Tim now a different kind of tool man

For years Tim Carter was known as the expert for the syndicated Ask The Builder syndicated show on television, newspaper and radio. While he still has those gigs (www.askthebuilder.com), he's now known more nationally as an internet publisher. Tim spoke to an overflow crowd at an American Marketing Association seminar in Cincinnati last week displaying a passion and enthusiasm for what the Internet can do for business-to-business and business-to-consumer interactions. Some of his more interesting observations:

• Widget Ads (really mini website ads) are the latest phenomenon in effective online advertising. One example I found is boo-box (http://boo-box.com/site/) which promotes relevant marketing;
• Video ads are a must in your advertising budget. Tim doesn't advocate eliminating all traditional advertising but he says that the majority of your advertising should be Internet-based;
• Optimization doesn't cut it. He says about 95 percent of your online advertising budget should be directed to paid placement on search engines which he says is much more effective (with only about five percent put towards optimization).

Finally Tim said marketers need to remember they are in the "pain relief business." And he advised that Internet marketing that works allows buyers to find an exact solution to their search query, a phrase he used to define Contextual Advertising.

Tim is certainly not alone in his bullishness. A new report from the Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that Internet advertising revenues reached a combined total of nearly $10 billion during the first six months of this year...a 27 percent increase from the same period a year ago-driven largely by interactive advertising revenue.