To start off, a remarkable statistic from a survey of 340 worldwide senior marketing executives by McKinsey & Co: 91% of marketers are using online advertising, and an astounding 55% of marketers say they will slash their more traditional media spending for the sole purpose of expanding their online marketing efforts.

That says just about everything that needs to be said: top marketers are eschewing print, tv, and radio in favor of online advertising as the economy worsens. Why? A report on eMarketer makes some of the points we’ve heard before, but I’ll repeat them to emphasize their importance.

First of all, online advertising is way more measurable than traditional forms of advertising. This isn’t just with search and banner ads, but also with SEO and social media. A business can see better placement and more traffic through search engines, social media, and online advertising in clear-cut, easy to understand reports. That way, it’s easier to test new models and get rid of those that don’t.

Targeting is also far easier on the Internet than other sources of media. While it is true that TV, radio, and especially magazine demographics aren’t exactly rocket science, the specificity with which ads can be targeted on the Internet ensures maximum exposure without blowing valuable ad dollars advertising Metamucil to teenagers.

Speaking of teenagers, there was a telling line on a recent episode of Gossip Girl (really, my girlfriend makes me watch it). The line was, “Who watches TV on TV anymore?” Focusing on online advertising only makes sense considering the amount of total media time young people spend on the Internet compared to other forms of media anymore. And it’s only going up. Music, print, and television is all available through the same online source, and it’s not changing any time soon. Now is the time to get on board or be left in the dust.

Those are just a few examples; the entire list of reasons is available on the great report by Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pmand is filed under Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.