Both  paid search (also known as pay per click) and banner advertising (also known as display advertising)  are effective in increasing in-store and online revenues by reaching customers at different points in the buying cycle. However, banner advertising helps create brand awareness while pay per click has shown better direct response results as it can be targeted based on the users interests. But, when these marketing strategies are used in combination the results improve substantially.

Display advertising is used to promote business products and services and expose more people to the brand name. Surveys show that people who are exposed to the name of the business and products search for the brand and segment terms more often than people who have not viewed the banner advertisement. Searches on the business name have been proven to increase by almost 123%, when the name has been highlighted in the display advertisement.

Surveys also show that people exposed to display ads are more likely to click on organic and paid search results linked to that business’ website. Display advertising is also effective in keeping a business name in surfers’ minds when they are looking for a product or service that was promoted by that business. A whopping 52% of internet users respond to banner advertising and 27% search for a product by brand.

Pay per click is more effective for direct marketing campaigns where the marketer’s objective is to get a response from the user. Pay per click advertising can be targeted by selecting the keywords for which advertisers would like their ads to appear in search results, including their website in the ad copy with a compelling call to action. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click search engine marketing are performance based marketing strategies for advertisers that are looking for a Return On Investment  from their advertising spend.

To conclude, both banner advertising and pay per click advertising are extremely effective. However, display ads serve brand advertiser’s needs better than paid search while pay per click search marketing addresses direct marketer’s response needs better than display advertising. But, both these online marketing strategies can be implemented together to maximize the efficacy of your marketing objectives such as increasing web traffic to your website, improving sales conversions and getting qualified business leads. And small businesses should look to work with search engine marketing companies to shift their marketing budgets online in 2010.