Record Internet Advertising Spending Projected for 2008
January 7th, 2008 | by valiik |Why is this good news to web designers? Because it means more design projects. It also means larger revenues can possibly be generated on your websites. The projections for online advertising in 2008 are expected to total $12.6 billion. According to this NewsFactor Network article, some marketing segments are anticipating a 48% increase in advertising. It appears that most of this growth is going to target local markets.
“The firm [Borrell Associates] predicted local search advertising will more than double next year to $5 billion, while locally placed online video will triple to almost $1.3 billion.”
“Key advertising segments for 2008 will continue to be the Big 3 classified categories of automotive, recruitment, and real estate, with online political marketing holding promise for local sites as state and presidential campaigns heat up,” the report offered. “A major component of local video advertising will be long-form pieces for home, automotive, and health-related categories.”
The shift from global marketing on the Internet to the narrow, local marketplace is a prime example of several points we have discussed here in the blog. Niche marketing (The Long Tail approach) is continuing to gain in popularity. As major corporations see the success of Amazon.com, Netflix and others, they are now willing to embrace the same approach.
“You might see an ad for the new Honda Accord that will direct you all the way down to your market and a particular dealer in your area where you can test drive the car,” Sterling said. “That approach combines the brand advertising, which has historically been disconnected from local distributors, to a place in the market where you can find the product. The challenge for small businesses is making it simple enough.”
These behemoth corporations are also starting to embrace the concept of the user-centric, web as a platform approach to enticing customers. In my opinion, this is a huge shift in their marketing strategy altogether. Previously they used what I would term as the ‘carpet bombing technique.’ Their approach had the idea of inundating everyone with their advertisements in the hope of gaining customers here and there. This new idea seems to be more focused. Now, they are targeting all the way down to your hometown with the hopes of garnering a few new customers locally. This approach will be duplicated in many, many other local markets…but it will be targeted specifically for each of those regions.
As a web designer, you should be trying to use this pending boost in local advertising to your advantage. If you have several of your own sites, you should be able to benefit from increased advertising revenue on your own sites. With your local design customers, my suggestion would be to inform them of this shift in corporate advertising. Create some unique proposals for them which include designing local ads of their own to compete for their own share of the local market.
One thing I have learned as a small business owner myself is that locally owned businesses generally want to use other locally owned businesses whenever it is possible. Of course, this is all still based primarily on competitive pricing of goods and services along with the ability to complete the required task in a timely fashion. However, the general trend is to stay local. As a web designer, you can use this to your advantage as well. Target local businesses around you and let them know about your services. Communicate to them the idea that the Internet can be useful to their business locally. There are still a ton of small businesses who believe that the Internet is ‘too big’ for their company. Take the time to show them how wrong there are in their assumptions!
“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” Read about it here.
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
I’d like to get some ideas started with my readers. What kind of tactics do you think would work well to assist local businesses with their Internet presence? As a web designer, what are you doing to gain new customers in your area? As a web designer, what are you able to do to help the businesses around you? Let me know, let’s discuss some ideas and brainstorm together. Let’s see what we can do to get our share of that potential $12.6 billion!
