"It used to be that when a business wanted to market itself, it would take out an ad in the newspaper, sponsor a glitzy event or have one of its employees walk around the city wearing huge placards with the business name on it. But then the Internet happened, and, with the emergence of “21st-century advertising agencies" (e.g. search engine marketing company web site development firm), marketing was transformed forever.

While the “old school" business promotions are still widely used, businesses now also pour serious money into marketing methods that use the Internet and specifically targets web users. Forrester Research for example, estimated that corporations spent about $6 billion in 2005 on e-mail marketing alone. Broadcast Corporation Fox on the other hand, started streaming behind-the-scenes footages of one of its shows online and promoted the “webisodes" entirely on the Internet. Aside from e-mail marketing and video streaming, other Internet marketing methods include Pay Per Click advertising, search engine optimization, interactive advertising and blogging.

Why the popularity of these high-tech marketing methods?

For one thing, the Internet is the fastest growing means of communication and entertainment in the world. According to statistics, as of March 2007, 1,114,274,426 people are online-- reaching even a fraction of this people means big gains for any business.

Another reason why Internet marketing is fast gaining popularity is the fact the promoting online is a lot more cost-effective than traditional advertising methods. While TV ads costs thousands of dollars and lasts only for a few seconds, developing a web site, which will serve as your business’ 24-hour advertisement, costs about $300. Search engine optimization and Pay Per Click ads, methods used to increase your business’ visibility and conversion, are also popular Internet marketing methods not only because they are effective, but also because SEO packages from reputable search engine optimization specialists can cost as little as $100.

Online marketing’s popularity is also attributed to the fact that they are much easier to track. When you run a Pay Per Click ad for example, you’ll get detailed reports of how many times the ad appeared, the number of people who clicked on it and the cost of each click. This means that you’ll be able to easily evaluate if the ads are benefiting your business.

Thinking about running a marketing campaign for your business? In this modern world, Internet marketing is your best bet.