Web Advertising Integration Strategies.

With its rising popularity as an information and business source, the Internet has become an attractive medium for advertising and marketing. However, many marketing professionals are struggling to learn how to take full advantage of the Web to extend existing marketing communications strategies.

The Agribusiness Internet Advertising Council (AIAC), a new council under the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), hosted a one-day workshop entitled "Web Advertising Integration Strategies" in which participants explored how the Web figures into the traditional marketing mix and provides strategies for effective advertising integration in agribusiness. The workshop, which took place Jan. 26, in Kansas City, Mo., featured speaker Nancy Johnston, vice president of Full Moon Interactive, a member of The Laredo Group family of consultants.

Johnston noted that the Internet is both complementing and disrupting to the classic four P's of the marketing stimuli mix (product, pricing, placement and promotion). A Web site can be the product, and the Web is creating new pricing models. For many, the Web will become their primary distribution channel, she contends. It also is a new medium for messaging where the customer is in the driver's seat.

RULES FOR SUCCESS

Johnston discussed success rules in Web convergence. The product, price, distribution or communication effort on the Web must solve an end user's problem in a significantly better or new way if a company expects results. For example, there should be better quality, more features, lower prices and more value for the money. It also should be more convenient for the end user. Another rule for success is the product, price, distribution or communication effort on the Web must provide a return on the investment by increasing revenue, decreasing costs, and attaining or retaining customer loyalty.

Participants were given ideas for supporting their marketing mix on a Web site. Ideas for product support include using ingredient and product information, using a product/dealer location finder, having a way of getting customer feedback on product satisfaction, using post-sales support and using ancillary support software for the product. Pricing ideas include reduced pricing if the product is bought online and discounted pricing for co-op members vs. non-members. Added value incentives such as a free e-mail newsletter or a gift with purchase also are a plus, in addition to being able to research competitors' pricing strategies.

The Internet is a new distribution channel for products and services. Johnston said products and services should be available for purchase on a company's Web site, which should be non-geographic specific. They should also be available for purchase through portals and on third-party marketplace exchanges.

She said shipping information should be included, as well as order tracking and history, and automated replenishment programs. Because customers drive all of the choices, promotion or marketing communications are the most dramatically affected of the marketing mix. Large page ads are out and strong brands will typically win on the Internet. Johnston suggested companies use the leverage of the technology and specifically promote solutions to individuals' problems.

ADS THAT WORK

Johnston also discussed online marketing and advertising options. Banners and buttons, for instance, are the most dominant ad unit. Branding studies support the use of banners for awareness because banner technology pushes effectiveness. Sponsorship programs are designed uniquely by a Web site for an advertiser. They give dominance to an advertiser on a site or in a section of a site, and they create an added value for the advertiser on that site.

Different types of promotions also may be used on a site to promote special offers, contests, sweepstakes or prize sponsorships. Another marketing option is e-mail marketing or relationship marketing. For instance, try to sponsor the newsletters of other sites on topics related to your site. Newsletters are opt-in, meaning customers have chosen to receive the newsletter. Targeted e-mail lists also can be purchased. Johnston recommended using only 100 percent opt-in lists to avoid contributing to unwanted e-mails. This also is one of the lowest cost and highest response rates of any online ad program, she noted.

Common problems or challenges Johnston has seen on Web sites include advertisers who do not know their target audience or who do not place the media on a site that is in context with where a user may not be or where their mindset may not be at that time. "The Web is still an experimental medium to some degree, and for many who are just getting involved, it's solely experimental," Johnston explained. "They should learn from the mistakes that they have made."

PART OF THE MIX

Attendees also learned how to integrate the Web into their advertising plans. A good way to do this is through media integration, which is advertising that delivers a similar message, draws on the same creative look and feel, and aims to build brands over the long term across online and offline media. "Integrated communications means analyzing every touch point that you have with your customers, and that includes the Web," Johnston said. "And because it's an unknown medium, it tends to be the `stepchild' in the marketing arsenal of tools."

According to Johnston, because a company's Web site may be handled by a different group or company, it may not be in tune with some of the branding or communications efforts being done elsewhere. "I encourage anyone getting involved with it to bring it into the core of the communications planning of the company,"

Johnston said. "Make sure you are reflecting all of the marketing and messaging." This means more than just having a consistent look and feel, she noted.

Johnston acknowledged that mistakes in advertising were common on the Internet during the past three to five years. "In the future," she said, "I think we'll see movement toward more personalization, more targeting, and more sophisticated targeting tools and techniques because the promise of the one-to-one marketing is, I believe, going to happen." Johnston explained that while "traditional" advertising will continue to take place on the Web, it will lead to more relationship marketing programs.

Marketers also will find ways to communicate beyond the banner ad with a mix of communications and digital marketing programs online and offline. Johnston contends the future will hold a more advanced search engine technology as well as "persistence communication" or wireless communication, being able to reach everyone anywhere.

"More companies are beginning to open Persistence E-Services divisions because they will always be able to communicate in an untethered fashion with the new handheld and wireless devices," Johnston explained. "Now is the time for more traditional companies to get online if they haven't put their foot in the water yet."

Welcome to the bonus section of Agri Marketing magazine that is reserved solely for NAMA members. It is part of the extended communications agreement between NAMA and Agri Marketing. This section recaps the Web Advertising Integration Strategies seminar that was held January 26 in Kansas City. As a way to give our members more value, these bonus sections will be available quarterly.

--Jill Green, President, NAMA

For more information on e-commerce and Web advertising, attend the 2001 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show, April 11-13, in Denver. Refer to the NAMA section in this issue for more conference information.