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Digital promotion techniques

Firms are increasingly using web banners and web search engines to promote brands.

  • Web banners are a form of online advertising where advertisements are embedded into a web page. The intention is to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser. Affiliates earn money usually on a cost per click (CPC) basis.

Web banners have the same purpose as traditional advertisements by informing consumers of products or services and then persuading them to buy. It is, however, easier to monitor the results and effectiveness of web campaigns and can be targeted to the viewer's interests. Online behaviour can be measured through the use of click tags which record how often a consumer views a sites and the interest shown on links on the site.

  • Firms can pay for a sponsored link on a search engine such as Google to appear at the top of a list of results for a particular search word or phrase. Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, where advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, all operating a bid-based model.