The decline of traditional marketing Vs the growth of online marketing

I joined Adido after studying marketing at Southampton Solent University and throughout my three years there we not once taught about online marketing techniques. Given the growth in online spending in the last few years it now seems strange why we didn’t even cover some of the basics of online marketing.

Given the current financial climate, I’m glad I know about online marketing now but wonder why more companies don’t make more use of effective online marketing strategies which can help businesses outperform the competition and stay ahead of the game?

The growth of the internet within our homes, work and education has brought many very distinctive benefits to marketing. Online marketing lowers costs of distribution to a vast amount of people, and can bring you an immediate global audience if you want it (although most SMEs still need to have a local presence).

Traditional marketing is normally the most expensive way of advertising and in the current financial climate businesses are trying to cut back on costs. However I’ve learnt that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) are both online marketing methods which can be controlled in-house where the out-goings and results can easily be monitored.

I’m not the only one who thinks that traditional advertising is on its way out, Wikipedia also agrees that online marketing is cost effective;

“Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost against the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. (Wikipedia, 2008)”

So can the traditional marketing methods be repaired and make a come back?

Well…I’m not too sure about this question, working alongside SEO and PPC professionals has made me realise that these methods are easier, more cost effective, save time, have a better response rate and can reach a vast audience with a click of a button. However, I’ve also learnt that most people need some help from an SEO/PPC professional to get the best results (like us!)!

I’m not saying that the traditional marketing methods do not work anymore as they do for specific products and brands, however for most SMEs I would definitely recommend using online marketing techniques first to get the most from smaller budgets.

The ever changing face of my PC screen...

You know, sooner or later, we won't have TVs. We won't have videos or DVDs. We won't even have a record/CD player in our homes. Why? Because our PCs are fast becoming the centre of our entertainment world. I'm not going to start talking about media centres here, as that's something for another day...

However, what has interested me this year, is the amount of live/streaming video which is being put online. The BBC and ITV are both showing Euro 2008 matches LIVE via their websites. Even just four years ago for the European Championships to be streamed live would have been unthinkable and/or technically not possible. But the BBC and ITV have realised that a) This is increasingly where their customers are heading and b) That there is a very real demand for this type of service.

I can speak from my own experience in both of these cases, as I can often watch sport online while my girlfriend decides to choose something less interesting :) It's not just the beautiful game which you can watch online. The BBC iPlayer has dozens of shows online, as does 4OD, along with many, many other video sharing websites. For those a bit more technical, you can even watch TV programs from around the world using many of the live streaming software programs which are freely available.

I'm interested to see the big players' moves in this arena. For many 'techy' types (like myself I guess) the thought of using your PC/laptop as your TV is not anything new. A small minority of people have been doing this for quite some time. But in the years to come, I think we'll start to see all traditional programming provided over the Internet, probably available for free and probably available at any time you want. This will most likely be funded by advertising, and if you look at some of the shows online already, you will start to see adverts appear prior to your program loading (many believe this is how YouTube could be monetised in the coming years)

It will be interesting to see how much more time we find ourselves set in front of our PC screens in the future. We could end up in world where it really is the only thing that we need, not only for work, but also for entertainment. This culture shift will also have a massive knock on effect for the advertising industry, with advertisers being able to communicate their messages to a much more refined audience and hopefully achieving a much better ROI.

BEWARE! - Google Adwords Phishing Scam Emails

GOOGLE ADWORDS PHISHING SCAM - BE AWARE!

I have just been made aware of some dodgy 'phishing' emails which are sent out which look like they have come from Google Adwords. The email looks exactly the same as the normal Google Adwords emails, but the link goes to a very bad website which will try and take your Google Adwords login details.

Here is the email text;

-------------------------
Dear Google AdWords Customer,

We were unable to process your payment.
Your ads will be suspended soon unless we can process your payment.
To prevent your ads from being suspended, please update your payment information.

Please sign in
to your account at http://adwords.google.com/select/login,
and update your payment information.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords. We look forward to
providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team
-------------------------

If you receive this email and are taken to this website;

http://www.adwords.google.com.startopl.cn/select/Login/

Which looks the same as a normal Google Adwords login screen but it isn't. Whatever you do...

DO NOT ENTER YOUR ADWORDS ACCOUNT INFORMATION!

The website is set up to take your details and then exploit your account and credit card information. This practise is known as 'phishing' and unfortunately happens all the time with online banking and eBay accounts, but now it looks like they have gone after Google Adwords customers.

If you have any more information/details about this phishing scam or any others which are 'doing the rounds', please let us know.

The new G - should we be bothered?

Sometimes in the world of web design blogs and the internet blogsphere, many things are discussed and talked about. Most of the time these things are really worthy of discussion and provide great insights into the industry. Sometimes however, they are not.

I noticed today that Google had changed its 'favicon'. For those of you who don't know, the favicon is the icon which is shown in the tab/address bar when you are using Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox. Here is an example;


When I noticed this, I thought it was strange and didn't look that good. That was about as far as it went. However, this has been picked up by the blogsphere and has been discussed in many places. Here, here and here. There is also an official statement from Google!

"We recognized there was a need for a Google icon that would better work across multiple applications including web, mobile and client applications. We felt the small 'g' had many of the characteristics that best represent our brand: it's simple, playful, and unique. We will be looking to improve and enhance this icon as we move forward."

Personally, I think there are more important things to write about. Is this really newsworthy? And yes, I am fully aware of writing this post is very, very contradictory to the point I am trying to make :)