Big Stick

Broadcasters, marketers and media buyers agree that, because we now live in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the broadcast advertising model is broken.  And while the media industry is still sorting through their predicament on television, perhaps the even more troubling news is that, due to the tough economic conditions the world faces going into 2009, all indications are that online ad spending will dip over the next year.  What can media companies and advertisers do in this floundering ad ecosystem?  The short answer: they will have to change the way advertising is bought and sold, measured and delivered.

Traditional television audiences are eroding.  In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49.   Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online.  Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online.  And more than a third of all 12 – 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly.   With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.

So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right?  The picture is not that clear.  The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board.  TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter.  MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008.   They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003.  Others offer an even gloomier outlook.  In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.

Within this article, you will discover common reasons why advertisers are failed in pay per click (PPC) advertising game, particularly Adwords game. With those reasons, it will help you find out how to success in this game in the future. Those reasons are significant elements for you to leverage and learn from other’s mistakes and experiences in order to success and win this Adwords game in the future.

1. Give up too quickly. Many studies reveal that most Adwords advertisers are failure because they give up too quickly. They expect to earn money quickly and easily by setting up a campaign and wait for money rolling into their bank, without any further action, in short term. They are wrong. It is not easy like that!

2. Lack of the strategy planning. It is obviously that planning is a key success factor for all kinds of business. It will help you to minimize redo and undo tasks. Also, it will help you to settle your own direction. Most Adwords advertisers should plan their strategies, budget, and their action in the PPC online advertising game, but they do not.

3. Lack of creativity. The internet marketing and PPC online advertising is an art, not pure science. All Adwords advertisers should come up with their ideas, creative and new strategies for testing their PPC advertising campaigns all the time. Otherwise, they will fail and can not win this game.

4. Lack of systematically testing system. In the internet marketing, particularly in PPC online advertising world, you must test everything in the systematic way, which you can test. In the Adwords advertising, you should test: (1) keywords (2) ad-copy (3) landing page (4) campaign management and organization and (5) other things, of which you can think. Most failed advertisers do not test in the systematic way and some of them do not test anything.

5. Lack of well-understand in the market and people. There is no doubt that the more you understand your market and people, the more opportunities to earn money on the internet you have. You have to put yourself into the customer’s shoes. You have to think like customers. Most Adwords advertisers fail to do this. They are rush to set up their PPC advertising campaigns with their mind and hope that they will generate a lot of money for them without any additional actions. They are wrong!