Online Advertising – People sill don't "Get It"
John Cecil – June 2005
As Internet Advertising matures I believe that there are two camps developing for the medium ~ internet branding buys and internet conversion buys. Pay Per Click Advertising = Conversions / Most other online media = Branding. Does anyone buy online media strictly for reasons of branding?
The medium offers incredible opportunities for companies to brand their businesses – then why is it not being sold that way? We buy a lot of print advertising for our clients and we have the online reps in here all of the time pitching the online media available for the magazines sites. 100% of the time (literally 100%) they pitch the conversion model off a cpm purchase â trying to convince us that our clients will sell âtonsâ? of products if we buy their media. When has this ever converted with an effective roi?
If a rep came to me, looked me in the eye and said âyou probably wonât sell any products on your site if you buy this but our site will give your company a lot of exposure and branding to support to other media effortsâ? I would buy. The amazing thing to me is â that is not what they are selling â nobody is doing that â still!!
The industry killed itself buy initially selling itself with the conversion model, its going to take years for everyone to dig themselves out of this hole. The reality is what an incredible way to brand your company by having a solid online presence â I am a true believer.
If I want to convert sales online I have an outlet: Google first, then Yahoo!, then MSN. I am not going to buy whateversite.com on a CPM basis to convert sales â But I will make a commitment to the first guy who comes here with a branding pitch â where do I sign?