Marketing to a new generation

They most likely aren’t familiar with Brian Williams. Or Charlie Gibson. But Cartman scores high. They don’t go home and turn on the TV or read the paper; they’re online at the location of their choice. They’re the generation that turned Google into a verb, and YouTube is next (you’ve been YouTubed). They range in age from 18 to 35 and are not exposed to traditional TV, radio or print anywhere near as much as the 35-plus folks. Yet, they are getting more information on everything under the sun than any generation before them has, in a manner and style foreign to many advertisers. Unless businesses have experts in Internet marketing on staff, their ad agencies better have them.

Let’s be clear; traditional television, terrestrial radio, print, outdoor, coupon and collateral advertising aren’t going away anytime soon and continue to be integral to most companies’ marketing strategies. It’s just that these marketing vehicles now have smaller pieces of the pie. It’s no secret that TV and radio ratings have been spiraling downward for well over a decade, to the point at which where some individual broadcast stations don’t even “sell the numbers” anymore. Newspaper ad sales also are suffering. Even the venerable New York Times has announced it has to cut costs by $230 million this year to offset sagging advertising. But advertisers are not cutting spending; they’re just moving it around to include Internet marketing, slicing traditional budgets so they can get in front of an important group of consumers right where they live: online.

So, what do you need to know about Internet marketing if you don’t know someone who knows? Here’s a short list:

A) At the top of the list at this time is Google Adwords. Owned by the world’s most popular search engine, Adwords literally holds the market for pay-per-click ads. Tweaked properly, Adwords can bring conversion rates of 5 to 25 percent. Marketing success on Adwords is largely dependant on keyword selection, which is more art than science. Placed properly, these ads offer great exposure to new customers and help brand the company’s name.

B) SEO – Search Engine Optimization. The process of improving the volume and, most importantly, the quality of traffic to a Web site. Making your site search-engine friendly, among other things, requires the right keywords. Without the right words, your site will be invisible to search engines and customers.

C) Squidoo.com. No, it’s not a new calamari dish. Squidoo is a giant affiliate link that drives traffic using “lenses.” This free site direct customers to your site, and you can actually make money by creating good content pages for your products or services. Squidoo is a 7 on Google’s 1-to-10 site scale and is well worth the time to set up.

D) MySpace.com. It’s not just for tweeners anymore. The average user is older than 35. It’s one of the biggest social networks on the Web and has more than 100 million users worldwide. This site is ideal for marketing ideas, media and politics.

E) Blogs. Well-written, well-placed blogs can boost a Web site out of the dark and onto the front page of search engines. Blogging can be time consuming but, when done correctly, very effective. Forums and chat boards can also drive solid traffic to a site.

F) Viral Marketing. This is genius. Basically, it’s folks and friends on the Web, via e-mail, sending marketing messages to one another. A recent, favorite example is from Anheuser Busch. They created a video ad called “The Swear Jar” to promote Bud Light. This ad was never made for television, was an unconventional length (not 15, 30 or 60 seconds) and, because it was so funny, was sent worldwide in e-mails from those wanting to give their friends a good chuckle. No TV, no radio, no print placement for this ad … ultimate word-of-mouth advertising. The trick here is the creative has to be good enough to make people want to share it. Viral marketing can occur on a variety of scales.

There’s a lot more to Internet marketing, of course. There seems to be a general rule about Web sites in relation to results; they need to be up and operating for about a year. The search engines start ranking sites higher if they can generate an upward graph of visits for about 12 months. Also, this technology is in a constant state of change, with businesses and ad agencies having to devote more time and resources to the powerful medium to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.