We’ve Come A Long Way Baby – The Future of Advertising
Written By: Katrina Dodson
It is important for any company to have a good well rounded advertising plan. With the advancement of technology, people no longer have to sit through those expensive ads placed on TV. They just TiVo a program and watch it at their convenience later, skipping over the ads. Advertisers need to look for new ideas, and creatively come up with on the edge advertising. Let me tell you something, we’ve come a long way baby in doing just that. Google TV now offers advertisers a unique and interactive way to reach out and make product searches so much easier. How does this work you ask? Intel has designed a chip that will be placed in new Sony TVs that will revolutionize the way consumers have access to products and services. Not from their phone, or computer, but through their TVs. You heard me right a full web browser that will allow unlimited access to the whole internet. How many times have you seen a product or service on TV and thought, I'd really like to know more about this. But your butt was planted firmly on the couch and you didn't want to get up and use the computer. Have no fear couch potatos, now with a click of the TV remote control you can be transported to a company’s website in a matter of seconds. A recent study confirmed that on average most households contained more TVs than people. And on average people spend over five hours a day watching TV. Considering these statistics, Google TV will be an asset to advertisers who are working at broadening their consumer reach. 
Have you ever heard the adage that “timing” is everything? This motto, in my opinion, should be in the first chapter of the advertiser’s bible. It is important that advertising dollars are spent wisely. Google has created a multifaceted tool that will ensure an advertisers success of reaching their target audiences. Not when advertisers want to reach consumers, but when consumers are interested, and want to be reached. Google Insights for Search is a service that provides visual data that advertisers can use to make sure that their messages are being heard and seen when the time is right for consumers. This data is collected from words that are searched for in Google's search engine. Some of the ways in which this data can be used are for companies who are looking at launching new products. Have you ever wondered about the best place or time to launch a new product is? With this Google tool you can enter criteria that will give you information in the form of data, graphs, and charts. This data will help you to make an informed decision on what places are ready to receive your product or services message. This can be statewide, regionally or worldwide. This is a great method for narrowing down a target audience's interest, quickly. For instance when you put in the word Vegetarian, (click on link to view the whole analysis), and you do a two year data analysis of the United States, you see that there has been a slight increase over time from 2008 to 2010 with people who are paying closer attention to what some people might call a healthier lifestyle. In regional interest we see that Oregon is really interested but Vermont is nipping at their heels for a close second. If you were going to launch a new vegetarian product, these might be the two states that you would target first. When you look at consumers top searches, you see that they searched for vegetarian recipes. So in your launch of your new veggie product you should include some recipe cards.
Brand Association: If an advertising campaign needs to be built to make a client’s brand stand out from his competitors they can examine the rising searches and top related searches to find out how other companies have positioned themselves. Once that has been established, your company can figure out where they fit into the puzzle and what steps they need to take to make their company shine above the rest.
Seasonality: You own a Bed and Breakfast in Traverse City, and you want to know when most people travel to your destination. You can do a search that spans across several years, to figure out the most popular time for tourism. With that information you can decide the best time to do advertising. This also gives you needed information for ordering supplies or hiring staff. This will help optimize your whole business strategy. As you can see from the Traverse City analysis, it looks like their peak times are in July, which one would expect if you live in Michigan.
In conclusion, Google Insights for Search service allows you to visually see peoples interest in a company’s product or services. The information you collect will allow you to follow trends so that you can tailor your advertising message. When you work efficiently you will save time and money. Long gone are the days where you have to spend hours doing research. Plug in a few key words, dates, and push a button. You will have just added an invaluable tool to your advertising and marketing toolbox.
