Cadbury's advertising startegy

Advertising strategy of Cadbury

Cadbury India Limited (CIL), a part of the Cadbury Schweppes Group, is India’s leading confectionary manufacturer. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Eclairs, Perk and Gems are the largest selling brands in their segments. CIL is estimated to have a 65 percent share of the Indian chocolate market.
The Indian chocolate market is estimated to be worthRs. 3.2 billion, with an annual growth rate of 10 percent. Per Capita Consumption levels are very low in India, as compared to 8.7 kg per year in the U.K. The market therefore offers tremendous potential for growth.
In this analysis, we examine some of the interesting aspects of Cadbury’s advertising strategy.
The Advertising Message
Chocolates have usually been viewed as something meant only for children. Perhaps realizing that children would be attracted to any chocolate, irrespective of the brand, CIL targeted adults with their advertising since the early 1990s. Most, if not all, of Cadbury’s advertisements in India feature people over 18 years of age.
The message that CIL seems to be attempting to put across is this: “In every adult, there is a child - let that child express itself, give in to temptation, and satisfy his or her desire to sink teeth into a smooth, creamy, delicious chocolate”. This approach appears to be unique to Cadbury’s. CIL’s biggest competitor, Nestle, often stresses the energy giving aspects of chocolate (for example, in advertising for Nestle Charge), or on other attributes of the chocolate - taste in the case of Nestle Crunch, as a light snack in the case of Nestle Bar One. Nestle specifically targets children in the advertising for Milkybar, its white chocolate, again emphasizing its energy giving properties.
To counter Milkybar, CIL has the Dairy Treat - where it targets the mothers of children by trying to convey the message that its product is full of the goodness of milk, and so equivalent to consuming milk itself.
Message Execution
Cadbury’s multi-award winning campaign - ‘The Real Taste of Life’ - launched in the 90’s attempts to capture the child like spontaneity in every adult. From the old man offering his wife a Dairy Milk chocolate to the dancing girl in a crowded stadium, all reflect the impulsiveness and the spontaneity of the child in the adult.
Cadbury’s Perk, the light snack, addresses the hungry child in every adult, as exemplified by the bride who nibbles at a Perk under her ‘pallu’. Cadbury’s Dairy Treat conveys its message through the mother who refuses chocolates and other treats to her son, till Dairy Treat comes along and quickly changes her opinion about chocolates.
Catchy lines such as ‘The Real Taste of Life’, ‘Khane Walo Ko Khane Ka Bahana Chahiye’, or ‘Reach for the Stars’, are also used extensively, and to good effect in Cadbury’s advertisements.
Advertising Media
Television, the print media and posters have been the main media of communication for Cadbury’s advertisements. However, with their understanding of the peculiarities of the Indian market, CIL has also explored many new ways of getting their message across to the consumers.
Sheet Metal Dispensers: This purple salesperson for Cadbury’s is found in almost every shop stocking their chocolates. Since it is placed on the cash counter, it’s design offers visibility, ease of vending, and protection from the elements. It is also placed in the most appropriate position to cater to the impulse buyers. This ‘first’ from CIL has become so popular that is now the standard design for all chocolate manufacturers.
Visicoolers: Visibility for chocolates drops in the summer, as they disappear into the refrigerator. In high throughput outlets, the visicool er serves the need for cooling while still maintaining the visibility of the product.
Jars: These are provided to small outlets, where they are prominently displayed.
Vending machines: These high visibility machines are provided at busy locations.
Presence in Amusement Parks: Cadbury’s also maintains a presence in many amusement parks across the country, strengthening the association of its chocolates with ‘fun’ occasions.
Conclusion
Cadbury’s strategy to attract consumers is somewhat unique in a sense, instead of focusing on the product, it seeks to tap into emotions normally associated with chocolates. They have also adapted their strategies to the unique demands of the Indian retail sector. The strategy has clearly proved successful, as they have been able to build and maintain a leadership position in the market with many loyal customers.

By Prism-A Newsletter from The Icfaian School of Management (An Affiliate of ICFAI),

Vol. I No. 10 , January2002 ,www.ismindia.org.

Advertising Strategies - Nirma

Nirma -A Super brand by superbrandsindia.com

The success of Nirma's umbrella branding strategy has led to a change in the competition's marketing strategies, as well. Many of Nirma's competitors are now consolidating their brand portfolio and consequently gaining more bang for their advertising rupee.
In a changing market environment, the company has relaunched Nirma Yellow Washing Powder and Nirma Beauty Soap, two of its strongest brands. Nirma Yellow Powder is being re-launched with improved formulation and new advertising. This is an extension of the original ad which will return after the launch is over. Nirma Beauty Soap is being re-launched with a new shape, fragrance and a smarter, brighter pack to improve shelf visibility.
Promotion

Nirma's success is synonymous with its advertising and marketing strategy. When Karsanbhai Patel started selling his detergent powder, he decided to call it Nirma, derived from the name of his daughter Nirupama. In the early years, the Nirma packet featured a lady washing a garment. Later, however, the design was changed and an image of his daughter was featured on the pack. The white dancing girl, featured in Nirma's television advertising, is perhaps the most enduring image of Nirma. Though Ms. Patel passed away in a car accident, she continues to live on in the corporate logo and the best selling brands of the company.
Nirma's advertising has always focused on the value-for-money angle. Its simple and catchy jingle - Dudh si safedi Nirma se aye, rangin kapda bhi khil khil jaye - has continued to echo in the drawing rooms of middle-class Indian homes through the decades. While the jingle stresses on the product, it also salutes the savvy and budget-conscious Indian housewife. The jingle, which was first aired on radio in 1975, was broadcast on television in 1982. It is one of the longest running jingles and the spot has seen very few changes since the time it was first aired. For the re-launch of Nirma, the company has developed new spots but they are variations of the old favourite. Once the re-launch is complete, the company plans to go back to the original advertisement.
Nirma's promotion strategy, too, has many firsts to its credit. The company pioneered product sponsorship through the electronic media. Besides, the company has developed a unique advertising strategy - new products are launched with no advertising support. Once the distribution glitches are sorted out and the product reaches the shelves of retailers, the company begins to advertise it. The umbrella branding strategy helps to give new products instant recall without increasing the advertising expense.
Brand Values
Nirma believes in bonding with the consumer. And, therefore, it puts value-for-money above all. Today, the Nirma brand is synonymous with value for money. The brand believes in offering consumers 'better products, better value for better living.'

Bingo Chips advertising strategy

Bingo Chips Strategy - College Essay by Nikhilwingman

The Bingo brand of chips was launched by ITC on 14th March 2007 with an aim to capture at least 25 percent market share of the Rs 2000 crore branded snack market within five yrs.
This was an extremely ambitious target according to observers as the market was dominated by the Frito Lay group (owned by Pepsi Co) with a slew of brands like Lays, Kurkure and Uncle Chipps holding 50 per cent of the market share. The other was the Haldiram group with 25 percent of the market share.
The organized snacks category is subdivided into the Traditional segment (Bhujia,Chana etc) dominated by Haldiram. The second category is the Western segment(potato chips,cheese balls,puffs etc) and the Finger snacks segment which is an adaptation of traditional snacks to the western format. The latter two categories are dominated by the Frito Lay group. ITC has launched an aggressive marketing campaign to gain entry into and capture a sizeable market share in the extremely competitive world of snack foods.
The success of Bingo’s marketing strategy can be attributed to the following 4 Ps:-
1. T.V. Ad Campaign

2. Assortment of flavors and eye catching packaging

3. High availability at big and small retailers across the country

4. Pricing Strategy

1.Bingo’s launch was strategically timed around the World Cup to cash in on the tremendous popularity that such leisure and cocktail snacks would find among cricket lovers in the country. So cricket lovers could enjoy their favourite matches while savouring an all-new range of innovative Bingo snacks during the World Cup. The idea is to get the consumer to take that first bite. Not only the flavours but also the advertising was supposed to have an Indian touch!The advertising strategy used humour to sell Bingo. The advertisements were well received by the audience.

Hutch says Hi

Hutch says Hi
by Sravanthi Challapalli

Hutchison Essar is all excited over its new unified brand for cellular services, Hutch. Whether Hutch will do another Orange, once a Hutchison brand, remains to be seen.

Grounded in reality, very much `today', is how the honchos at Hutchison Essar like to describe their new, unified cellular services brand. At a press conference in Hyderabad, where the company announced the launch of Hutch, Keith Kirby, Director of Global Branding, Hutchison, who also created Orange, the well-known global brand then with Hutchison, said the new brand was not about tomorrow or about advertisements which showed stadia filled with millions and sentiment - this to him was unreal - whereas Hutch, which believes in delivering rather than promising, is all about making it real for the consumer.
Hutch marks the company's first common brand across three new circles that it will commence operations in (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Chennai), and Delhi. Hutchison retains the right to call its cellular service in Mumbai Orange, a brand that is no longer with the Hutchison group worldwide, but with France Telecom. The Hutchison group also operates cellular services in Kolkata and Gujarat under different brands, though the company says there are no moves to bring them under the Hutch umbrella now. "While Orange was a great success and probably the first genuine brand in telecom, it was a 20th century brand; the 21st century needs something more," said Kirby, the brand's creator. Hutch, while moving away from Orange, also hopes to build on its predecessor's values and brand equity - it wants to be perceived as open, simple, positive, human, creative and passionate.
However, beyond a statement explaining what they meant by these traits, it was not too clear how they would translate into the products and services that Hutch would envelop. The top brass would only say that they were going to weave the brand philosophy into their work culture.
Asim Ghosh, Director, Hutchison Essar, told Catalyst that all he could reveal at this point was that Hutch's services would be "feature-rich" and concentrate on the "totality of the consumer experience". Hutch was not just a logo but an entire philosophy that drove the brand, his company's approach to business and the focus on solutions rather than mere promises in the `here, now and today' with convenience and pleasure.
An official at Hutchison Essar says this reticence to talk about the brand, its services, its advertising strategy and other aspects is "with good reason", as the brand philosophy was one of action and not words. Hutch is the first of a family of brands the company will unveil in the future; it plans to progressively move on to national branding but, as Ghosh says, "We will talk about them when we are ready."
With cellular services well on their way to commoditisation, given the lack of a differentiating factor in rates or services, Hutchison will have to come up with something really, really different to make a mark. A question on Hutch's USP evokes a counter from Ghosh: "Why should I reduce my brand's philosophy to a slogan?" Banners with a different face on each saying `Hi' dot the venue of Hutchison Essar's press conference in Hyderabad - a sneak preview of the brand's campaign, which is shrouded in secrecy as the cellular services in the three new circles haven't actually begun operations yet.
Hi is an expression of Hutchison's approach to the world, open and fun, and is representative of the progression from Orange and its Hello, Ghosh said. Hutch was chosen as the brand name because "people call us that, it's simple and easy to say, it's real, and its three tri-star logo was designed to symbolise its dynamism and creativity", according to Kirby, who added that Hutch would also evolve and change over time and that it was "part of the big story".
The reluctance to pinpoint a USP also has something to do with Hutchison's pioneering status in cellular services the world over, as well as Essar's in India - a heritage as hoary as this cannot be abridged into three words, claims the company.
A pan-national brand is part of the larger picture but won't having so many now cause dissonance? Kirby and Ghosh disagree. While Ghosh says "It's all about consonance, considering four out of seven circles we operate in now are under Hutch," Kirby says "They won't be unrecognisable. The brands will change when the consumer is willing to change." Kirby, a branding expert, says this is the new approach to branding - "Offer the customers what they want, not what we assume that they want."
According to the Cellular Operators' Association of India Web site, Hutchison has about 1.35 million consumers across the four circles it is operating cellular services now. It has invested Rs 1,200 crore in the Southern phase of its operations. The subscriber base in India is 6.71 million. Bharti Cellular, the other major player, has around 1.42 million.
Hutchison is not revealing its targets in the three new circles where its rivals are Idea Cellular and Bharti Mobile in Andhra Pradesh, RPG Cellular and Bharti Mobinet in Chennai, Bharti Mobile and Spice Comm in Karnataka. A high-decibel campaign in print, outdoors and promotions is in the wings.
As with any other queries, those related to tariffs, price wars and competition are dismissed with a smile and stock statements: "We welcome competition, we'll offer competitive tariffs at all times and a superb value proposition. We are prepared to do serious business."
On the issue of WiLL providers grabbing a large chunk of the potential market with cheaper rates, Ghosh says, "We welcome fair competition through the front door."
Given the excitement that pervaded the launch of Hutch, which is yet to be seen (at the time of going to press, the final clearance for the operations had not been given), its dogged resolve to talk less and achieve more, and the company's belief that it is "on the cusp of a new journey with Hutch", the nascent brand certainly evokes a lot of curiosity, especially in the context of its forebear, Orange, having been an example of a great marketing success.
If the future's bright, is it Hutch?

Article by Business Line a Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publicationsThursday, Jun 06, 2002

Creative strategies in advertising

Creative strategies in advertising

In advertising, different creative strategies are used in order to obtain consumer attention and provoke shoppers to purchase or use a specific product. Advertisers use different ways of thinking to create catchy slogans that capture consumer attention. Creative strategies promote publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.
These ways of thinking are divided into three basic descriptions: Weak strategies, mid-strength strategies and strong strategies. The strategies labeled "strong, mid-strength, and weak are generic phrases used in the text books referenced below to help students understand the intensity of each different type of advertising strategy. Advertisements, weak, mid-strength, and strong can be found in television, radio, and magazines/print.
Since the beginning of advertising, strategies have been created, starting with the simplest (weak) strategies in the 1940s.
Weak strategies
Generic and Pre-emptive strategies describe the two weakest forms of advertising that were most popular through the 1940s.
A generic strategy gives a product attribution. An example of this would be how the beef industry chose to advertise their product. With their slogan, “Beef, it's what's for dinner,” consumers aren't learning anything new about the product.
The Beef slogan simply states beef as a dinner item. It enhances the product in no other way.
A pre-emptive strategy is a form of advertising that makes a generic claim stronger. An example of a pre-emptive strategy can be found in Folgers Coffee. As many of us know, most all coffee is grown in the mountains. Folgers took that fact and claimed it as their own with their slogan, “Folgers: Mountain Grown Coffee.”

Middle-strength strategies
Secondly, are the mid-strength strategies: unique positioning strategy, brand image and positioning.
A unique positioning strategy is proving that something about your product is truly unique. This is commonly found when producers take an average product and add a new, unique element to it. An example of Unique Positioning Strategy would be in Crest toothpaste. Crest added the unique feature of Scope in their product to differentiate it from other brands of toothpaste.
A downfall in Unique positioning strategy advertising is that if a unique feature increases sales on one product, many other brands are likely to adopt the “unique” feature, making the end product not so unique.
Positioning is one of the most common forms of advertising. It was developed in the 1970s and is still widely used today. In positioning one brand will take its product and “position” it against a competing product.
An example of positioning can be found in the rental car company Avis slogan. With The Hertz car company being the leader in rental car services, Avis took their number two position and used it to their advantage by creating the slogan, “When you're number two, you try harder.”
Brand Image is another very common way companies choose to advertise. In brand image, an advertiser is not trying to create rational thinking. This type of advertising strives to create emotion and give a brand a personality. A common way of doing this is by using a celebrity as a spokesperson.
A great example of brand image is found in Proactive Acne Solutions. In each of their commercials they have celebrities sharing their Proactive experiences, giving the brand a face people want to be.

Strong strategies
The third and strongest form of creative strategy includes affective advertising and resonance advertising.
Making people feel really good about a product is called affective advertising. This is difficult to do, but often humor and an honest character can make affective advertising possible.
A great example of affective advertising is found in the “Geico” commercials. By creating a friendly, honest, funny gecko as a spokesperson, consumers tend to trust what the gecko is saying and find humor in his actions. This creates a good feeling about the actual service “Geico” offers.
Lastly, resonance advertising is a way of identifying with consumers. If an advertiser can create a campaign that certain target markets identify with, then resonance advertising has been achieved.
An example of resonance advertising is in “Tide” detergent ads. Many times mothers are busy doing laundry in between sports practices and driving their children around in mini vans. Their recognition with soccer moms makes “Tide” a favorite pick among women with children who are very involved in activities.

References
1. Peter, Paul J. & Jerry C. Olson. 1990. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy, 2 ed. Irwin Publishing, Boston.
2. Schwartz, Shalom H. 1994. "Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values?" Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 50, no. 4, 19-35.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_strategies_in_advertising"

Sequel Advertising: A Better Strategy

'Advertising' is one of the most important sub-elements of the marketing mix, which is always lined under the one of the typical 4P’s of marketing i.e. Promotion. Advertising is one tactic that is considered as the most effective among all the promotional policies for a company. Advertising is type of a mass-communicational activity in which the company markets its product directly to the consumers in such a way that it leaves an impact of the mind of the person. Companies may use all or may be selective options available for communicating with the target market. Advertising is further divided into different types and companies/manufacturers use all various types of advertising according to the products and services they are offering. The choice of choosing the appropriate advertising style is one of the significant and central factors that predict the sale of the product that a marketer wants to sell. Proper advertising tactics blended with strategic yet appealing visuals can be in favor of the company.
Today, the options of adversting have been maximized by the modern technology. The traditional advertising techniques contained the advertising in the newspapers, radios and lately though television commercials. Covert advertising and Celebrity branding were two other tactics that are still being massively used by the big international brands, due to the fact that these prestigious brands need to highlight their products with the best bling available on the planet. Mainly, these two advertising strategies are most costly but in the end the marketer actually catches up with a large fraction of the target market. Advertising through SMS can some times become a real headache for the people but this scheme has shrunk the gap between the interested costumer and marketer. Being a vendor, you never know that may be your client is just an SMS away.
Now coming to the main course, Sequel advertising related in major with Television commercials and newspaper ads. This is basically a psychological technique which has been lately identified by the advertisers; indeed this enables the advertiser to influence the mind of the consumer for the vendor. Sequel advertising starts with a television commercial in the usual promotional style. People begin to respond to the commercial and sale-rate of the concerned product/product line begins to increase. As soon as the sale-rate begins to decline, the company launches a second add with the similar major elements (including similar scenario, same models, actors, colors, statements and taglines). The main aim of making similar ads is to leave a psychological effect on the mind of the interested people, and this is what Sequel advertising is all about. This influence boosts up the brand loyal people as the company offers them better deals in the 2nd add and people who didn’t respond to the first add also get curious about the new offerings. The major mental effect that this Sequel advertising tactic leave on the mind of the people is the commitment of the vendor to give them better and better services every time. In most of such advertisements, the advertiser creates a scenario or may be story that is continued throughout the advertising campaign and these continual scenario imposing techniques creates a psychosomatic effect on the minds of the people that increases the rate of new consumers rapidly. Usually a vendor continues such sequel advertising scenario for a particular time, season or until there is an extent of improvement in the service it has offered at the first place.
As soon as the vendor realizes that the quota of the consumers for the particular product/ service is completed or the scenario/story that has been the foremost ingredient of the sequel has now become old. A new sequel or add is launched. The new sequel can be for the same product/service or may be for a new product that the vendor considers more important than the preceding one. This technique has been used extraordinarily by telecommunication, electricity producing companies, mobile phone operators, food and beverage manufacturers etc.
Sequel advertising comprises of usual marketing techniques but with the more of the mind capturing ideology. This is a good way of communicating and interacting with the target audience, until and unless the scenario becomes a cliché.

Which Ad Strategy Is Right for You?

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted,” Philadelphia department store magnate John Wanamaker was famously quoted as saying. “The trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Wanamaker’s dilemma remains the bane of advertisers today--especially small-business owners on shoestring budgets. Unlike big-name advertisers like Pepsi, Nike, Apple and Ford, small-businesses can’t afford to throw millions of dollars at Super Bowl commercials or glossy magazine ads. Whether your ad budget is $5,000 or $50,000, you’ve got to make every dollar count.

And that means doing the math to calculate the return on investment on every advertising campaign you run.

What’s ROI? Think of it this way: Let’s say you rent a targeted list of 100 dentists in your local zip code and send them each a package containing free samples of your revolutionary new dental floss. After adding up the cost of printing, postage, list rental and samples, you may end spending $3 for every package you mail. This means that your campaign will have bring in at least $300 in profit in order to break even and $600 to double your money.

Here’s the good news: With the double whammy of the recession and the Internet hurting traditional media channels like newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, there’s never been a better time to buy premium advertising at bargain-basement prices--even for a small-business buyer.

The key is finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and use it to get the biggest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It’s about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making enough money to float your boat. And, while no advertising strategy is foolproof (there’s always going to be some initial trial and error before you figure out what works), you’ll get better results and waste less money if you do your homework ahead of time.

“E-mail marketing, television, search marketing and yellow pages typically yield a better ROI for unknown or unbranded direct response offers,” says Michael Weinstein, CEO of Primary Systems, a South Salem, N.Y., Internet marketing firm.“Banner advertising, print and social media are better for companies with existing visibility. For example, Toyota will do better with a banner ad while a one-time ‘act now’ offer would excel in print or television.”

Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which advertising strategy is right for you:

Print
Despite the gloomy predictions of the death of the newspaper and magazine industries, print can still be a great way to target a niche market. For example, if you’re looking to sell pre-paid phone cards to Indian immigrants in Queens or Mexican-Americans in L.A., local ethnic newspapers can be a low-cost way to reach the entire community in one shot and to deliver discount coupons that let you track response to your offer. Likewise, a targeted local or national magazine can offer an inexpensive way to reach quilters or new parents. Depending on the size of the market and the size of your ad (quarter page, half page or full page), newspapers will typically charge $5 CPM to $25 CPM (cost per thousand impressions). National magazine rates average $6 CPM.

Broadcast
No media outlet reaches more people than television, which is why it’s still so popular among advertisers but also why it’s so difficult to measure ROI. While TV may be a great way to market a new car to the roughly 100 million people who watch the Super Bowl, it’s not a cost-effective way to reach your target market--even if you could afford $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. TV advertising ranges from $10 CPM for a local broadcast to $35 CPM for a commercial on a popular network sitcom. That doesn’t include the cost of producing the spot.

“If a general demographic description is all you need, then TV can be great,” says Jerry Shereshewsky, a New York City ad agency veteran and CEO of Grandparents.com. “But as soon as you need to get narrower, you’re out of luck.”

Direct TV is a better bet for small-business owners, especially inventors who have a blockbuster new kitchen appliance or fitness machine that must be seen to be believed. Both broadcast and cable television networks offer 30-, 60- and 120-second direct response commercials at a fraction of the cost of traditional spots. Because DRTV spots usually contain a “call to action,” you can flash a toll-free number or Web address that will let you measure your ROI to the penny. If your product is hot, you may even land a deal with a DRTV production company to foot the bill for your infomercial in return for a share of the revenue.

If you’re looking to reach a targeted demographic while they’re commuting to work in the morning or driving home at night, there’s nothing like radio. With an average CPM of just over $4, radio is a low-cost way to reach loyal listeners of popular DJs and talk show hosts. Radio advertising packages offer more than just a pre-recorded spot. They often include on-air introductions to your ad plus interactive contests and giveaways that can help you track and monitor the effectiveness of your campaign.

Directory
Advertising in the Yellow Pages may be old school, but, if you’re a plumber, electrician, locksmith or other emergency repair technician, you can’t afford not to be there. According to the Yellow Page Publishing Association, 96 percent of U.S. households have at least one copy. When a pipe bursts, a toilet overflows or someone locks himself out of his house at 2 a.m., you want to be the first to get the call--even if nobody remembers that the name of your company is AAA Aardvark Plumbing.

But there’s more to advertising in the Yellow Pages these days than listing your phone number in big bold numbers. With consumers and businesses increasingly turning to the Internet to find the service providers they need, it may also pay to list your business in online directories. AT&T’s YellowPages.com claims it generates over 140 million monthly searches and that 55 percent of their users have purchased a product or service from a merchant they found there. Merchants can enhance their listings with interactive features like video profiles, premium inventory listings, websites and search engine optimization.

Outdoor
Outdoor advertising – the signs you see on billboards, bus benches, subways, trains, airports, even elevators – is almost impossible to quantify in terms of ROI, but it can work wonders for dentists, lawyers, podiatrists and trade schools looking to reach busy commuters. And, at an average CPM of $2.26, there’s no cheaper way to reach a captive audience. So, while a small resort hotel may not have the ad budget of a Marriott or a Hilton, there’s no better way to tell weary commuters about your hotel than with a sign that says “Pat’s Bed and Breakfast, Exit 16.”

Internet
No longer an experimental ad vehicle, Internet advertising will total $24.5 billion this year, up 4.5 percent from 2008, according to research firm eMarketer. Unlike print and broadcast, Internet advertising is easy to measure thanks to tools that track site traffic and click-through. And it’s often cheaper than traditional media because many online publishers charge on performance, not traditional CPM-based metrics.

Internet advertising falls into three basic categories:

Banner Advertising
The online sister of print and broadcast, banners can give your ad constant exposure on a popular website or advertising network, letting you associate your brand with a publication that your prospective customers already trust. Banner ads generally work best for e-commerce companies that sell directly from their web pages and boast well-established brands. These are the types of companies that can take advantage of the fact that their next customer may be just one click away. Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO of Small Business Television, says “banner ads work well for branding campaigns and established brands with a simple call to action.”

To get the most out of banner advertising, it’s best to run your banners on the kind of sites that target your desired demographic--working moms, sports car enthusiasts, business travelers or senior citizens. If you’re selling luxury trips or expensive watches, for example, it may be worth paying $7.50 to $15 CPM to advertise on The Huffington Post. If you’re looking to tap the affluent baby boomer market, you may not mind spending $25 CPM to $45 CPM to run your ad on AARP’s site. But beware: Click-throughs on banner ads are notoriously low, so make sure you’re not spending more on banners that you can realistically recoup in sales.

E-mail Marketing
Unlike traditional direct mail with its hefty postage, printing and handling costs, you can blast out an e-mail marketing campaign for little more than the list rental cost alone--and start ringing up sales within minutes. Depending on how narrow the market you’re trying to reach (for example, divorced female fly fishers, ages 35 to 45, in Jackson Hole, WY), you can spend a tenth of a penny to more than $1 per e-mail address for a targeted list of permission-based e-mail addresses.

Once you’ve picked your list, the rest is easy. Just whip up some copy, remember to pop in a link to your website and hit send. Whether you send out your e-mail campaign to loyal customers or hot prospects, you can easily track ROI by inserting a URL in your message that contains a special tracking code or which sends recipients of your mailing to a specific page on your website. A word of caution: “Spam lists” containing e-mail addresses compiled from websites, directories and other sources without their recipients’ permission continue to circulate on the Internet. Beware of bargain-basement lists that promise millions of e-mail addresses--or else you may find your mailings blocked and your company booted off your ISP.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
On the Internet, every store is only one click away. That’s why one of the most cost-effective ways to drive customers to your site is sponsoring search terms on Google, Microsoft, AOL and other popular search engines. Unlike banner advertising and e-mail marketing, which are typically sold on a CPM basis, pay-per-click marketing requires you to pay only when a prospective buyer types in the relevant keywords and clicks on the link to your website.

“Search is now the tool of choice for shoppers, replacing both local newspaper advertising and yellow pages,” Shereshewsky says.

Even so, it’s important to choose your keywords carefully and closely monitor your budget. Because popular keywords like “toys,” “shoes” and “travel” can be expensive, it’s often more cost-effective to sponsor more targeted terms like “extra wide women’s shoes” or “luxury hiking trips Nepal.” Make sure to test the ROI of the keywords you sponsor (along with your ad copy and landing page) before you roll out your campaign in a big way.

In addition to paid advertising opportunities, the Internet also offers the chance to conduct no-cost grassroots marketing campaigns through blogs, social networks and bookmarking sites. But don’t expect the kind of ROI from Facebook or Twitter that you get from banners, e-mail or search engine marketing. According to Weinstein, social media marketing “is a great forum to communicate with your customers, but it takes constant care and feeding and isn’t suitable for marketers looking for an immediate return.”

Whether you choose an online, print, broadcast or directory advertising channel for your next campaign, it pays to do the math before investing your company’s hard-earned dollars. A little planning now will ensure that you’ll know which half of your advertising budget is working--and which half you’d be better off employing elsewhere.