And just like that, Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion. There are many naysayers about this deal but as an advertiser, I love it. If Google can integrate the DoubleClick ad network into their existing ad management tool, this will be huge. Last week I attended an executive dinner hosted by WebTrends which had a few prospective clients as well as existing clients (like myself). During our discussion, we got on the topic of managing banner advertisements alongside SEM campaigns.
Tying SEM to Banner Advertising (and vice versa)
For someone like me who wants to show banner ads to people who have previously searched for terms, this is huge. Tying search to banner campaigns has been the missing link. As web marketers, we know that banner ads have an impact on search. We also know that people who search are checking out multiple sites, comparing prices, comparing features, and trying to get as much information as possible about a topic. As a brand advertiser, we can now start to merge our online strategies for banner ads and search marketing into one comprehensive, intelligent campaign. This benefits us from a budget standpoint, but will also help us target consumers to give them the most relevant advertising as possible.
Privacy advocates of the world unite in horror
The privacy advocates will certainly be opposed to this, but that's fine -- I trust Google enough to Do The Right Thing. That said, this now opens the door for companies like WebTrends and their Dynamic Search product to fully integrate banner advertising into their product since it will be part of a search engine. Of course, it will probably be a while before there is a central management interface for DoubleClick and Google AdWords, but a guy can dream, can't he? I really look forward to the day I can tie banner advertising and search engine marketing to actual data, to see how one effects the other. Then we can start getting a true understanding of how our entire online advertising strategies are performing -- from e-mail, to banner ads, to search ads.
Banner Advertising will become accessibile for small businesses on a limited budget
Let's also not forget the network of sites Google has now "purchased" to run ads on. This may be an extension of banners available to AdSense customers, too. Sprinkle in video ads and the YouTube aquisition and Google has one powerful empire of online advertising. If they do it correctly, they'll even make it accessible to the Common Man so small businesses can compete with the big guys. For online publishers, it will hopefully become easier to focus on producing a quality website without having to play the balancing act with several ad servers, Google AdSense, in-house ad sales, etc. to generate the most revenue. This is the quandary we're (SuperMotors) in right now. Who has the time to constantly adjust pricing floors on various ad networks each month depending on the inventories of the various ad networks? Not us, but we have to do it anyway. It's a never-ending battle.
It'll be an interesting year for online advertising.
Tags:
banner advertising,
contextual advertising
