The Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising on the Internet

Advertising is the branch of marketing that deals with communicating to customers about products, brands, services and companies. The Internet, as a global communications medium, provides advertisers with unique and often cost-effective ways of reaching advertising audiences. As with all media, however, advertising on the Internet has unique advantages and disadvantages.

Advertising on the Internet is almost a necessity for modern businesses, especially those that do business outside of their local community. Consumers use the Internet for more than simply entertainment or information, as they do with radio, television, magazines and newspapers. Consumers use the Internet to assist them in nearly every aspect of life, creating countless opportunities to place relevant, targeted ad messages.

Advantages

The Internet's vast reach can allow advertisers to reach significantly more people than traditional advertising media at a fraction of the cost. Internet advertising is ideal for businesses with a national or international target market and large-scale distribution capabilities. As a rule, the more people your business serves, the most cost-efficient internet advertising can be. Internet advertising can also be more targeted than some traditional media, ensuring that your messages are seen by the most relevant audiences.

Disadvantages

One disadvantage of advertising on the Internet is that your marketing materials are automatically available for anyone in the world to copy, regardless of the legal ramifications. Logos, images and trademarks can be copied and used for commercial purposes, or even to slander or mock your company. This is not the case with television and magazine advertising, wherein images must be replicated rather than simply copied electronically.
Another disadvantage is the fact that the Internet-advertising gold rush has begun to introduce ad clutter to the Web. Web users are so inundated with banner ads and spam email that they have begun to ignore internet advertising just as much as ads on traditional media.

Considerations

In addition to advertising, the Web offers high-impact opportunities to leverage word-of-mouth marketing and generate buzz about your company. Product review websites and social media outlets, among other web communities, allow customers to praise or condemn your company based on their personal experiences. Thus, the Internet ties the customer service component directly to advertising.

Future

The Internet is likely to continue to play a large role in individuals' lives in the foreseeable future. Whether personal computers remain the dominant method of accessing the Internet, some form of global communication network will likely be a reality for many generations, creating effective avenues of sending advertising messages to consumers in the community and around the world.

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