Abstract
M.A. (Communication)
The information age we find ourselves in require a different approach to
advertising than the traditional advertising approach we are used to. Messages
will no longer be placed in order to reach a mass audience, but to reach a very
closely defined audience. Products and services will be customised to meet
individual needs and the relationship with the consumer will be the key to success in a global economy. We are moving towards a many-to-many model of communication.
The Internet should not be used as an advertising medium on its own, but as part of a total communications strategy. It should be used as an extention to traditional advertising mediums and as a way of supplying a niche audience with information relating to them specifically. A large variety of companies see the Internet as an essential part of their marketing strategies and there exists a number of ways in which one can advertise on the Internet. The nature of the Internet makes it ideal for building relationship consumers and supply them with otherwise unavailable information: In
traditional advertising there exists a distinct difference in the way low and high
involvement products are advertised. High involvement purchase decisions
usually require large amounts of information while low involvement purchases
are usually impulse or habitual buys. This has resulted in a distinct difference in
methods of advertising used for high and low involvement products. The question arises as to whether the same is true for advertising on the Internet. This aspect are discussed in detail and the conclusion arrived at is that it is true to a certain extent. However, if advertising on the Internet is to become an essential media element to all campaigns, new principles will have to be drawn up in order to guide advertisers on how to use the Internet as an effective advertising medium.