Achieving results is the core mandate of any online marketing strategy. Your goals are nothing less than gaining maximum, efficient exposure among your target audience, generating as many qualified leads as possible, and turning those leads into customers.

The level playing field that was once search marketing has morphed into He-with-the-most-money-and-resources-wins. In other words, large companies have finally woken up to what's been working for smaller companies since the early 2000s. Pay-per-click advertising offers quantifiable metrics and results, right out of the gate. As a result, the big boys jumped into paid search with a certain fervor (and budget) smaller advertisers simply didn't have.

Print and production

AáLittle over seven years ago, I wrote a column in DM News about the resources available from the US Postal Service. At that time, I was not too thrilled with how the USPS Web site was constructed. It was not user-friendly at all.

Powered by áGoogle and unlimited choice, consumers have taken control of the marketing process. They decide to visit your Web site, your store or call your phone center. They initiate more than 70 percent of site visits. Consumers generate an estimated 5 billion Web site visits, 2 billion searches, and almost a billion inbound calls per day.

A couple of my copywriting colleagues from Germany came to visit me in my office, and as we were chatting, the question came up: When you sit down to write a promotion, where do you start?

The online exchange or marketplace brings buyers and sellers together in the most efficient way possible: getting what they're looking for, at a price acceptable to both, while the exchange takes care of the administration (think eBay). This has been successful for many types of businesses offering goods or services. It's only natural that advertising take this route, the ad exchange allows buyers to maximize return on investment through dynamic pricing and intelligent bidding, automating the setting of bids based on past performance and budgets, and making it easier to select the best pricing models for the investment. As the ad exchange takes hold in the mainstream, a newer model is emerging as one to watch: the lead generation exchange.

It's no surprise that ad copy is an integral part of an online campaign. We are given only a limited number of characters to share our message and get the right users to our clients' Web sites. The rule of thumb is to make ad copy snappy or even catchy. But is that really the best approach? In search engine marketing, an online ad is a door sign on a busy street full of competitors. Knowing this, what would you want your sign to say?

A leading auto manufacturer routinely exhibited at car races to generate sales. Capturing prospect names was easy; fulfilling requests for specific model information was not. Prospects received generic information from a massive inventory of pre-printed material stuffed into envelopes by hand. The fulfillment process could take months and conversion rates were low.

Marketers who participate in contextual advertising programs benefit from a greater ability to target the right customers at the right time with a significant impact on online earnings.