The Olympics are hitting the airwaves, and computer monitors

With the Olympics starting in a few days I found myself searching for Olympic related news over the weekend.  I went to Google and searched on the keyword “Olympic coverage”.  My search eventually led me to nbcolympics.com and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much coverage NBC is providing through online media.  If their website is correct, you can watch over 1400 hours of Olympic coverage on TV and 2000 hours online!  Yes, you read that correctly.  NBC, the network TV giant, is planning to show more Olympic coverage online than on TV.  Who would ever have guessed 10 years ago that you could watch more Olympic coverage on your computer than on your TV?

So, I decided to research this a little more and discovered that YouTube has a deal with the International Olympic Committee to televise, err I mean stream, about 3 hours a day of exclusive content.  Wow, YouTube has come a long way from the days when it was perceived as a place to watch regular people post funny (and sometimes contrived) videos.

With this unprecedented increase in coverage of the Olympics through online media I can just imagine the shift in advertising dollars from traditional marketing channels to online marketing.  Lehman Brothers Internet Analyst Doug Anmuth expects $100 million dollars spent on internet marketing this year for the Summer Olympics.  While this is a fraction of the $1.5 billion dollars marketers will be spending overall in advertising for the global event, it represents the growing trend of major traditional ad spends moving over to the online world.  So expect to see more banners ads, Pay-per-Click ads, and social media marketing this summer.  The Olympics are right around the corner and the hottest sport this summer is extreme internet exposure.

Think back to when you took your drivers license test.  Remember how you had to first pass the written test, and then excel at the driving test?  You couldn’t get your license without passing both. This happens a lot in life.  In order to become a successful doctor, you not only have to complete undergraduate science requirements, but you also have to take the MCAT and get accepted into medical school.  In order to successfully make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you have to have bread, peanut butter, and jelly.   Most things in life require steps.  First this, then that, etc - You get my point.  The same methodology applies to the marketing arena.  If you have a multi-media marketing plan, you must learn how to integrate and utilize each media channel in order to enhance the other.

In order to have a successful online marketing campaign, it must reflect and/or match what you are communicating offline. Search Engine Marketing professionals cannot expect to be a complete success, if they do not integrate their search marketing efforts with their efforts in offline media channels. As a client strategist, I have different types of clients.  I have some that solely focus on online marketing where search makes up their entire marketing plan.  I have other clients who not only advertise on search, but also through television, radio, direct mail, and newspapers.  It is essential for me to know and understand the promotions that they are running through offline media channels, in order for me to be successful with their search marketing campaigns.

From my experience, there is often a big disconnect when integrating online and offline marketing efforts. Frequently, it has to do with budgets.  A lot of companies have $xxx to spend on traditional media and a completely separate budget for online media.  In addition, it’s typical that different departments work with separate efforts- one being assigned to broadcast media, one being assigned to print, one being assigned to online, etc.   If this occurs, it is extremely important that all of those departments communicate in order to learn and understand the complete marketing picture.  Integrating search with offline media should result in a healthier bottom line.  Effective communication with other departments or agencies, if you have them, is critical. It is important for all members on board to fully understand the entire marketing plan.  It will result in more success with your campaigns.

A recent study by JupiterResearch reports that half of all advertisers are spending less than 5% of their online budgets on social media ads in 2008, which is a much smaller chunk of the pie compared to Search and Display. Larger marketers have been the most hesitant in getting more involved with advertising on Social Media due to challenges with measuring ROI and brand metrics.

Overall, marketers are still unclear on how to leverage this emerging channel and how to measure results. In addition, marketers have limited performance history to use as a comparison with the channel. Social Media publishers realize there are some issues, and are beginning to offer more tools to marketers to help ease any worries.

Social Media users are flocking to these sites, but that doesn’t equate to interaction with the ads. According to a recent MediaPost article, 54% of users never click on ads, 39% occasionally click on ads, and only 7% often respond to Social Ads.

As social media publishers like FaceBook and MySpace continue to offer more tools to advertisers to help them customize their campaigns, there should be a higher adoption of the channel and increased budgets should soon follow.