Web Advertising Is it really worth it? Web advertising, not to mention the Internet itself, is still relatively new and therefore provides marketers with challenges that need to be dealt with, with caution. The realm of Web advertising is in uncharted territory. What implications will this new technology have for marketing? How can a business use the medium effectively?Setyn introduces the concept of interactive marketing through the words: Interactive marketing uses new technologies to overcome practical database and direct marketing problems whilst building more rewarding customer relationships. The developments allowed by interactive marketing through the Internet focus mainly on how profitable market segments were identified and how these segments were reached. Interactivity allows the opportunity to track individual customers one at a time and to build individual relationships with each. The main challenge that does and will continue to plague advertisers in the future will be persuading the viewer to try the service or product. Interactivity has three core characteristics:I.Offers much more information than a television advertisement.II. Requires the conventional copywriting skills combined with those of the direct marketer to turn the browsing viewers into sales prospects.III. The emphasis, simply due the nature of the medium, is more likely to be on sales promotion type tools to entice the viewers to visit an ad and from then on constantly refreshing the content and creative treatment, to ensure that they revisit it (Steyn, 1996)The introduction of interactive marketing begins an era where customers will choose the advertising they wish to see, when they want to see it. Consumers of today are evermore demanding personalized attention from businesses that wish to serve them. The modern consumer wants to know what product he is buying, what its characteristics are, how he can expect it to perform, what alternatives he i...
