ADVERTISING
The effect on the ad industry
itself has been profound. In just a few years, online advertising has grown
to be worth tens of billions of dollars annually. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported
US Internet marketing spend totalled $16.9 billion in 2006.Internet marketing
has had a large impact on several industries including music, banking, and
flea markets, as well as the advertising industry itself. As Advertisers increase
and shift more of their budgets online, it is now overtaking radio in terms
of market share.
One of the benefits associated with Internet marketing is the availability
of great amounts of information. Consumers can access the Internet and research
products, as well as purchase them at any hour of any day. Companies that
use Internet marketing can also save money because of a reduced need for a
sales force. Overall, Internet marketing can help a business' expansion from
a local market to a national or international one, faster. Compared to traditional
media, such as print, radio and TV, Internet marketing can have a relatively
low cost of entry.Internet marketing, as of 2007, is growing faster than other
types of media.Since exposure, response and overall efficiency of Internet
media is easier to track than traditional "off-line" media, through
the use of web analytics for instance, Internet marketing can offer a greater
sense of accountability for advertisers. Increasingly, however, marketers
and their clients are becoming aware of the need to measure the collaborative
effects of marketing, i.e. how the Internet affects in-store sales, etc.,
instead of siloing each medium. The effects of Multi-Channel Marketing can
be difficult to determine, but are an important part of ascertaining the value
of media campaigns .(1)