Latest Trends in Advertising

Introduction

Lots of people have great ideas, but only some of them turn their plan into reality in a way they have always dreamt about. In order to achieve some results in business, it is important to become a fulltime, hardworking, determined business man. The main issue to be achieved is not only to have the knowledge and skills needed to run a business, but being able to plan, execute, promote and as a result - succeed.

This research paper is dedicated to the promotion of the product and to its advertising, online advertising in particular, due to the fact that this stage is considered to be one of the most changeable and complicated areas of the product development and its delivery to the end customer.

Advertising is considered to be the key success factor (along with the product quality and demand for the particular product) in the product promotion; that is why, it requires additional attention from marketing experts. There are different tools applied in the advertising, and their topicality changes every day.

At the same time, it is important to take in account the fact that any form of advertising, and the online one in particular, should take in consideration the cultural differences of the nations who are considered to be the target audience of the particular ads. The main purpose of advertising is the same for every country, and it is to develop the communicative information and create the effective persuasive appeals for the potential clients.

In some cases, international companies apply the universal appeals. The marketing research shows that the markets are deemed sufficiently homogeneous, and that, in turn, makes it possible to use standardized advertising for several different countries. It is important to emphasize on the fact that there is a need of customizing the media strategy and the features of the message to each country’s environment in the light of its culture, economy, and politics. Furthermore, the additional attention should be paid to the level of differences in the national identity and, according to that issue, the decision, whether the special advertising is required or not in the particular country, should be made.

The promotions part of the marketing includes numerous types of media. Some of the common methods employed are advertising, print and electronic such as TV, radio, in cinema, online, poster sites and press. Other campaigns include sales promotions, point of sale display, merchandising, direct mail, loyalty schemes, door drops, etc. The important talent in marketing field is the ability of developing a promotion, which includes a number of of these techniques and leads to the most successful results.

In the scopes of this research, the online form of advertising would be investigated due to the fact that this is the latest trend of advertising business, which is in the process of its rapid development.

Currently, many people are looking for the information about the particular product or service in the internet and the lion share of them purchase this product online. That is why, it is important to pay additional attention to the online shopping and online advertising issues in order to understand the general and current trends in this area and to figure out the key possibilities for being successful in running online business.

The key purpose of the research is outlining the key existing trends in online advertising, evaluating the main strong and weak points of such form of advertising, developing the model for successful online marketing solution for the company, and, finally, considering the expectations from this form of advertising for the particular company.

Literature Review

In order to carry out the research in online advertising, five journal articles and one book have been investigated. The key directions developed on these articles, implied the variety of options, provided by the internet in the area of marketing, PR and advertising.

Ten core problems of online marketing

In the Jim Munzes article, the main emphasis is made on ten core problems of online marketing and advertising.  They are the following:

• Real time means real opportunities - this factor implies the fact that there is a possibility of getting the quick response and get the answers on the questions, related to the following issues - analytics, social monitoring, creativity, targeting, optimization, publishing, content creation etc.
• The formats of advertising are changing - at the moment, there is a demand for the advertising slots, which are more compelling than the standard existing ones.
• Publishers take control- there is a need and the possibility of taking the direct control for publishers over their content and the efficiency of the website advertising.
• Optimize or else- there is a risk of  stopping paying for any form of the display advertising, which is not directed for pushing out the advertising solution, which, in turn, has not got the abilities or other forms of optimization the content with the help of strong targeting capabilities flexible support.
• Privacy impact - at the moment, there is a need for each website to have the privacy protection mechanisms for the information they possess, and, in addition, all the personal data about the clients should be available for the direct needs only and access to it should not be available for anyone else.
• Less means more for the advertising agencies. The core success factor in the nowadays competitive business of advertising is possession of the digital means of advertising-such as smaller digital agencies.
• Real time implies real issues - there is a possibility for the online advertising industry to have the major shift in approach due to the fact that this technology evolves and best practices and most effective solutions are developed.
• Social investment will wane due to the fact that such aspect of marketing as the investigation of the general trends of the consumer demand may be carried out with the help of the social networks - such as Facebook or Twitter.
• Content is king- according to the opinion, based on the core principles of marketing, content is the key success factor in the brand promotion (Munz 2009, pp. 1-6).

Positive aspects and advantages of the online advertising

The second article, which has been investigated in the light of online advertising theme, is the article presented on the exchange4media web site. This article is also dedicated to the latest online media advertising trends and the core aspects, outlined by the author are the positive aspects and advantages of online advertising. The author considers that online advertising is a widely accessible issue in all countries around the world, and in India in particular. In addition, the author thinks that the changeable and competitive world of advertising may be reflected in online advertisements in the best possible manner. Expects consider that the online advertising is the most effective way of making money due to the fact of its wide opportunities and sustainability (Exchange for media 2011, pp. 7-12).

Efficiency of the online advertising and to the ways of its achievement

According to the article, “Innovation in online advertising” published in the economist.com, it is possible to draw a conclusion that the author is tending to pay additional attention to the efficiency of the online advertising and to the ways of its achievement. In the beginning of the article, the author has emphasized that the traditional online advertising does not bring the positive outcome both, for the advertiser and for the agency. Also, as an example, the online editions which collaborate with the advertising agencies are mentioned. In the case if these editions use the traditional way of online advertising (banners), they do not get enough income from such ad due to the fact that more than 90% of the readers are not interested in the particular (advertised) product and they do not visit the web-page of this product or service. As a result, the author has made a conclusion that there is a need of selective approach in advertising, which is applied by some companies. As an example of an effective practical application of such approach, it is possible to consider the case when the particular advertisement is sent to the user, who has already been looking for some product in the web - whether it is car, perfume or something else. In addition, there is a possibility of retargeting - outbidding the competitors after visiting the particular website. This approach is effectively applied by the following companies: John Lewis, Zappos and Lenovo. Such companies get the information about the particular user (visitor) of their web site, while applying the tool of dropping the digital markers into the computer of the visitor (their potential client).

In addition, the author considers that there is a practical efficiency of application of the auction system, which, in turn, provides the advertiser with the possibility of evaluating the real cost and value of the online ad. More than that, such system allows carrying out the marketing research in the area of the target audience behavior,  needs and general expected trends of their consumer behavior.

Five core success factors of the digital system of marketing development.

Shayne McQuade , Robert Waitman , Michael Zeisser , Alexa Kierzkowski in their article “Marketing to the digital consumer” develop the following idea: in order to develop the new system of marketing, which implies the online collaboration with the potential clients, the five core success factors should be taken in account.

First of all, users should be attracted by the advertisement; secondly, their interest and participation should be engaged; after the users are attracted by the offer, they should be retained and the management of the advertising campaign should be ensured that these users would return to the application; the fourth success factor is the deep investigation of the consumers’ preferences, and the last aspect of successful advertisement development is relating back to the clients and developing such type of the customized interactions, which represents all the valuable features of  the digital form of marketing. In the case of application of the approach developed by the authors, the following challenges may occur: the consumers’ value proposition would enhance; the skills and relations for the further fruitful collaboration with the client would be found, and the interdependences – both, internal and external would be managed (McQuade, Waitman, Zeisser, Kierzkowski 2010, pp. 78-96).

Four stages model of the digital form of marketing organization

In addition, the authors have developed the four stages model of the digital form of marketing organization, this model may be represented in the following manner. The first stage implies establishing the basic online presence. Authors call this stage “The "ad hoc activity" stage.”

The second stage is getting the experience from the online presence - the learning experiment. At this phase, the set of rules, regulations and principles of the digitizing the company’s activity is developed. In majority of cases, the responsibilities are divided among the members of the small group - five to ten experts in the online marketing field. 

The third period is defined by the authors as the “formalization” stage.  This stage implies achieving of the level when the company finds its long-term "home". The current task of this stage is improvment of the existing system, while taking in account all the factors of the current market and its key trends. Usually, the team grows up to 10-50 employees and the beginning of the existing if the company’s digital form implies developing of its own structure and separating from the parent company (Wakolbinger 2009, p. 45).

The fourth stage is the "institutionalizing capability" stage. It may be characterized by the following factors: the new services appear, the initiatives come from the working team and their practical implementation does not usually depend on the opinion of the parents’ company top management.

Further expectations from the electronic marketing      

The last article, which has been investigated in the scopes of the online marketing and advertising themes, is the article by Tim Mack, which is dedicated to the further expectation from the electronic marketing: “Electronic Marketing: What You Can Expect.” The author has considered six core directions of the electronic marketing development. They are the following: practical application of the underhanded tactics and innovative sales tactics. As a result, it is possible to expect the slowdowns and breakdowns and, at the same time, occurring of the new combinations. Finally, author considers that there is a possibility of application the "partnership" e-mail marketing and that more ads on the web would occur due to the technological progress in all areas of human activity (Mack 2011, pp. 56-63).

Key words: world wide web; online, advertising; marketing; consumer- oriented policy; efficiency; latest trends; expectations.

Findings

While taking in account all the above listed factors of being successful in online advertising - the new form of marketing, it is possible to make a conclusion that the core values of the company should be followed in any form of its activity in order to meet all the requirements of the clients and get the competitive advantage in the field of its activity.

Among them, it is possible to consider the following:

• keeping the high level of quality;
• accountability – always doing the declared things;
• superiority - keeping the customers satisfied with the quality by being "best in its class";
• serious attitude to the work with the positive mental attitude; constant improvement-to achieve the highest results and keep the positions in the modern competitive business world.

The mission of the digital form of the marketing for the company should follow the next directions:

• the irreproachable attitude to the customers (high quality product and excellent service);
• creating the positive corporative climate for the fruitful work, including the corporative ethics support, career opportunities and constant core values implementation and realization;
•  attracting the new members, willing to develop the existing network and adhering the core values of the company to extend the market and to occupy new possible foreign markets;
• development of the long-term values for shareholders (Rosso 2010, p. 15).

Validity and Coherence of the Research

The practical application of the research implies the specific methods, developed by the author, which provide the competent solving of economical tasks and their effectiveness obtaining with the help of practical application of the online form of advertising. The materials obtained in the research can be applied both for developing the new online advertising system and for improvement of the existing one- interaction of state, society, small business subjects, the legislation base perfection in the field of social and economical state policy, development of state program of small business support.

The results of the research can also be applied for managing the marketing functions of small business enterprises’ development both on local and state levels. Another application of obtained scientific conclusions is learning the course of marketing, and online advertising in particular.

Conclusions

After carrying out the research dedicated to the online advertising, its pros and cons and the existing opportunities, it is possible to make a conclusion that this segment  of business activity shows us its readiness to develop the new projects.

Marketing (and its digital form in particular) is an integral part of the modern business, which needs to be supported on all of its four stages of development, and, in this case, it will bring the fruitful results for the company’s budget and enhance the life level of its employees, top management and shareholders.

The economical situation and the latest technological achievements in the today’s world have given the new opportunities for online marketing and advertising development, which can bring positive results in case all its advantages are taken in account competently and opportunely.

There are several recommendations how to save the company’s reputation and brand while applying the tools of online advertising and to get profit even in the period of crisis. The main value for the company should be the client - the constant and unique profit source. The human factor should also be appreciated while developing a new strategy. The costs of advertisement should be balanced and, if possible, reduced to the minimum.

The top management support should be on all levels of online advertising development and practical implementation. That means the constant support and motivation with the complete or particular compensation of additional costs, which the economy subjects get while positioning their enterprises in the region with the complicated conditions.

The importance of online advertising practical application is caused by the high competition in the market. In order to keep the particular brand, all the aspects which were discussed in the article, should be taken into consideration and practically applied. All strong and powerful companies apply the online advertising in order to save their own position in the market and dominance in the area of their activities.