Not many advertisers are happy with traditional advertising any more (both offline and Internet).  In our research, we have heard the following comments from advertisers:

• Prices keep going up while effectiveness is down or lower ROI on advertising
• Not targeted
• Heavy reliance on media that is declining in effectiveness (print, television, radio, banner ads, etc.)
• Consumer tendency to ignore or even turn against frequent advertisers (particularly those with obtrusive/dull/dumb/offensive advertisements)

It is in this context that iProceed believes that a new paradigm in Internet advertising is needed.  We are bullish on internet advertising for the following reasons:

• Possible to be very targeted
• Relatively inexpensive, and therefore, higher ROI
• Creative use of advertising can make the consumer even appreciate advertising as opposed to turning against it

We have developed iProceed's 3Es of Internet advertising with an aim to reach your targeted audience without antagonizing it.  It has three elements and each business needs to have all three in the new Internet advertising strategy, though the center of gravity of the strategy can be moved around.  (Related article:  Ask Jeeves' entry into contextual advertising makes search engine advertising competitive)

Entertainment should form the very foundation of an advertising campaign on the Internet.  The days of informational advertising are long gone, unless you have a new drug that you wish to market.  When an average consumer engages in an interaction with the media, the goal is entertainment and if an advertisement (which is almost always perceived as intrusive, and thus, an obstruction to entertainment) is not entertainment, the consumer is likely to tune out.

Educate

We are recommending that advertisers take the infomercials to the next level as Beachbody is doing.  While infomercials have a poor image (and many of them oversell and do not educate enough), Beachbody infomercials help people lose weight.  They are literally documentaries except that Beachbody products are constantly mentioned.  The Internet is ideal for such advertising because of the rapid growth in demand for rich media content.

Embed

Traditionally advertisers have used product placement in movies as a way to embed their products.  What we are proposing is that as the media options are exploding, advertisers embed their products wherever they can.  Here are a few options to consider:

• Embed your products in video games (most valued 18-34 segment spends more time on video games, often on the Internet) than watching television).

• Get your products mentioned in content on the Internet (most effectively done through affiliate marketing with content rich websites).

• Reach out to bloggers, ship them your products, invite them to use your service, and let them critique it in their blogs.

Balancing the 3Es of Internet advertising

Since each business is different, you need to determine the location of the center of gravity of your Internet advertising strategy.  Depending on where you want to focus on, the center of gravity will shift accordingly, but you should constantly evaluate the performance of your advertising campaign, and change the position of the center of gravity, if needed.