The question we are most frequently asked is: "How will an Internet marketing campaign compare to more traditional advertising avenues?" It's a conundrum that vexes many corporate leaders, from emerging entrepreneurs to seasoned CEOs. Unfortunately, instead of seeking a rational answer to the question, many of them just ignore it and hope it will go away.

As a rule, emerging companies focus most of their time and talents on meeting the needs of customers, as well they should. Strangely, however, many neglect the function of winning customers in the first place. Others naively assume that if they simply send out print fliers or produce a TV advertisement that clients will beat a path to their door. Call it the "build a better mousetrap" syndrome. Unfortunately many companies "throw away" thousands of dollars per year on useless advertising channels.

Let's contrast the individual benefits of each advertising medium and then directly compare both.

Traditional Advertising

It's important to make a qualification here. Giant consumer corporations such as automakers, packaged food manufacturers, and retail chains spend a huge percentage of their marketing dollars on paid media advertising, the most visible (and expensive) tool in the marketing toolbox. Depending on the size of your company and the business you're in, advertising might not be the right (and certainly not the only) tool for you.

A professional services company like my own is a good case in point. While we serve a national clientele, we are much too small to effectively advertise on a national scale. As a result, we don't purchase paid media advertising. But we do have an aggressive marketing program built around tactics like direct mail, online marketing and public relations. For a variety of reasons, paid advertising might not be right for your company either, but events, vehicle wraps, point-of-sale displays, or other tactics certainly could be.

The important thing is intentionally and deliberately to set aside some rational percentage of your sales to get out there. That way, the question you have to answer isn't "How much should we spend?" but rather, "How do we spend most effectively?"

Internet Marketing, Not Just Advertising

While most of the benefits of internet marketing are going to show up immediately, there are other benefits that tend to happen further down the line, benefits of internet marketing that build upon those that are already in place. Initially, you're going to discover that:

• Internet marketing helps you to attract prospective customers who are already looking for the products and services that you offer which enables you to attract those prospects who are ready to make a purchase.
• Marketing your business online with targeted pay per Click advertising allows you to draw in those prospects who live within a certain area (or who are looking for key services in the area where you do business).
• Web marketing helps to draw in an increased number of site visitors who aren't fully committed to making a purchase but who will be swayed provided your web site is answers their questions & concerns.

The more that you are able to get those who are interested in your products and services to your web site, the more that you are going to find that you're able to generate leads and to make sales. Of course, just getting people to your web site is only the first step. Additional benefits of internet marketing begin to show themselves when you have a web site that stands out from those of your competitors, when your site provides the information that your site visitors are looking for and that information is easy for them to find.

Comparison Results for Each Medium Based on Price

As a control for our comparison we will assume most businesses spend 5% of their gross sales yearly on their advertising budget. In this instance we will assume the business made $1,000,000 in 2008.