Time for marketers to re-think their Net strategy

Dubai based Madar Research says that Internet connections will increase from 17 to 52 million in the Arab world over the next three years. This will put the Net ahead of satellite TV in terms of growth, and offers huge potential for the advertising and marketing goods and services.

Already savvy companies are levering the Net to advantage. Emirates Airlines has a dedicated team working on its innovative web promotions, and has successfully diverted a good share of bookings to its own website, away from the middleman.

However, what regional advertisers seem to like about the web most at the moment is its ability to target specific audiences. For example, sponsor the healthcare news if this is your industry or a shipping column if you are in the logistics business.

The nice thing is that you will get a report each month telling you precisely how many page views your section received. Websites such as AME Info even offer ABC audits to advertisers, unlike almost all print media in the Middle East.

Internet advertising is also a fast way to establish a new brand if you are new to the Middle East, and many foreign companies are looking for ways to break into this lucrative market.

At the end of the day it is all about eye balls. Where is the consumer now reading his or her news each day? Where do people go for information on new cars? Where do they go to book a hotel or holiday? How do they start to look for a new home? Where do they search for investment advice? Where do they do their banking these days?

All roads lead back to the Internet, and as the Arab world increasingly moves online this is going to be the place to advertise new products and place new brands.

The competition then will be for the most effective web marketing solutions, and this depends on the emergence of new creative Web media agencies and the development of in-house talent. This is starting to happen but the market has a lot further to go.

All the same, many large companies and government concerns will be sitting down this summer to review Internet marketing opportunities, and how to grab a bigger slice of the action. This will be time well spent.