advertising Network Finally Debuts
MSN is launching its own PPC advertising program with new demographic and behavioral targeting features in France and Singapore in mid-late 2005.
2005-03-17
Joel Walsh
MSN PPC Advertising Long-Awaited Debut Announced
You probably already know that there are really only two major players in the world of PPC advertising: Overture and Google Adwords. By the end of 2005, there will likely be a third: Microsoft's MSN Search.
Microsoft recently announced that it is launching its new MSN PPC advertising engine in Singapore and France by mid-late 2005. Smart marketers are probably already planning how they might justify advertising their products or services in Singapore to get a taste of the new service. The service's introduction into Canada, the UK, and the US may very well come before the end of 2005.
The new MSN advertising program has been long awaited. MSN is Microsoft's leading website property, and perhaps the web's most visited "portal" (website with both search and content such as news) after Yahoo! MSN's search engine accounts for one in five web searches, putting it in third place behind Google and Yahoo!
Search engine advertising mostly a two-player game
Currently, MSN shows advertising that comes from Overture, the web's largest online advertising network in terms of revenue. Overture was bought by Yahoo! a number of years ago. Since Yahoo! is the direct competitor of MSN in every way, plenty of people have been wondering why MSN didn't take its advertising program in-house long ago. It seems especially strange considering that even Lycos, whose search engine now accounts for a small fraction of total web searches, has its own advertising network.
In many minds, the fact that Microsoft would go to Overture only demonstrated how excellent an online advertising program Overture was, and just how hard it really is to set one up. Before going to Overture, MSN was getting advertising from LookSmart, an advertising network that does not own any websites that compete with Microsoft properties in any big way. Even before it had lost its largest advertising outlet, LookSmart was widely seen as a subpar second-tier engine, in a category with FindWhat or even Kanoodle. The fact that LookSmart had seemingly squandered a chance to make inroads into an online advertising market dominated by two big players cast a lot of doubt on whether there would ever be a serious challenger to Google Adwords and Overture.
What Microsoft's new advertising network means for the future
Will the new MSN advertising network succeed where so many have failed? Or will it become a bloated, relatively uncompetitive product only supported by Microsoft's vast bulk? (Not that Bill Gates has ever fathered such a bastard child.)
There's a very good reason to believe that the new advertising program bears the seeds of its own destruction, thanks to a typically Microsoftian act of overreaching and obliviousness to public opinion. That bad seed is the same bad seed that has spoiled the fruits of so many internet marketing labors: behavioral and demographic targeting, which always seems to disagree with some people's stomachs, no matter how delicately it is arranged in the bowl. (Editor's note: too extended a metaphor? Well, website copywriters have egos, too, you know, just like the rest of the web dev. community. At least you didn't have to sit through five minutes of flash animation to read this.)
Next: MSN PPC Advertising to Incorporate Demographic & Behavioral Targeting: Killer App. or Achilles Heel?
Microsoft's press release announcing the new MSN advertising program is also worth reading if you're that into this.
Joel Walsh is the head writer at UpMarket, internet marketing services, online copywriting services, & website content provider focusing on small and medium-sized businesses and those who serve them. Website: www.upmarketcontent.com
Where is online advertising going?
by: Peter Prestipino
Discusses t he brief history of online advertising through specific ad strageis and discusses where online advertising is headed.
Is there such a thing as “traditional” online advertising? If there is, it started with banners, moved to FFAs, took a step backwards with SPAM, a hard right with classified advertising and then shot forward with pay per click search engine. So how do you know where to spend your advertising budget in the current market? If you’ve been responsible for your company’s web advertising efforts over the years you might agree that the traditional means of advertising worked; as least for a little while. So as new types of advertising penetrate the market with increasing frequency, what do you do with those proven stand-by methods of generating links and traffic? Throw them out? Keep them around for posterity? Maybe give them a facelift? Let’s review those traditional ad models then look at some experimental models. TRADITIONAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS
Banners
Banner ads in the form of animated gifs are the most common and widely used form of online advertising today. Banner ads reach the widest possible audience because practically 100% of Internet users can view them without any special plugins. Web marketers, advertisers and promoters have quickly realized that banners under 12k in file size puts the ad in front of the visitor as quickly as possible, increasing the chance of click-through even though surfers are growing increasingly immune. New styles and shapes of banners (such as skyscraper ads) have grown in popularity recently, which is addressed in the “Experimental Advertising” section below. SPAM
What does SPAM stand for? It’s not “Stupid Pointless Annoying Message” (which in some cases it could be) but rather “Sending and Posting Advertising Messages.” It’s hard to believe SPAM is effective, but unarguably, it is. While click-through rates continue to fall and legislation begins to rise, it is a savvy advertiser’s best bet to stay away from it, unless of course you’re selling Pasta Pots or Viagra. Rich mail – “Fancy SPAM”
Most likely, the e-mail messages you receive on a daily basis are text only. Rich mail, on the other hand, allows graphics, video and audio to be included in the e-mail message. When you open up a rich e-mail your e-mail client automatically calls up your Internet connection and launches an html page in your browser. E-mail clients that are offline will invite you to click on the link when you have your Internet connection open again. If your e-mail client does not support graphics you will receive the e-mail in text only. While SPAM is still SPAM, rich mail has proven to be much more effective than standard text messages. Pop-Ups/Pop-Unders:
This creative, yet completely obtrusive and annoying means of advertising was once celebrated in some circles as the most innovative ad concept since banners. It only took a short time before many users, sick of being trapped in a never-ending onslaught of such ads, voiced their rejection. One can only wonder when advertisers will recognize the public dissatisfaction and move on to another more effective means to promote their companies. Institutional Advertising:
While institutional or “in-house” advertising has been available since the inception of the Internet, few companies have made an effort to utilize the many different aspects of online advertising in one format as has 7Search.com with its Direct Pay-Per-Text advertising. 7Search, a leader in the pay per click search engine arena, has recently introduced this program which enables its advertisers to advertise outside of its search return lists using the same titles and descriptions seen on its search engine. The pay-per-click model enables interested advertisers to leave behind the CPM impression model and focus on the click conversions. Direct Pay-Per-Text is a patent-pending concept from 7Search which will be released to the general public in the coming months. Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
It’s hard to think of PPC search engines as a “traditional” means to advertise online, but the ratio of those advertisers who do versus those who don’t is staggering; in fact the majority have at least tried their hand at leasing traffic. In a PPC agreement, the advertiser only pays for qualifying clicks to the destination site based on a prearranged per-click rate. The response on ads with well-written titles and descriptions targeted to the users query pull response rates unseen in the ad industry previously. The greatest advantage arguably is the ability to measure precisely the rate of return versus your investment. Some of the most popular PPC search engines are FindWhat.com, 7Search.com, Ah-ha.com and the industry leader Overture. EXPERIMENTAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS Traffic Exchange Advertising:
Hit exchanges, actually a form of banner exchange, are a recent phenomenon on the Internet. You will visit the site of a member of an exchange, and in exchange, another member of the exchange will visit your site. The recent explosion of hit exchanges on the web has diluted the effectiveness of such a method of advertising. There have also been many instances of cheating, in which a script is used to generate visits to a site. However, if you have a product that is of interest to webmasters, and is low cost or has a free version, there is no harm in giving hit exchanges a try. Shockwave ads
Shockwave is best suited for campaigns that want to utilize out-of-banner real estate, such as applets, trading cards, and games. Director and Flash provide the ability to embed interaction, video, and audio within the file, making Shockwave files some of the richest ad units on the Web. Viral marketing and strong brand interaction are two of the key strengths of Shockwave ads. As these ads are typically “bandwidth monsters” the adoption has been slow and will most likely remain that way. Other downsides include development costs and the fact that it just won’t work without the Shockwave plug-in, which (though downloaded by millions of users) is far from being a mainstay. Interstitial ads
Interstitials are ads that play between pages on a website, much like television ads play between sections of a program. There are several variations on the interstitial model: some play in the main browser window, while some play in new, smaller windows; some are pre-cached, while some stream ad content as it plays; some provide the ability to create very rich ads, while some focus on smaller, faster-loading ads. Whatever the format, nearly all interstitial ads perform very well if measured by both click-through rates and brand recall. Floating ads and DHTML
Types of floating ads include DHTML sponsorships, in which advertising objects "fly" across the page on a preset course; cursor sponsorships, in which the cursor turns into an advertising image; and scrolling ads, in which an advertisement moves up and down the edge of a page as the user scrolls up and down. Floating ads give the advertiser and publisher the flexibility to achieve nearly any effect. However, as this is one of the more daring types of online advertising, advertising and content must be balanced on any given page. Floating ads (especially DHTML and cursors) are best run for short periods to create brand awareness—running them for longer periods can bring negative user feedback. It is important to understand that online advertising is only effective if it generates significant response and this applies to both traditional and experimental ads. Unfortunately, the only way to discover the efficiency of your campaign is to test in every format at least once with as many ads as you are able.
About the Author
Pete Prestipino is the founder and CEO of SCG - Swirling Circle Group, a consortium of online marketers, promoters, SEO's, web designers, and Internet consultants. For more information visit: www.SwirlingCircle.com
Discusses t he brief history of online advertising through specific ad strageis and discusses where online advertising is headed.
Is there such a thing as “traditional” online advertising? If there is, it started with banners, moved to FFAs, took a step backwards with SPAM, a hard right with classified advertising and then shot forward with pay per click search engine. So how do you know where to spend your advertising budget in the current market? If you’ve been responsible for your company’s web advertising efforts over the years you might agree that the traditional means of advertising worked; as least for a little while. So as new types of advertising penetrate the market with increasing frequency, what do you do with those proven stand-by methods of generating links and traffic? Throw them out? Keep them around for posterity? Maybe give them a facelift? Let’s review those traditional ad models then look at some experimental models. TRADITIONAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS
Banners
Banner ads in the form of animated gifs are the most common and widely used form of online advertising today. Banner ads reach the widest possible audience because practically 100% of Internet users can view them without any special plugins. Web marketers, advertisers and promoters have quickly realized that banners under 12k in file size puts the ad in front of the visitor as quickly as possible, increasing the chance of click-through even though surfers are growing increasingly immune. New styles and shapes of banners (such as skyscraper ads) have grown in popularity recently, which is addressed in the “Experimental Advertising” section below. SPAM
What does SPAM stand for? It’s not “Stupid Pointless Annoying Message” (which in some cases it could be) but rather “Sending and Posting Advertising Messages.” It’s hard to believe SPAM is effective, but unarguably, it is. While click-through rates continue to fall and legislation begins to rise, it is a savvy advertiser’s best bet to stay away from it, unless of course you’re selling Pasta Pots or Viagra. Rich mail – “Fancy SPAM”
Most likely, the e-mail messages you receive on a daily basis are text only. Rich mail, on the other hand, allows graphics, video and audio to be included in the e-mail message. When you open up a rich e-mail your e-mail client automatically calls up your Internet connection and launches an html page in your browser. E-mail clients that are offline will invite you to click on the link when you have your Internet connection open again. If your e-mail client does not support graphics you will receive the e-mail in text only. While SPAM is still SPAM, rich mail has proven to be much more effective than standard text messages. Pop-Ups/Pop-Unders:
This creative, yet completely obtrusive and annoying means of advertising was once celebrated in some circles as the most innovative ad concept since banners. It only took a short time before many users, sick of being trapped in a never-ending onslaught of such ads, voiced their rejection. One can only wonder when advertisers will recognize the public dissatisfaction and move on to another more effective means to promote their companies. Institutional Advertising:
While institutional or “in-house” advertising has been available since the inception of the Internet, few companies have made an effort to utilize the many different aspects of online advertising in one format as has 7Search.com with its Direct Pay-Per-Text advertising. 7Search, a leader in the pay per click search engine arena, has recently introduced this program which enables its advertisers to advertise outside of its search return lists using the same titles and descriptions seen on its search engine. The pay-per-click model enables interested advertisers to leave behind the CPM impression model and focus on the click conversions. Direct Pay-Per-Text is a patent-pending concept from 7Search which will be released to the general public in the coming months. Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
It’s hard to think of PPC search engines as a “traditional” means to advertise online, but the ratio of those advertisers who do versus those who don’t is staggering; in fact the majority have at least tried their hand at leasing traffic. In a PPC agreement, the advertiser only pays for qualifying clicks to the destination site based on a prearranged per-click rate. The response on ads with well-written titles and descriptions targeted to the users query pull response rates unseen in the ad industry previously. The greatest advantage arguably is the ability to measure precisely the rate of return versus your investment. Some of the most popular PPC search engines are FindWhat.com, 7Search.com, Ah-ha.com and the industry leader Overture. EXPERIMENTAL ONLINE ADVERTISING MODELS Traffic Exchange Advertising:
Hit exchanges, actually a form of banner exchange, are a recent phenomenon on the Internet. You will visit the site of a member of an exchange, and in exchange, another member of the exchange will visit your site. The recent explosion of hit exchanges on the web has diluted the effectiveness of such a method of advertising. There have also been many instances of cheating, in which a script is used to generate visits to a site. However, if you have a product that is of interest to webmasters, and is low cost or has a free version, there is no harm in giving hit exchanges a try. Shockwave ads
Shockwave is best suited for campaigns that want to utilize out-of-banner real estate, such as applets, trading cards, and games. Director and Flash provide the ability to embed interaction, video, and audio within the file, making Shockwave files some of the richest ad units on the Web. Viral marketing and strong brand interaction are two of the key strengths of Shockwave ads. As these ads are typically “bandwidth monsters” the adoption has been slow and will most likely remain that way. Other downsides include development costs and the fact that it just won’t work without the Shockwave plug-in, which (though downloaded by millions of users) is far from being a mainstay. Interstitial ads
Interstitials are ads that play between pages on a website, much like television ads play between sections of a program. There are several variations on the interstitial model: some play in the main browser window, while some play in new, smaller windows; some are pre-cached, while some stream ad content as it plays; some provide the ability to create very rich ads, while some focus on smaller, faster-loading ads. Whatever the format, nearly all interstitial ads perform very well if measured by both click-through rates and brand recall. Floating ads and DHTML
Types of floating ads include DHTML sponsorships, in which advertising objects "fly" across the page on a preset course; cursor sponsorships, in which the cursor turns into an advertising image; and scrolling ads, in which an advertisement moves up and down the edge of a page as the user scrolls up and down. Floating ads give the advertiser and publisher the flexibility to achieve nearly any effect. However, as this is one of the more daring types of online advertising, advertising and content must be balanced on any given page. Floating ads (especially DHTML and cursors) are best run for short periods to create brand awareness—running them for longer periods can bring negative user feedback. It is important to understand that online advertising is only effective if it generates significant response and this applies to both traditional and experimental ads. Unfortunately, the only way to discover the efficiency of your campaign is to test in every format at least once with as many ads as you are able.
About the Author
Pete Prestipino is the founder and CEO of SCG - Swirling Circle Group, a consortium of online marketers, promoters, SEO's, web designers, and Internet consultants. For more information visit: www.SwirlingCircle.com
Online Advertising Traffic and the First Law of Web Surfing
by: Joel Walsh
Hint: don't send send your online advertising traffic to your homepage.
How do you convert online advertising traffic into customers? The key is a phenomenon of human behavior that only comes into play on the web.
You won't read about this phenomenon in books or articles on general principles of advertising or direct marketing. In fact, traditional advertising professionals and direct marketers often create only so-so online advertising campaigns simply because they've never heard of this phenomenon, even though it's essentially the first law of human web surfing behavior.
How to convert your online advertising traffic into customersReady to find out what that all-important first law of web surfing is? Prepare to be not very amazed. You see, everyone who surfs the web already knows about this phenomenon of human behavior because we all do it--even you.
So here it is, the first law of human web surfing behavior, which you absolutely must take into account when marketing your website: While surfing the web, almost everyone will hit the "back" button if they think there's a chance--even a small chance-- they've come to the wrong web page.
The corollary to this law of web surfing behavior: Anyone who clicks through to your site via an online advertising link needs to know they've arrived at the right place as soon as they get there.
Immediately. Within a second. From a click glance. Without having to read anything. The average human attention span on the web has been measured at eight seconds, and you'll have already lost a few seconds while the page downloaded.
The Key(word) to Converting Advertisement-Clickers into CustomersHow do you make absolutely sure visitors feel like they've arrived in the right place?
Make the title and first heading of your landing page (the page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking on an advertisement) the same as the headline of the advertisement that brought your visitor there. If the landing page links to a banner (image) advertisement, use the same pictures and color scheme as the advertisement.
The landing page absolutely must immediately remind the visitor of the advertisement.
The advertisements, in turn, must flow logically from the keywords they are targeting. Even if your advertisements are appearing on websites rather than search engine results, you need to be thinking in terms of the keywords people are using to search for your product in order to speak the language of your prospective customers.
That's why it is very important both your advertisement and landing page incorporate the target keyword prominently, in headings as well as the page body. That's also why it's so important you don't send your visitors from online advertising to your homepage--it's unlikely you could optimize your homepage for all your possible advertisements. Visitors who arrive via advertising need to land on a special "landing page," or they may crash and leave your site.
Conversions: your advertising campaign's goalBut what happens once visitors land on your site and decide to stay more than ten seconds? It's no use if they just hang around. They need to convert.
Important definition: In online advertising parlance, saying a website visitor "converts," means he or she has taken a desired action toward becoming a customer, either 1) buying something or 2) contacting you for more information, thereby becoming a lead.
The percentage of visitors who convert out of the total number of visitors who arrive at your page is the conversion rate. Your goal is to get this rate as high possible. You do that by finding the right message to display on your landing page, and also by targeting the advertising so you are getting visitors who are most likely to convert.
In order to get your visitors to convert once they arrive, you need to make sure they have a clear path to conversion from the landing page. The simpler the path, the better--a winding road might lose some potential customers. This conversion path could be as simple as a "buy now" button or a contact form, or as complex as a multi-step shopping cart with required registration with required email confirmation to scare away those who are not truly devoted buyers.
Targeting your trafficWhat you show visitors who arrive at your site is only half the equation. The visitors themselves are the other. As with everything in life, you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse. In this case, the sow's ear is paid traffic that is not targeted, or is coming from popunders or other forced viewing, or is just plain faked (there is software specifically designed to emulate human visitors so fraudsters can sell the "traffic").
Even in the best of cases, some traffic converts better than others. Generally speaking, visitors who are looking for you are the likeliest to convert, so conversion rates tend to be highest from advertising on search engines. Conversion rates tend to be lower from advertising on websites (so-called "content" or "contextual" advertising).
Conversion rates are lower still on advertising on website popups, and lowest of all on so-called adware (programs that display popups on a user's computer; the people who sell this advertising often label it "targeted traffic"). Sending emails that consist of nothing but your advertisement, even if you've skirted the legal definition of spam, is not worth the bad will and damage to your brand.
Preaching to non-converting online advertising trafficA significant percentage of visitors, maybe a majority, will never just click "buy now." How do you reach them?
Many people simply will never make a purchase without speaking to a salesperson first. For them, provide a convenient contact form, as well as a live chat option--if you can afford the time and expense--your email, and a telephone number. A telephone number is especially important since there are some visitors who will never convert without hearing the voice of someone on your end.
For visitors who are not ready to convert immediately, you should have informational articles, "about us" pages or FAQs ready to help them make up their minds.
For visitors who simply will not be ready to convert today, give a reason to bookmark your page. Good articles. A special offer. A newsletter to sign up for. Free advice.
Just make sure you don't place these alternative non-converting options in too prominent a position, or you'll risk distracting prospective customers. A few paragraphs up from the very bottom of the page is a good place to catch people who are interested in you enough to read the entire page, but still haven't converted. The very bottom of the page should be reserved for a conversion option for all the prospective customers accustomed to scrolling to the bottom of the page to get a quick overview.
After all, if you want your visitors from online advertising traffic to convert into customers, shouldn't you at least make it easy for them?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Walsh has written as a staff writer for St. Martin's Press and Barnes & Noble, as well as numerous online publications. He is the head writer for UpMarket, a website content provider and online advertising resource for small and medium-sized business websites. You can get a template guide for writing a landing page, with samples, at: http://upmarketcontent.com/landing-page-template.htm
Hint: don't send send your online advertising traffic to your homepage.
How do you convert online advertising traffic into customers? The key is a phenomenon of human behavior that only comes into play on the web.
You won't read about this phenomenon in books or articles on general principles of advertising or direct marketing. In fact, traditional advertising professionals and direct marketers often create only so-so online advertising campaigns simply because they've never heard of this phenomenon, even though it's essentially the first law of human web surfing behavior.
How to convert your online advertising traffic into customersReady to find out what that all-important first law of web surfing is? Prepare to be not very amazed. You see, everyone who surfs the web already knows about this phenomenon of human behavior because we all do it--even you.
So here it is, the first law of human web surfing behavior, which you absolutely must take into account when marketing your website: While surfing the web, almost everyone will hit the "back" button if they think there's a chance--even a small chance-- they've come to the wrong web page.
The corollary to this law of web surfing behavior: Anyone who clicks through to your site via an online advertising link needs to know they've arrived at the right place as soon as they get there.
Immediately. Within a second. From a click glance. Without having to read anything. The average human attention span on the web has been measured at eight seconds, and you'll have already lost a few seconds while the page downloaded.
The Key(word) to Converting Advertisement-Clickers into CustomersHow do you make absolutely sure visitors feel like they've arrived in the right place?
Make the title and first heading of your landing page (the page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking on an advertisement) the same as the headline of the advertisement that brought your visitor there. If the landing page links to a banner (image) advertisement, use the same pictures and color scheme as the advertisement.
The landing page absolutely must immediately remind the visitor of the advertisement.
The advertisements, in turn, must flow logically from the keywords they are targeting. Even if your advertisements are appearing on websites rather than search engine results, you need to be thinking in terms of the keywords people are using to search for your product in order to speak the language of your prospective customers.
That's why it is very important both your advertisement and landing page incorporate the target keyword prominently, in headings as well as the page body. That's also why it's so important you don't send your visitors from online advertising to your homepage--it's unlikely you could optimize your homepage for all your possible advertisements. Visitors who arrive via advertising need to land on a special "landing page," or they may crash and leave your site.
Conversions: your advertising campaign's goalBut what happens once visitors land on your site and decide to stay more than ten seconds? It's no use if they just hang around. They need to convert.
Important definition: In online advertising parlance, saying a website visitor "converts," means he or she has taken a desired action toward becoming a customer, either 1) buying something or 2) contacting you for more information, thereby becoming a lead.
The percentage of visitors who convert out of the total number of visitors who arrive at your page is the conversion rate. Your goal is to get this rate as high possible. You do that by finding the right message to display on your landing page, and also by targeting the advertising so you are getting visitors who are most likely to convert.
In order to get your visitors to convert once they arrive, you need to make sure they have a clear path to conversion from the landing page. The simpler the path, the better--a winding road might lose some potential customers. This conversion path could be as simple as a "buy now" button or a contact form, or as complex as a multi-step shopping cart with required registration with required email confirmation to scare away those who are not truly devoted buyers.
Targeting your trafficWhat you show visitors who arrive at your site is only half the equation. The visitors themselves are the other. As with everything in life, you can't convert a sow's ear into a silk purse. In this case, the sow's ear is paid traffic that is not targeted, or is coming from popunders or other forced viewing, or is just plain faked (there is software specifically designed to emulate human visitors so fraudsters can sell the "traffic").
Even in the best of cases, some traffic converts better than others. Generally speaking, visitors who are looking for you are the likeliest to convert, so conversion rates tend to be highest from advertising on search engines. Conversion rates tend to be lower from advertising on websites (so-called "content" or "contextual" advertising).
Conversion rates are lower still on advertising on website popups, and lowest of all on so-called adware (programs that display popups on a user's computer; the people who sell this advertising often label it "targeted traffic"). Sending emails that consist of nothing but your advertisement, even if you've skirted the legal definition of spam, is not worth the bad will and damage to your brand.
Preaching to non-converting online advertising trafficA significant percentage of visitors, maybe a majority, will never just click "buy now." How do you reach them?
Many people simply will never make a purchase without speaking to a salesperson first. For them, provide a convenient contact form, as well as a live chat option--if you can afford the time and expense--your email, and a telephone number. A telephone number is especially important since there are some visitors who will never convert without hearing the voice of someone on your end.
For visitors who are not ready to convert immediately, you should have informational articles, "about us" pages or FAQs ready to help them make up their minds.
For visitors who simply will not be ready to convert today, give a reason to bookmark your page. Good articles. A special offer. A newsletter to sign up for. Free advice.
Just make sure you don't place these alternative non-converting options in too prominent a position, or you'll risk distracting prospective customers. A few paragraphs up from the very bottom of the page is a good place to catch people who are interested in you enough to read the entire page, but still haven't converted. The very bottom of the page should be reserved for a conversion option for all the prospective customers accustomed to scrolling to the bottom of the page to get a quick overview.
After all, if you want your visitors from online advertising traffic to convert into customers, shouldn't you at least make it easy for them?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel Walsh has written as a staff writer for St. Martin's Press and Barnes & Noble, as well as numerous online publications. He is the head writer for UpMarket, a website content provider and online advertising resource for small and medium-sized business websites. You can get a template guide for writing a landing page, with samples, at: http://upmarketcontent.com/landing-page-template.htm
Cross Cultural Advertising
by: Neil Payne
Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass – you don’t see it, but somehow it does something.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Culture affects everything we do. This applies to all areas of human life from personal relationships to conducting business abroad. When interacting within our native cultures, culture acts as a framework of understanding. However, when interacting with different cultures this framework no longer applies due to cross cultural differences.
Cross cultural communication aims to help minimise the negative impact of cross cultural differences through building common frameworks for people of different cultures to interact within. In business, cross cultural solutions are applied in areas such as HR, team building, foreign trade, negotiations and website design.
Cross cultural communication solutions are also critical to effective cross cultural advertising. Services and products are usually designed and marketed at a domestic audience. When a product is then marketed at an international audience the same domestic advertising campaign abroad will in most cases be ineffective.
The essence of advertising is convincing people that a product is meant for them. By purchasing it, they will receive some benefit, whether it be lifestyle, status, convenience or financial. However, when an advertising campaign is taken abroad different values and perceptions as to what enhances status or gives convenience exist. These differences make the original advertising campaign defunct.
It is therefore critical to any cross cultural advertising campaign that an understanding of a particular culture is acquired. By way of highlighting areas of cross cultural differences in advertising a few examples shall be examined.
Language in Cross Cultural Advertising
It may seem somewhat obvious to state that language is key to effective cross cultural advertising. However, the fact that companies persistently fail to check linguistic implications of company or product names and slogans demonstrates that such issues are not being properly addressed.
The advertising world is littered with examples of linguistic cross cultural blunders. Of the more comical was Ford’s introduction of the ‘Pinto’ in Brazil. After seeing sales fail, they soon realised that this was due to the fact that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning ‘tiny male genitals’.
Language must also be analysed for its cultural suitability. For example, the slogan employed by the computer games manufacturer, EA Sports, “Challenge Everything” raises grumbles of disapproval in religious or hierarchical societies where harmonious relationships are maintained through the values of respect and non-confrontation.
It is imperative therefore that language be examined carefully in any cross cultural advertising campaign
Communication Style in Cross Cultural Advertising
Understanding the way in which other cultures communicate allows the advertising campaign to speak to the potential customer in a way they understand and appreciate. For example, communication styles can be explicit or implicit. An explicit communicator (e.g. USA) assumes the listener is unaware of background information or related issues to the topic of discussion and therefore provides it themselves. Implicit communicators (e.g. Japan) assume the listener is well informed on the subject and minimises information relayed on the premise that the listener will understand from implication. An explicit communicator would find an implicit communication style vague, whereas an implicit communicator would find an explicit communication style exaggerated.
Colours, Numbers and Images in Cross Cultural Advertising
Even the simplest and most taken for granted aspects of advertising need to be inspected under a cross cultural microscope. Colours, numbers, symbols and images do not all translate well across cultures.
In some cultures there are lucky colours, such as red in China and unlucky colours, such as black in Japan. Some colours have certain significance; green is considered a special colour in Islam and some colours have tribal associations in parts of Africa.
Many hotels in the USA or UK do not have a room 13 or a 13th floor. Similarly, Nippon Airways in Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 or 9. If there are numbers with negative connotations abroad, presenting or packaging products in those numbers when advertising should be avoided.
Images are also culturally sensitive. Whereas it is common to see pictures of women in bikinis on advertising posters on the streets of London, such images would cause outrage in the Middle East.
Cultural Values in Cross Cultural Advertising
When advertising abroad, the cultural values underpinning the society must be analysed carefully. Is there a religion that is practised by the majority of the people? Is the society collectivist or individualist? Is it family orientated? Is it hierarchical? Is there a dominant political or economic ideology? All of these will impact an advertising campaign if left unexamined.
For example, advertising that focuses on individual success, independence and stressing the word “I” would be received negatively in countries where teamwork is considered a positive quality. Rebelliousness or lack of respect for authority should always be avoided in family orientated or hierarchical societies.
By way of conclusion, we can see that the principles of advertising run through to cross cultural advertising too. That is – know your market, what is attractive to them and what their aspirations are. Cross cultural advertising is simply about using common sense and analysing how the different elements of an advertising campaign are impacted by culture and modifying them to best speak to the target audience.
by Neil Payne
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/cross-cultural-communication.html
Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass – you don’t see it, but somehow it does something.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Culture affects everything we do. This applies to all areas of human life from personal relationships to conducting business abroad. When interacting within our native cultures, culture acts as a framework of understanding. However, when interacting with different cultures this framework no longer applies due to cross cultural differences.
Cross cultural communication aims to help minimise the negative impact of cross cultural differences through building common frameworks for people of different cultures to interact within. In business, cross cultural solutions are applied in areas such as HR, team building, foreign trade, negotiations and website design.
Cross cultural communication solutions are also critical to effective cross cultural advertising. Services and products are usually designed and marketed at a domestic audience. When a product is then marketed at an international audience the same domestic advertising campaign abroad will in most cases be ineffective.
The essence of advertising is convincing people that a product is meant for them. By purchasing it, they will receive some benefit, whether it be lifestyle, status, convenience or financial. However, when an advertising campaign is taken abroad different values and perceptions as to what enhances status or gives convenience exist. These differences make the original advertising campaign defunct.
It is therefore critical to any cross cultural advertising campaign that an understanding of a particular culture is acquired. By way of highlighting areas of cross cultural differences in advertising a few examples shall be examined.
Language in Cross Cultural Advertising
It may seem somewhat obvious to state that language is key to effective cross cultural advertising. However, the fact that companies persistently fail to check linguistic implications of company or product names and slogans demonstrates that such issues are not being properly addressed.
The advertising world is littered with examples of linguistic cross cultural blunders. Of the more comical was Ford’s introduction of the ‘Pinto’ in Brazil. After seeing sales fail, they soon realised that this was due to the fact that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning ‘tiny male genitals’.
Language must also be analysed for its cultural suitability. For example, the slogan employed by the computer games manufacturer, EA Sports, “Challenge Everything” raises grumbles of disapproval in religious or hierarchical societies where harmonious relationships are maintained through the values of respect and non-confrontation.
It is imperative therefore that language be examined carefully in any cross cultural advertising campaign
Communication Style in Cross Cultural Advertising
Understanding the way in which other cultures communicate allows the advertising campaign to speak to the potential customer in a way they understand and appreciate. For example, communication styles can be explicit or implicit. An explicit communicator (e.g. USA) assumes the listener is unaware of background information or related issues to the topic of discussion and therefore provides it themselves. Implicit communicators (e.g. Japan) assume the listener is well informed on the subject and minimises information relayed on the premise that the listener will understand from implication. An explicit communicator would find an implicit communication style vague, whereas an implicit communicator would find an explicit communication style exaggerated.
Colours, Numbers and Images in Cross Cultural Advertising
Even the simplest and most taken for granted aspects of advertising need to be inspected under a cross cultural microscope. Colours, numbers, symbols and images do not all translate well across cultures.
In some cultures there are lucky colours, such as red in China and unlucky colours, such as black in Japan. Some colours have certain significance; green is considered a special colour in Islam and some colours have tribal associations in parts of Africa.
Many hotels in the USA or UK do not have a room 13 or a 13th floor. Similarly, Nippon Airways in Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 or 9. If there are numbers with negative connotations abroad, presenting or packaging products in those numbers when advertising should be avoided.
Images are also culturally sensitive. Whereas it is common to see pictures of women in bikinis on advertising posters on the streets of London, such images would cause outrage in the Middle East.
Cultural Values in Cross Cultural Advertising
When advertising abroad, the cultural values underpinning the society must be analysed carefully. Is there a religion that is practised by the majority of the people? Is the society collectivist or individualist? Is it family orientated? Is it hierarchical? Is there a dominant political or economic ideology? All of these will impact an advertising campaign if left unexamined.
For example, advertising that focuses on individual success, independence and stressing the word “I” would be received negatively in countries where teamwork is considered a positive quality. Rebelliousness or lack of respect for authority should always be avoided in family orientated or hierarchical societies.
By way of conclusion, we can see that the principles of advertising run through to cross cultural advertising too. That is – know your market, what is attractive to them and what their aspirations are. Cross cultural advertising is simply about using common sense and analysing how the different elements of an advertising campaign are impacted by culture and modifying them to best speak to the target audience.
by Neil Payne
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/cross-cultural-communication.html
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