Mike Means Business

by Mike DePue

How do I write a media plan? When should I use coupons in my advertising? How and why are people using the Web in their advertising, and should I be doing the same?

These questions and more can be answered by accessing a multitude of Web sites. It used to be that many of these advertising information sources could only be found in large university, association and company libraries. The Internet has made these resources readily available to practitioners large and small, to students and to the general public via home or library computers.

Since the Internet's sole constant is change, the following list and its annotations represent only the present moment in the evolution of this tremendous new means of information and communication. It emphasizes sites that can lead you in a great number of informational directions.

http://www.amic.com/amic_mem/dirs/index.html

From this Advertising Media Internet Center address, you can reach the Media Guru, an electronic expert who answers media-planning questions, discusses the components of a media plan and provides an encyclopedia of media terms and a glossary of Web terminology.

This site links you to agencies, associations, trade publications, assorted media, research and data suppliers and much more. Try the Bookstore and the Research Monitor.

http://advertising.utexas.edu/world/

Advertising World hails itself as the ultimate marketing communications directory, with resources for advertising and marketing professionals, students and teachers, and the most extensive collection of advertising-related links on the Web. Browse the entire page devoted to its awards and recognition and you might become a believer.

Its highly diverse and detailed breakdown includes consumer psychology, coupons, targeting and segmentation, point-of-purchase, sweepstakes and contests. Such an enormous undertaking is bound to have a few busted links, but there's so much other good stuff that you'll not complain.

It's often possible to overcome a busted link. Since the better sites are constantly changing and reorganizing, the busted link often represents a file or directory name that is no longer in use. Go back to the base URL Web address and dig around to find the latest incarnation of the content you are seeking.

http://www.krislyn.com/sites/adv.htm

The Krislyn Corporation maintains a list of favorite advertising and marketing Web sites. You'll find trade groups, marketing on the 'Net, market research and demographics. Each link has a pithy annotation.

You can link to American Newspaper Network, which has ad rates and data for almost all U.S. dailies. Another link will take you to the 200 top search words on Yahoo; this gives you some interesting insights on why and how people are using the Web.

http://www.internetadvertising.org/resources/

So, you want to be an e-merchant? The Internet Advertising Discussion List's specialized focus on resources features media planning and buying tools, tips on shopping for ad delivery software, Internet advertising basics, titles of helpful books and industry magazines, newsgroup job listings and an assortment of online resources.

All seven library facilities in Greene County offer free graphical Internet access. Contact your nearest location for details.

(Mike DePue is the business librarian at the Main Library, 397 E. Central. For almost 18 years he has answered thousands of questions on as many topics.)

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