Shifting from Print Page ads to Online Advertising

A 2006 study by Highpoint Associates shows that by 2010 internet advertising spend is expected to grow 25% from 8 billion in 2005 to over 25 billion. Internet ad spend is expected to overtake several traditional advertising outlets taking its share in large part from newspapers and print yellow pages.

What explains this shift in spend? IMRB international estimates that as of March there are 42 million “Ever” internet users in India and its going to grow beyond 54 million users by march 2008. Broadband connections are booming and revolutionising how people search on-line. Research shows that over 75% of successful property seekers use the internet to search for property. 2 out of 3 successful property seekers who use the Internet to search for property visit Easytolet.in.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." For those still spending hundreds and in many cases thousands every year on their print page ad the harsh reality is most likely already setting in with declining ROI year over year.

When considering your print page ad spend, here are a few points to keep in mind. Other than the extremely high cost of a print yellow page ad, another downside is that you must commit to the same ad all year, there is no flexibility. Your ad will also appear amongst and surrounded by all your competitors. Compared to online advertising, with a print page ad it is difficult to measure ROI due to lack of reporting.

There, of course, is still a group of consumers who do use the yellow pages because they do not have web access at home. The truth is that some will continue to use the print yellow pages however this is a highly segmented group (income, age, and education) whose numbers are fewer and fewer every year. The trick is to find the right balance. Keep a simple or bold listing in the yellow pages and shift the larger percentage of your spend over to the internet where you can reach more consumers.

Choosing the right type of internet advertising for your needs

So if fewer and fewer people are letting their "fingers do the walking" and instead are letting their mouse do the clicking, this leaves the question where and how to advertise your specific services online to reach those consumers you want to reach. There are four major types of internet advertising: Internet Classifieds, which include the internet yellow pages, Banner Ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), and Lead Generation. Search represents the largest percentage in spend at $3.2 million in 2006, according to GP Bullhound, Ltd. Lead Generation however, is the fastest growing segment of online advertising growing 71% from 2005 to 2006.

Each of these types has their pros and cons and deciding on the right type for your business depends on your advertising budget and your internal resources. Here is a breakdown of each type to help you decide:

Ad Type	Pro's	Con's
Online Classifieds	Fairly affordable, high traffic, ability to geo-target, ease of set-up, requires little to no invested time	Leads not customized, listed amongst competitors, flat-rate pricing means you pay whether the ad is seen or not
Banner Advertising	Ability to geo-target depending on site	Expensive CPM* pricing structure, leads not customized, requires graphical resources
SEO	Effective if able to appear in first page of search results	Requires technical knowledge when building the site
SEM	Sponsored search results have high click through rates	CPC** pricing can be expensive, managing keyword bidding is time consuming
Leads	Pre-qualified; Targeted by geography, weight, origination, destination; Pay-per-lead pricing	Quality varies by lead source and consumer experience; requires internal resources for quick follow-up

* Cost per One Thousand Impressions
** Cost per Click

Again, consider your budget and your resources. Weigh the pros and cons of each of these types of advertising and consider the cost involved and the resources required. Think about where your customers are looking. If you have the ability, it is always a good idea to test different methods and most importantly track the results and measure your ROI.