BUSINESS-ADVERTISING -3

I.Corporate Gifts: Make your Advertising Budget Count

Giving corporate gifts to your employees and valuable clients is a great way to show that your company cares while letting you get more branding and logo recognition. When your clients use the items you lavish on them, not only will they enjoy the product, but they will constantly have your company's name and logo before their eyes - a nice form of perpetual advertising!

Even in a slower economy, as most people are pulling back and reigning in their spending, making an investment in classy, practical corporate executive gifts is a great way to get the most out of your funds this holiday season. Employees and clients will remember both the gesture and the generosity of your company, an important move that can help improve everyone's satisfaction with your establishment.

There are several great corporate gifts that are both practical and enjoyable. For example, a good quality duffel bag with your company's name and logo imprinted on it might just be the perfect holiday gift for your VIPs. Clients can use them on business trips and everyone on the plane can become familiar with your company, simply by looking at the duffel. Just make sure it is a classy style, something sleek and professional, perhaps even crafted in a nice leather material.

Another great option is a travel alarm clock. This makes an excellent corporate executive gift as most executives do a great deal of traveling and will find a small, easily portable alarm clock a handy item on their many trips. It is one of the less expensive gifts, making it easier on your budget, yet it is very useful and thoughtful. Your company logo can be engraved somewhere conspicuous on the top or sides of the clock - a very nice way to keep your name constantly in the mind of your busy clients.

If you want to splurge and get your top clients something that will make them feel really valued, you might consider presenting them with some sort of wine accessory like a wine cradle. This is an elegant way to display a fine bottle of wine at home, or at parties, and with your company name or logo brilliantly etched into the crystal or glass, friends of friends of friends will be getting exposure to your company through this chic and savvy corporate gift.

When considering which corporate executive gifts to give this year, be sure to keep them practical. If the gift doesn't get much use, your investment is wasted. Choose something you think will be very useful on a regular basis to your clients and employees. Also, if the economy is squeezing your budget, you may be tempted to cut back on gifts or even to fudge on the quality a bit.

Your best bet is to target a select number of important clients and treat them to some high quality corporate gifts rather than give something to every single person in your rolodex that they can tell you bought at the discount depot around the corner. Your clients will be impressed with your concern and attention to quality and detail. Hand-picked corporate executive gifts are a great way to make your money count this year.

II.A vertical approach to online marketing

In today’s economy low cost targeted marketing, with measured results, is a must for advertisers to gain solid market intelligence, control advertising budgets, generate quality leads and increase brand recognition

Publisher’s (web site owners) need ads being placed on their valuable web site real estate that relates to their market. This maximizes revenue and increases web site visibility.

Dedicated vertical market advertising networks are the best solution to accomplish this.

Advertising Networks act as an online agent collecting ads from advertisers who want to place ads on web sites and automatically places those ads on publisher’s web sites available ad space. This service has become increasingly popular over the last five years as an effective, low cost, advertising vehicle for businesses and an easy way for web site owners that have available advertising space on their web site filled to increase revenue with little or no increase in cost. There are two types of advertising networks:

1. Horizontal or broad based advertising networks that focus on reach. These networks are best for consumer products that appeal to almost everyone.
2. Vertical market ad networks that focus on a specific target market. An example is the Marine Advertising Network that focuses strictly on marine products and services.

Horizontal ad networks give a broad exposure but advertisers have no control over where their ads are placed, brand recognition tends to get lost, very few quality leads are generated and the buy in is usually very high making it hard for small niche market advertisers to use the service. Publisher’s income from their valuable web site advertising space is minimal on horizontal ad networks and publisher’s get no market specific support.

Dedicated vertical market ad networks change this.

For advertisers there are no blind ad placements, advertisers know their ads are being placed on web sites that have the audience their advertising is aimed at generating quality leads. Advertisers know how ads are performing; they can monitor results, adjust ad campaigns and control budgets, all online.

For Publishers vertical market ad networks manage and sell ad space inventory increasing revenue while decreasing cost. Publisher’s web sites get increased market visibility.

Both advertisers and publishers get marketing and technical support from experts that know the vertical market being addressed.

CPM, cost per thousand ad views, on horizontal ad networks is less than $2.00. The reason, sales teams for horizontal ad networks sell the inventory as "remnant", low quality inventory. Vertical ad networks, on the other hand, will command much higher CPMs more in line with what publisher members would sell ad space for directly since this inventory represents very high quality and relevant for marketers interested in reaching that verticals particular audience. The vertical market ad network provider handles the selling and inventory management issues for the publisher thus decreasing the publisher’s costs while increasing revenue.

Internet advertising revenue for the first half of 2008 grew to $11.5 billion. (Display ads garnered 21% of this number). This is a 15.2% increase in Internet advertising revenue over the first half of 2007 according to The Interactive Advertising Bureau and Price Waterhouse Coopers report.

Even in a down economy this segment of advertising is forecast to continue to grow as consumers are spending a greater proportion of their Internet time on web sites that match their interest.

Get the best return on your marketing and web site investment in these trying times. Use a dedicated vertical market advertising network. Get immediate, quality, results. Maximize your web site and marketing investment.

"Without a doubt, vertical ad networks are a much better option for marketers that want to reach a specific targeted audience" says Carter Hostelley, founder of Leadtail.com, a new web site that helps marketers find out where to advertise online.