Classified Advertising: The New Old Fashion Marketing
It's 2009 and do you know where your customers are?
More than likely they are on the ever growing popular online classified ad space. Current research from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reveals
"the number of online adults who have used online classified ads has more than doubled in the past four years. Almost half (49%) of Internet users say they have ever used online classified sites, compared with 22% of online adults who had done so in 2005."
Small business is local business. Newspaper classified ads and display ads have been an inexpensive way for small business, freelancers and home business to reach consumers. With the advent of the Internet, the online classified ad market has blossomed since the creation of Craigslist which was started as a hobby by Craig Newmark in early 1995.
Today Craigslist spans 570 cities in 50 countries covering jobs, personals and a wide range of services including beauty, travel, creative and small business ads. Other classified ad sites Kijiji and Oodle are gaining in popularity as well. Classified ads can help the smallest of small ad budgets reach consumers in the current market.
Not sure what “use” means in this context. Is that the percentage of online users who have visited a classified site here in the US? Not the same as the percentage that have made a purchase. I suspect its visitors, from the methodology in the paper.
WELL, I GUESS VISITS IS THE BEST WAY TO MEASURE SINCE THE NEWSPAPER COUNTS READERS NOT BUYERS OF ITEMS PLACED IN CLASSIFIEDS. ANYWAY THE NEWSPAPER IS DEAD. FOR YEARS THE MOST PROFITABLE PART OF THE PAPER WAS CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING, NOW THAT TOO IS GOINING,GOING, GONE.
I think the larger question is being touched on by Ted. The digital trends from social, to mobile to digital classifieds offer a wide range of opportunities to create awareness for a business where there are very large user bases… the issue is how many of those users take action and on what type of content.
Each platform has its up and down side for each type and size of business.
The challenge I have faced is whether or not the quick hits that can be gained from social and viral marketing create a sustainable business development strategy… and i don’t know that they do.
You get clicks, a few questions, but any real purchases… and at what point have you tapped out the early adopters and are now talking to thin air?
There has to be a higher arching objective that drives the social, viral and digital tactics or they are nothing more than notes being passed in class… soon to be in the circular filing cabinet.
I think a lot of companies are investing time/effort/some $$ into social networking are doing it with the assumption that they are not going to be making money directly from it. Nor will they become a household name. If they DON’T go there, however, they see they’ll be left behind. Why? Because it seems if people continue to spend their time on there, then marketing efforts will begin to galvanize in their effectiveness. Nobody expects that a facebook group is going to sell a widget, but then again: nobody is arguing that a billboard promoting a product or company is going to sell that product in and of itself (forget for a moment the “Bob Evans 2 1/2 miles ahead” billboards… different animal).
Social networking is a matter of staying in front of a very evasive prospect who spends less time in front of a TV or radio, and who does not pay attention to inorganic web ads.
I just started a classified ad website called loudmouthclassifieds.com serving the New England are. I cannot believe the success it has had in just a few months without really any advertising.
That is interesting because I decided to post a couple ads in craigslist for my services not thinking much about it but I did get a small job from it and was happily surprised. I am posting my ad on a regular basis now and making it part of my marketing plan.
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I think the internet makes searching and posting advertising much cheaper and more effective. You just have to sift through the sites to really find quality stuff.
I don’t post lots, but this was worth the read. Craigslist always has something new in stock. Some site I read had a post about a guy who was going to buy a car for his gf, and stumbled upon some ad with something about … Very odd. That is Craigslist…