Who Needs Google's New Ad Offerings?

Google now has more than just paid search; the one trick pony steps outside of their core proficiency and adds interactive advertising... and gives their advertisers more control:

1) site targeting, allowing advertisers to pick which sites to display contextual ads.
2) image ads program expansion: ability to test Flash ads and different size ad formats across chosen sites.
3) introduction of a CPM model for their contextual site targeting.

David Berkowitz with MediaPost's Search Insider:

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), online display advertising accounted for 39 percent of online advertising in 2004, compared with 40 percent for search. Together, that's nearly an $8 billion opportunity, with plenty of growth ahead. Google has a brand name, advertisers, publishers, and partners to make its contextual initiatives work.

This is a long expected move by Google. Google will use their dominant brand to take a portion of the $8 billion dollar online advertising opportunity.

What does this mean for advertisers?

1) more options.
2) more control.
3) more ways to make money with Google.

What kind of advertiser is right for Google's new offering?

Google's new offering is great for the advertiser who's looking to venture outside of search but doesn't want to negotiate with individual publications.

In addition, if you'd considered image ads with Google in the past but didn't like the lack of control, you now have the choice of where your ads will appear. You can now keep your brand equity secure.

Having the choice of site also allows you to keep a tighter focus on your exposure and enhance your return on investment.

Not enough time or budget to test out the new offerings?

Getting more time is simple: outsource. If you lack the time to test new marketing initiatives you need to offload some of your work. Give it to a team of experts who can manage your budget more efficiently.

What about freeing up budget for testing? Look for underperforming offline marketing dollars. If you're like most marketers you've probably already started shifting more offline marketing dollars online.

How to take advantage of the new opportunity without risk?

My suggestion is to get smarter and outsource your paid search and interactive advertising to an agency that has experience with Google's new offerings. That's the only way you'll know for sure if Google's contextual ads generate competitive ROI for your business.

Resources:
Coverage in SearchEngineLowdown
MediaPost
Google's New Ad Formats

About the Author:

Greg Ives is the Paid Search Director for Websourced's KeywordRanking.

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