Google Uses Print Advertising to Promote Adwords

In September of 2009 I wrote a post about Google using direct mail to solicit customers for its online advertising program, AdWords. I did a follow up post last February when I received another direct mail solicitation from Google. This week, I ran across a magazine ad also promoting Google's online advertising program. It appeared in Target Marketing Magazine and also in Fortune. Clearly, Google, the undisputed leader in online advertising, still recognizes the value of print media. It is interesting that the magazines they chose to run the ad in are popular with marketing executives and CEOs.

The ad is very well done. It uses the tag line "Make your business top of mind," and includes a $75 offer to promote Adwords. No one is in a better position to use online self promotion than Google, yet they choose to add printed communications to their list of marketing tools.  The marketing folks at Google understand the impact of print advertising. Online advertising has a value, but it is not a "replacement" for print. If you really want your business to be "Top of mind," don't abandon print, but integrate it into your total marketing strategy. That's what Google has done.