Convergence of offline and online advertisements
by David Fishman 

Online advertisers must make weekly and daily choices for what campaigns they plan to show their media community. Hopefully these decisions include analysis not only of a clients ability to pay a bill but a campaigns opportunity to be a successful long term value to them and their community. One of the multiple factors that publishers should evaluate is the business model in place to support the advertisement. A number of the strongest advertisers and campaigns that have been available throughout the internet boom, bust, and resurgence have been those campaigns that have been developed around multiple forms of media. The converging of online and offline channels in order to support the efforts of the online campaign have allowed online advertisements to become a profitable business for advertisers that were once only marketing offline.

All successful long-term business strategies include diversified revenue sources in order to help build a more stable and secure business. Online advertisers have often overlooked the necessary and important process of reviewing an advertisers credit history and reputation based on references prior to launching a media campaign. Another important review is to gain a bear minimum understanding of the business model behind the campaign being run.

Some of the most profitable and successful companies that have changed the online market are those companies that have worked hard on capitalizing both online and offline opportunities. The longest running campaigns for internet advertisers are travel, mortgage, and opportunity seekers. All of these campaigns have at least one common thread; they all take online customers and work with them offline.

The convergence of offline and online advertisements has become an extremely important development in making the internet profitable and strong for the long term. The online marketing community should work closely with companies that maximize the offline and online opportunities. While finding these advertisers may not be as easy as an online marketer they are often the most profitable and most consistent clients for the online advertiser.

With the simplicity of transferring information as a result of the technological improvements, the opportunity for an advertiser to work with clients both on and offline is simplified. This also helps make a customers experience that much more enjoyable, which will help with overall conversion and success. As a result these campaigns become very profitable for the online advertiser. When the sole measure of success of a campaign is based on the online advertisement it becomes a challenge that this single form of media cannot always meet. Thus publishers should look for campaigns that have channels to support customers both online and offline and will likely find advertisers and campaigns that work with their media for a long time to come.

1. http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/71
2. http://jiad.org/vol3/no2/ha/

David Fishman is the Director of Business Development at iLead Media Inc.