Traditional Media Advertising

Radio

If you are running radio ads, you may want to include your URL ("visit X company's Web site at ") in the voice-over copy. Though it's not likely that people are going to pull off of the freeway to write down your address, they're not likely to do this for a phone number either. Yet, somehow, giving out phone numbers on the radio seems to work.

TV & Cable

Television is multimedia—text, graphics, video, animation, and sound. If you are running TV ads, it should be no problem to add your URL in at least the titling (text), and hopefully the voice-over, of your existing production. Most post-production studios will be able to do this in a matter of minutes, and the rewards from this simple exercise can be dramatic.

Since TV is a visual medium, you can even include screen shots of your Web site. Of course, you can also do this in print, but TV can enable you to show the action on your site—something more likely to gain interest than a static shot. Clearly, a screen shot won't fit into most TV ads' themes, and you wouldn't want to cheapen your overall presentation just to make room for a screen shot, but it's something to keep in mind.

Note: Avoid the "http://" part of your address. In the case of radio and TV voice-overs, this should definitely be omitted—"AICH, TEE, TEE, PEE, COLON, FORWARD-SLASH, FORWARD-SLASH"

Gaining Media Publicity

The news media loves the Information Superhighway, and even the smallest mention of your site in a magazine, newspaper, or on radio or TV can do more to publicize your site than 20 full-page ads. Considering the negligible investment of a press release, you should think of publicizing your site in this way as a "must do."

Although you can send out your own news release, an experienced PR or ad firm that offers media relations services can be a great asset. This is not only because they will be able to put a "spin" on your story that can make it more attractive to reporters, but because they will have contacts in the industry who can help push that story through.