Psst. Hey paysite owner/webhost/billing provider! I visited about ten adult webmaster message boards today. I saw your ad banner displayed at most of them. It’s a good ad. The colors are great. The Flash animation is fun. It certainly caught my eye. I’ve got nothing personal against your company and I wouldn’t bring it up except, there’s one thing very wrong about your ad:

It’s for your Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza and Christmas passed by a month ago.

Maybe I speak too soon. Maybe you’re really just ahead of the game. You’re marketing to clients/affiliates for next Christmas. Is that it? You’re the early bird. It couldn’t possibly be that whoever is selling banner spots for your company needs to wake up. That out of date ad is getting noticed all right, and not in a good way.

"Believe it or not, your once hot company can be forgotten. Show them you're still alive, kicking ass and making green. Even if all you do is change the banner background from medium blue to light blue, it's something, something that clicks."

Oh, I see. I‘m not talking about you. Your company doesn’t create calendar-specific ads. In fact, your company has been using the same ad graphic for the past five years. Stop. Turn around. You’re not getting off that easy. You’re right. Your company hasn’t changed its advertising campaign in half a decade. Five years with the same animated banner. Same colors. Same tag line. Same boring advertiser, easily ignored and often taken for granted.

But who am I to talk? You know what you’re doing. I imagine that your bottom line is just fine. You’ve got more clients, members and affiliates than ever before. Sales are off the hook. Every webmaster knows your company’s name and you don’t need to change a thing, much less your promotional campaign. If this is you then you can stop reading right now and tell all your friends that Titmowse is an idiot.

If things aren’t going that well, if you’ve noticed a marked drop off in revenue, then maybe you should keep reading.

When was the last time you took a good look at your advertising campaign? I mean a really good look, not just adding up costs. How is the Google Adsense thing coming along? Sure, it’s swell that you win bids for top placement of awesome keywords but what about the clicks? Are the surfers actually hitting your site? Are those visitors converting into members or customers? Of course there’s a certain amount of repetitive benefit in seeing the name of your site over and over again but what about the money? Are you making any money from those SE link boxes?

What about your banner, your buttons and your snappy text ads? Could they use some freshening up? Is it really necessary to wait until you completely overhaul your site or announce a new program? Did it ever occur to you that users notice new ads from old companies? Maybe your business model hasn’t changed but that shouldn’t keep you from presenting yourself as a modern enterprise. We’re not telling you to re-haul your logo or your name. We’re not suggesting you should give up on what’s tried and true. We’re only advising that you at least consider applying a fresh coat of paint. When you introduce a new ad campaign, your market notices. Humans are fickle, with short memories. Believe it or not, your once hot company can be forgotten. Show them you’re still alive, kicking ass and making green. Even if all you do is change the banner background from medium blue to light blue, it’s something, something that clicks.

Now, take a look at your sales staff. Did you maybe outsource that job to another company? Is that working well for you? How about those sexy sales reps you pay to visit the webmaster message boards? Do they know anything about how your services work? Perhaps they’re great at getting affiliates to join your sponsor program but not so great at support? Oh yeah, they’re spreading your company’s name all over the boards but that isn’t always a good thing. Have you ever considered paying someone to do a little more than post a thumbs-up smiley in ten threads? Don’t think we’ve left out the fellas. Some of us would like to know why your happy-go-lucky sales guy is all friendly before we join yet never answers us after we join?

Advertising works. Of this, there is no doubt. What you must determine is whether or not your advertising campaign could work better. One small change in wording or layout could produce higher profits. Casting off ineffective campaigns and marketers would give you the extra cash you need to pay for other types of promotion. Replacing that X-mas ad as soon as X-mas is over shows your target clientele that you are on the ball.

Update your campaigns. Do it now. Don’t wait for a new site or program. Keep webmasters interested in you ALL the time!