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Internet marketing and advertising buying can be a complicated thing. But what is simple to understand is that Internet marketing works and that it is taking over mainstream marketing. While I am sure we have yet to scratch the surface as on true Internet marketing, many mainstream advertising sources are trying to evolve their product online, but they just don’t get it.

One great example is ESPN.com’s effort to develop ESPN landing pages that are locally focused on major U.S. sports markets. ESPN.com/Chicago for examples features content focused on Chicago and the Midwest. Even though I could see some benefit from this as a sports fan, you have to understand the publishing industry to comprehend the thinking behind this move.

ESPN.com is, of course, a well visited Website and it can cost a pretty penny to advertise on the site. Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense for companies which customer base exists only in one city to advertise nationally. This is all common sense stuff. Having local sites allows ESPN and their radio network ad people to sell local advertising. At first glance it may seem like an interesting approach to Internet marketing, but in fact, this mentality falls back into marketing philosophies that are killing print media today. Newspapers have developed extreme local product offerings for years. Many papers offer different editions for different neighborhoods so that they can sell cheaper, more attractive ads to local business owners. But broadening the customer base isn’t the issue for print media; it’s giving advertisers ROI data that is transparent and meaningful.

What true Internet marketing allows you to do is pay for advertising that brings in customers who are ready to buy your product. Having a local company show up on your local sport team’s site may get you to click on the ad, but you are still unlikely to make any kind of purchase. We no longer have to wait for the media to create content to bring traffic to our ad. With Internet marketing, we can bring our advertisements to customers ready to buy. Nothing can beat that.