Web Advertising Essay, Research Paper
Web advertising, not to mention the Internet itself, finds itself in a
stage of relative infancy and therefore provides marketers with novel
challenges and situations which need to be dealt with caution . The realm
of Web advertising is unchartered terri tory! In terms of South Africa,
the country finds itsef somewhat behind technologically. However, this may
not prove to be a disadvantage as the uncertain nature of Web advertising
may make a policy of ‘watching and learning’ most viable. What
implications will this new technology have for marketing? What is the
nature of Web advertising? How can a business use the medium effectively ?
Where is all this going ? These questions appear to be most pertinent in
the process of understanding interact ive marketing on the Internet.
The qualified opinion of John Matthee, a Web site designer employed by
Adept Internet (an Internet service provider), was sought in accumulation
of a large sum of the following data. This seems appropriate as the
novelty of Web advertising at this stage h as led to generral lack of
academic data in the practicalities of advertising via this medium.
2) THE INTERNET: AN INTRODUCTION
2.1) Original development of the Internet What was originally created by
the US military to provide a secure means of communication in case of
nuclear war, which has now become known as the Internet, has metamorphosed
into the strategic global communications tool of our era. The end of the
cold w ar left this massive installed structure – initially dubbed
ARPANET- without much of a purpose. Soon universities, major corporations
and governments began to piggyback on to the global framework, extending
its reach and commercialising it. Known as the N et to aficionados, the
Availability of cheap, accessible and easy-to-use Net access points
throughout the world has seen the number of global Internet users increase
dramatically each month. While the convenience of electronic mail was
initial catalyst for Internet growth world wide, it’s the emergence of the
World Wide Web (WWW) multimedia interface that has captured the attention
of prospective users across the globe. The resources available on the WWW
are as varied as they are extensive. There hundreds of thousands of sites
which can be broadly categorised under topics such as sport,
entertainment, finance and many more (Perlman, 1996).
2.2) Development of Internet in South Africa Perlman (1996, p 29) ventured
that ‘South Africa is major global Internet player. It currently rates in
the top 15 in the world terms of Internet growth rates.’ Local user
numbers are certainly fueled by universities, companies and schools. The
genesis of South Africa’s rapid Internet growth seems to stem from UniNet,
the Internet service offered to the countries major tertiary institutions
and steered from Rhod es University. This explains the phenomenon whereby
the majority of local Internet entrepreneurs – many of them are under
thirty and already multi-millionaires – come from tertiary education
backgrounds where they were weaned on readily available Internet
access. Popular ‘browser’ client software for navigating the multimedia
WWW includes Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. On the other end,
there exist approximately 30 local companies which call themselves ISP’s
(Internet Service Providers), which operate in similar fashion to a
cellular company such as Vodacom, providing either dial-up connections to
the Internet and/or leased line connectivity to companies. This has led to
the explosion of a number of related ventures, such as companies who speci
alise in producing multimedia web pages (such as Adept Internet), Internet
commerce, cable companies and modem suppliers (Perlman, 1996).
2.3) Technological Implications for Marketing Joseph (1996, p. 29)
concisely described the situation as such: ‘ Marketing, like most business
disciplines, is undergoing a period of change as a direct result of the
information revolution. The rapidly declining costs of and increasing
power of information processing technology is altering the in which
customers and businesses relate to each other. Marketers, however should
be cautious not to attempt a quantum leap from more traditional meth ods
as this is sure to bring issues such as lack expertise to the fore which
could prove disastrous (Steyn, 1996). Essentially, the point is that as a
marketing drive, the additional services supplied by technology provides
the marketer with the opportunity to gain an edge in the race to win the
consumer. More and more, new technology appears to be focusing on the add
ition of value. On an individual level, for example, the marketer may use
the technology to make himself more accessible to the consumer thus adding
to his service levels. A company may realise added value by investing in
expensive multimedia kiosks which
introduce the subject of interactive marketing (Joseph, 1996). The
emergence of new and revolutionary technology forms a double-bladed sword,
as it can represent both an opportunity and a threat to the business. In
particular, this technology places an interesting and novel challenge on
the shoulders of the modern da y marketer. The failure to utilise these
developments can put the business at a great competitive disadvantage
while even the practical application of the technology can provide major
problems caused simply by the novelty of the options, a general lack of
expertise and the difficulty of accurate prediction (David, 1997). The
process must begin with the individual himself. A marketer who is not
pushing the bounds of personal technological progression is most likely
not inclined to do the same for the company (Joseph, 1996). Joseph (1996,
p.29) concluded that ‘The Internet, multi-faceted appliances and even the
creation of new applications for old technology are all the domain of the
marketing visionary.’
3) THE INTRODUCTION OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING ON THE INTERNET
Internationally, the Internet medium is successfully selling everything
from nuts and bolts to motorcars, property and traditional mail order
products. A pertinent question that arises is: ‘What forces led to either
the accidental emergence of interactive
marketing on the internet or the realisation of a need for the
development of an alternative marketing medium that satisfied specific
consumer or marketer needs?’ Steyn (1996, p.13) introduces the concept of
interactive marketing through the words:’Interactive marketing uses new
technologies to overcome practical database and direct marketing problems
whilst building more rewarding customer relationships’.
From the marketers’ point of view, interactivity, is the convergence of
three main advertising functions or activities: direct marketing, sales
promotion and conventional above the line advertising. The developments
allowed by interactive marketing throug h the Internet focus mainly on how
profitable market segments were identified and how these segments were
reached. Interactivity allows the opportunity to track individual
customers one at a time and to build individual relationships with each.
This indic ates the vast benefits that Internet interactivity supply in
terms of database formulation, management and utilisation. However, the
main challenge that does and will continue to plague advertisers in the
future will be persuading the viewer to try the se rvice. Interactivity
has three core characteristics: * Offer much more information than a
television advertisement. * Requires the conventional copywriting skills
combined with those of the direct marketer to turn the browsing viewers
into sales prospects. * The emphasis, simply due the nature of the medium,
is more likely to be on sales promotion type tools to entice the viewers
to visit an ad and then on constantly refreshing the content and creative
treatment, to ensure that they revisit it (Steyn, 1996) . The issues of
the nature of the Internet as an advertising medium and the creation and
maintenance of an Internet web site are addressed fully in sections 7) and
6.3) respectively. CD-ROM technology is unique in its ability to combine
vital parts of promotion, that is: print, audio and visual messages in a
package that can be distributed according to a random access database.
(Steyn, 1996).
Clever marketers are using the medium to draw buyers closer to their
companies as a whole and not just closer to the products or services they
provide. This emphasises the advantages interactive marketing provides in
terms of creating stronger, more unde rstanding relationships with
consumers.
The introduction of interactive marketing and specifically interactive
advertising heralds the beginning of an era where customers will choose
the advertising they wish to see, when they want to see it. This proves to
be a hallmark of the contemporary con sumer who is far more informed than
his blindly accepting predecessors have been. Consumers of today are
evermore demanding personalised attention from businesses that wish to
serve them. Furthermore, the very fact that the modern consumer is better
infor med fuels his need for informed transactions with businesses. The
modern consumer wants to know what product he is buying, what its detailed
characteristics are, how he can expect it to perform, what alternatives he
is faced with and why he should pay the
offered price for it. The nature of interactive marketing on the Internet
provides an ideal medium for the satisfaction of the demanding modern day
consumer. It is obviously of critical importance that a marketer
recognises these needs and develops syste ms for satisfying them, hence,
interactive marketing on the Internet.
Steyn (1996, p.13) boldly concludes that ‘There is therefore no doubt
that interactive marketing is helping to overcome practical database and
direct marketing problems while building more rewarding customer
relationships.’
Online shopping Online shopping is an element of interactive marketing
that has found itself under the spotlight since its recent inception.
Virtual retail sites on the Web continue to grow. Some sites are purely
promotional while on the other extreme consumers are promised the lowest
prices as the product is drop-shipped directly from the manufacturer
(Swart, 1996). Anyhow, the Internet as a shopping mall has not enjoyed a
favourable reputation as it is seen as a golden opportunity for
sophisticated thieves to obtain credit card numbers from the cable. As a
result businesses have shied from any Net-based commerce. As
a result the Web has been trapped in a form of time warp, usable only as
an information medium and not as a transaction medium. Of the thousands of
South African companies on the Web, few offer anything more than highly
informative web sites which still leave the consumer wondering: ‘I wish
the Internet could take me that one step further, SAFELY’. However, the
tide is swiftly changing due to bold technology and business moves. The
improved security and growth if the electronic-commerce infrastructure ha
s prompted optimistic projections for the future of interactive online
sales. Furthermore, South Africa suffers from an intolerable postal
problem and an effective home delivery system would have to be developed
for home shopping to be viable (Rath, 1997). However, thoughts of an
unrivalled ability to compare products, to be provid ed with product
information and to be shown product demonstrations and alternative views
will spur the quest for a workable online shopping system with great
urgency. Recently a groundbreaking development in online shopping was made
by M-Web in collaboration with over a thousand tenants ranging from large
corporations such as ABSA to small retailers and service providers. Bruce
Cohen, general manager of M-Web interact ive, claims that ‘The M-Web mall
is designed to accelerate interest in online shopping by providing a
one-stop shopping environment under on virtual roof.’
4) WEB ADVERTISING
4.1) The Nature of Web advertising
It is estimated that there is more than five million commercial pages on
the Web, more than 100 companies are going online daily and that
‘net-watching’ has become a dedicated function within more progressive
firms. Furthermore, companies that are online are more inclined to use
this facility as a means for communicating new product developments (Rath,
1997). In practice, great achievements are being made in the sphere of
Web advertising as the initial novelty of the concept wears off and
experts in the field become more accustomed to the characteristics and
dynamics of the Internet as an advertising tool (J. Matthee, personal
communication, 20 April 1998). Nevertheless, the Internet is not yet a
proven advertising medium and as such is untested, unregulated and
unrefined (Swart.1996). This very situation often results in wise
businesses approaching Internet advertising companies that possess the
necessary expertise to advertise effectively on the Internet. The
Internet’s lack of intrusiveness as a medium (see Section 7) implies that
direct marketing requires action by the consumer. In order to induce this
required action, an advertiser needs to know his audience intensely in
order to be able to entice brows ers to enter the site. Therefore, it is
the responsibility of the advertising agency not only to incorporate
above-the-line strategies but also to include the below-the-line
strategies in all their Internet clients’ campaigns
4.2) Web advertising Channels
The origins of Web advertising are ironically rooted in what many consider
as a frustrating method called ’spamming’ whereby messages concerning
products or business information were sent at random to Internet users
e-mail addresses. This crude form of ad vertising can be likened to common
junkmail found in a postbox among things of relevance such as personal
mail and bills. Things have progresses somewhat and a number of channels
have become available to the business interested in Web advertising and
rega rdless of which channel is decided upon it is common practice to
approach an online agency for aide (J. Matthee, pesonal communication, 20
April 1998).
Creating an Electrical Storefront Thousands of businesses have established
a home page on the Internet which offer a wide variety of information such
as: descriptions of the company and its products; a company catalogue
describing product’s features, availability and prices, company news,
opportunities to speak with staff members and the ability to place an
order before leaving the site. The main objective of these sites is brand
building. Another aim may be to support an event and in this case the page
may be temporary. When a company decides to open an electronic storefront
it has two choices: 1) The company can open its own store on the Internet
through a Web server or; 2) The company can buy a location on commercial
online service. The online service will typically design the electronic
storefront for the company and advertise its addition to the shopping mall
for a limited period of time (Kotler, 1997).
Participating in Forums, Newsgroups and Bulletin Boards These groups are
not designed for commercial purposes especially but participation may
improve a company’s visibility and credibility. Bulletin boards are
specialised online services that centre on a specific topic or group.
Forums are discussion groups l ocated on commercial online services and
may operate a library, a conference room for real time chatting, and even
a classified advertisement directory. Finally, newsgroups are the
Internets version of forums, but are limited to people posting and message
s on a particular topic, rather than managing libraries or conferencing
(Kotler, 1997).
Placing Advertisements Online A number of ways exist for companies or
individuals or companies who wish to place advertisements on commercial
online services. Firstly, major commercial online services offer an
advertisement section for listing classified advertisements whereby the
ads
are listed according to when they arrived with the most recent arrivals
topping the list. Secondly, ads can be placed in certain newsgroups that
are set up for commercial purposes. Thirdly, ads can be placed on online