If you are working on an ad campaign, try going online this time and save few bucks. Online advertising is broad and flexible in its reach and definitely cost-effective....SME Times tells you the advantages of online advertising.

The first and foremost advantage of online advertising is the fact that you are not shooting the arrow in the dark. In traditional media - be it print or television - you are bound by the fact that your ad will be visible to a mixed reader/ viewer.

Incidentally it might be that more than half of them are not your target audience. But in online advertising, you are the boss. You can send the particular ad to the audience you want to. Above that, you can easily track the number of people who saw your ad.

Here are some advantages of advertising online:

ONE-TIME INVESTMENT:
Like television commercials, it doesn't cost very much to increase the reach of an online ad campaign. There's no need to print additional copies of a magazine or to create and send direct mail pieces. Expanding the size of your ad campaign can be as easy as sending an email or clicking on a web page.

BANG ON TARGET:
The online community is more affluent, better educated, younger and more willing to spend money than the population at large. Unlike broadcast and print media, the Internet allows advertisers to target exactly who will see their ads.

GLOBAL EXPOSURE:
People from across the globe will be able to access your advertisement and communicate with you through e-mail. Thus the reach of an online ad is more.

INSTANT FEEDBACK:
Unlike commercials or print ads, a web ad banner is only the beginning of the process. While your banner might present only your branding message, interested prospects can always click on it to go directly to your website. Once inside the website, they can access as much material about your company and products as you care to present.

DEFINITELY COST-EFFECTIVE:
Partly because you pay only for exactly what you're getting, online advertising can be extremely competitive with other forms of advertising.

UNLIMITED EXPOSURE:
Exposure of an electronic advertisement is very limited. An average television ad will be between 30 seconds to a minute. So the advertiser will have to resort to repeated telecasts to get the required advantage. Thus it comes out to be very expensive. The same goes for radio advertising.

KNOW YOUR TARGET:
Traditional media advertising is like shooting in the dark as compared to online advertising. A television, newspaper, radio ad will go to one and all irrespective of what their area of interest are. With online advertising you can send the message to only the audience of your choice. Thus the essence of the ad campaign is not lost. For example, if you are dealing with apparel and want to go for a banner ad in tradeindia's apparel newsletter, it is guaranteed that the entire audience will be from the industry for whom you made the ad. Thus the success of the ad campaign will be 100 percent. Moreover, most websites allow advertisers to gather detailed information on who saw an ad, when, in what context, how many times and so on. Better yet, you get this information instantly, allowing you to adjust your ad campaign and make it even more effective.

IMMEDIATE TRANSACTION:
Traditionally, advertising was a one-way mechanism. In traditional advertising, all you can do is give toll-free numbers and e-mail ids alongside print publications and television ads. There is no other way for customers to act on the information in the ad.

However, on the web, interested customers can click, learn more and actually buy on the spot. There's simply nothing more powerful. Thus online ads can deliver more information to customers and make it easier for them to learn about your company's products.

So next time when you work on an ad campaign, take into account these advantages. I'm sure you would definitely like to save a few bucks and get maximum exposure.