Online advertising = branding?

For some reason, many businesses are still avoiding online advertising, instead sticking to more traditional forms such as newspaper advertising, direct mail or television. While these are all great forms of advertising, they are also more expensive and their effectiveness can be very dependant of the budget - for example, a television campaign with a monthly budget of $20,000 would usually deliver less than half of the results compared to a campaign with a monthly budget of $40,000.

On the other hand, online advertising can often reach a large number of people for a much smaller investment. In many cases, online advertising can even be more effective than other mediums because many web sites have regular visitors who will be more trusting of advertising on a familiar web site than one in a newspaper or on television.

But online advertising is often ignored when it comes to one vital component of an effective advertising campaign - branding. In today's fragmented advertising world where consumers quickly scan over newspapers, use TiVo to cut out commercials and subscribe to commercial free satellite radio, there is an underutilized tool that you can use to expand your brand exposure and reach beyond your competition. Are you taking advantage of it?