When we last left off in our look at advertising history, we’d just explored the explosion of television and print ads, which paved the way for the Internet advertising revolution in the 90s. As the Internet evolved from a private use resource to a public town square, advertisers soon followed—and it opened up a whole new world in connecting with their intended audiences.
The Birth of Online Advertising
Prior to the advent of Internet advertising, ads were largely focused on selling something. But the online world came with new rules, along with new channels and mediums that changed the motive behind the methods brands adopted to get the word out about what they had to offer. Now, it was all about brand awareness and problem solving—what was the consumer’s problem, and how could the brand solve it? Advertising was no longer about the product—it was about the consumer.
When the Internet took off in 1992 thanks to Prodigy and American Online, advertisers followed in kind and started exploring the new medium to their advantage. People were using the Internet for personal reasons—to stay connected with loved ones, research their interests, and explore new subjects and avenues to broaden their horizons. Advertisers aimed to grab their attention using digital ads, starting with display advertising like banner ads.
The first banner ad from AT&T is a great example of early internet advertising. It’s amateurish based on today’s standards, but their first ad boasted a 40% click-through rate, setting off a chain reaction that altered the course of the advertising industry. Banner ads caught on extremely quickly. Sensing the changing tides, Yahoo transformed itself from a web directory into a commercial business in 1995, announcing an advertising deal for their own primitive banner ads. Company logos from sponsors began rotating daily across the top of the site. During this same year, Yahoo also created the first keyword-based ad. The momentum continued into 1996 with the first version of pay-per-click advertising.
Enter Mobile Advertising
With the rise of the internet came the rise of mobile phones, and another opportunity for advertisers to reach their target consumers. The first mobile ad was launched in 2000 when a Finnish news provider sent free news headlines via SMS. But the game changed considerably when the original iPhone was released in 2007, bringing a whole new class of mobile ads to smartphones.
Still new to the medium, advertisers often just reformatted their desktop ads for mobile—but they soon discovered there were flaws in that approach. The ads weren’t well-designed and didn’t provide an ideal user experience. Widespread negative feedback convinced them to change their approach, leading to the creation of “mobile first” ads to meet the moment.
The launch of Apple’s App Store in 2008—in conjunction with the iPhone 3G—allowed advertisers to take advantage of mobile app ads instead of mobile web browser ads. Then, as capabilities grew to include things like GPS technology, mobile ads started incorporating these features for a more personalized and engaging user experience.
The Challenges of Digital Advertising
But while those early days were full of excitement and opportunity, advertisers were starting to face some of the challenges of effective advertising in the digital age. Initially the use of pop-up ads was widely embraced, but overuse slowed website performance for consumers. Plus, the proliferation of pop-ups became invasive, leading people to install ad blockers to stop the pop ups before they launched.
So advertisers pivoted, reasoning that consumers trust other consumers over brands pushing messages. This led to the rise of user generated content, where consumers became part of advertising through product reviews and product placement, rather than just passive onlookers. This marketing strategy became especially popular when social media advertising began in 2008, starting with Facebook ads.
Measuring response has also been a continual challenge the advertising industry has had to face. With traditional media, response was measured in tangible ways like through foot traffic, phone calls, returned coupons and more. But when combining the traditional media approach with digital advertising, measuring response has gotten more complicated. Last-touch attribution is a huge focus for advertisers, but nailing down who gets the credit for consumer sales conversion is getting increasingly complicated.
Traditional Media Still Matters
While it’s tempting to think we can leave traditional advertising in the dust with the advent and increase of internet advertising, traditional media is still a viable approach—and often supplements digital media. As a general rule, when a customer isn’t aware of a new product or need, exposing them to advertising spurs their interest and encourages them to buy. Even in the digital age, the top three acquisition vehicles for new customers are TV, direct mail advertisers such as Money Mailer, and radio.
Customers who search the internet for products and services already have a general idea of what they’re looking for. So by the time they’re entering keywords into a search engine, the demand creation has already happened. In previous generations, they turned to newspapers, magazines and even the Yellow Pages to find what they were looking for. Now, they hop online to hunt out what they need.
Ultimately, it’s not about choosing traditional over digital media, or vice versa—it’s about using the two as complementary methods. Smart advertisers know that to meet the customers where they are, they should be using both traditional and digital media.
How Do Advertisers Evaluate Their Advertising ROI in This New World?
When consumers are influenced by a traditional media ad placement and turn to digital means to explore it, it can be difficult for advertisers to determine their ROI. But while success can no longer be measured by foot traffic, calls and coupon usage, there are still ways to effectively evaluate a campaign using a combination of old methods and measuring website traffic to determine last-touch attribution.
The key is to track response from all channels. For example, using Money Mailer in our approach:
- Call Tracking: Identify how many customers responded to your ad by calling. You can also listen to recorded calls to measure and improve sales effectiveness.
- Coupon Redemptions: Identifies consumers who provided the Money Mailer® offer or code directly to you.
- Multi-Channel Reporting: Combining app views, online clicks, phone calls, website visits, and more, you can create a complete view of your campaign response.
- Website Traffic Evaluation: With our Google Analytics evaluation, you can see the increase in traffic Money Mailer has generated for your website.
Additionally, using an ad campaign that funnels traffic to Google internet channels, you can glean insights such as whether a consumer found your campaign via typing a specific keyword in search, if they came to your website directly, if they found you through a site like MoneyMailer.com, and more.
How Money Mailer Franchises Improves Digital Advertising ROI
With 40 years of experience in providing customers and advertisers with valuable channels delivering goods and services, Money Mailer provides a unique local advertising opportunity by delivering local advertisers’ messages directly to consumers’ homes in print, online, and via our mobile app. As of 2023, the local advertising market is a $165.7 billion industry— and growing. 51% of local advertising is traditional, while 49% is digital. Money Mailer is both.
Advertisers can benefit from our multi-channel report, which captures consumer visits to MoneyMailer.com, our mobile app, and your own business page. We can also track click-throughs to your website and social media channels. Additionally, direct mail is still a strong and growing industry, with 2024 revenue estimated at $32 billion, accounting for a 3% year-over-year increase.* Combined with digital advertising, with its 2024 revenue estimated at $200B and a 12.5% year-over-year increase,* local businesses have the opportunity to make a larger impact on their bottom line by combining traditional and digital media.
Today’s smart advertisers understand that traditional media still works—and the most successful companies know that traditional media and digital complement each other. With Money Mailer Franchises, you can successfully grow your online business using the combination of direct mail and digital media. Money Mailer Franchise is attuned to the advertising needs of today, and dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals.
* Outlook for Marketing & Advertising—Winterberry 1/18/24