In my journeys on the Internet, I am of course bombarded by all sorts of advertising. You see the usual text-based ads that someone might place in their blog posts or along the sidebar of their sites. You see banner ads sprawled across the top and the bottom. You see affiliate links interspersed among the core content.

While the phenomenon certainly isn’t new, I have seen an increase in the usage of something called pop-under ads. These function in much the same way as the pop-over ad, except the new window is opened behind the current browser window rather than on top of it. That’s why it is called a pop-under; the window “pops under” whatever the user is currently viewing.

The rationale here is that a pop-under is not as intrusive as a pop-over, since the site visitor can continue to browse the site that they’d actually like to see. Pop-unders are likely more likely to be seen, because pop-overs can oftentimes be closed immediately upon opening. The pop-under, on the other hand, can linger in the background until the user closes the current window.

Is this effective? It really depends on how you choose to use this mechanism, the kind of landing page that you use as your pop-under ad, and the effectiveness of your ad targeting. There are many ad networks that now offer pop-unders, so you may want to consider adding them to your marketing mix.

I experience this all the time. I attend a trade show with media credentials, getting a press pass so that I can cover the event for a publication of some sort. I seek out the interesting products, services, and innovations that I feel are worth describing to the audience. You would think that companies would love to get whatever press they can get.

But that’s not always the case. More often than not, I will encounter at least one booth where they either a) question why I am taking pictures of products or b) tell me that I am not allowed to take photos. On the one hand, I understand that they are trying to minimize counterfeiting and other companies copying their products. On the other hand, you’re at a trade show to promote your products.

If someone really wanted to copy your product idea and you are actively selling these products at the trade show, what’s stopping them from buying the product and taking pictures when they get home? You will always run the risk of piracy and counterfeiting, but the whole point of having a booth at a trade show is to attract the attention of investors, wholesalers, and media outlets. You want them to know about what you have to offer.

So, here’s a word to the wise for any companies thinking of taking up booth space at a trade show: if you’re not ready for the public to take pictures of your products, for whatever reason, it’s probably not such a good idea to have those products on display at the show. It means you’re not ready yet.

So many marketing and advertising efforts tap into this sense of urgency. If you don’t act right now, you’re going to miss out on a great product, a great deal, or both. This is a limited time offer, so we might pull it at any time. Are you sure you don’t want it? This really is your last chance.

We’ve seen all sorts of limited time offers in the context of infomercials and even print ads, but this phenomenon is becoming increasingly prevalent with online advertising too. In fact, many landing pages seem to employ this technique, even if the offer isn’t really all that limited. It’s always on sale, but the potential customer doesn’t know that. This is deceiving and is a practice that should be avoided.

On the flip side, we’ve seen group-buying websites like Groupon positively make fortunes with this approach. Here is a great deal, giving you something that you might want for 50% off or more, and you only have 24 hours to buy it. If you don’t, the offer is gone forever and you’ve missed out. Woot operates in much the same way.

Utilizing this technique in a slightly different way are online stores like TeeFury. In that case, the t-shirt design is only available for 24 hours. If you don’t buy this shirt today, you won’t have any opportunity to do so ever again. It’s not a deal, but it is a limited edition product that won’t be sold again.

Have you considered using similar tactics in your own marketing efforts? Were they successful?

Last week, Waves Coffee House took out an advertisement in the local newspaper, offering customers the opportunity to try out an almond milk latte for free. There were no strings attached to this freebie, aside from the expiry date and the need for the customer to clip the coupon and bring it into a local location.

Presumably, the idea behind this promotion was to get people to try the new product: a latte made with almond milk, offering a non-dairy alternative to a soy latte. The idea was also to draw some customers away from competing coffee houses like Blenz and Bean Around the World. The question is, though, whether this promotion was an effective new of marketing dollars.

You have to realize that, in order to run such a marketing campaign, Waves had to first pay for the advertisement in the newspaper. It then had to absorb the cost involved with giving away the free product, including the cup, lid, espresso, almond milk, other ingredients, cashier’s time, and the barista’s time. This is in addition to the potential lost income from customers who may have otherwise paid for a drink during the promotional period.

Yes, this is absolutely one way to get new and existing customers through the door to try a new product. However, it is debatable whether the same amount of marketing muscle and budget could have been used differently to achieve the same goals. One location that I tried, as a side note, tried to suggestive sell me on biscotti and other snacks to accompany the free beverage. That’s one way to recoup some of the costs of this campaign.

Internet marketing takes on many different forms. You see the usual banner ads. You see affiliate offers promoted on a variety of sites via landing pages and blogs. You may have also seen advertising through social networks.

If you’re looking to reach the largest possible audience while retaining a good deal of control over your costs, Sponsored Tweets is something that you might want to add to your marketing mix. The service is not new, but it is among the best when it comes to Twitter-based marketing.

Basically, you can write your own custom sponsored tweet and then you can select the Twitter users that you would like to see send out this tweet. If you are a river rafting company, you’ll likely want to target adventurous Twitter users in your area. If you’re a restaurant, you’ll want to target the foodies.

The main service allows you to pay on a per-tweet basis (the price depends on the popularity of the Twitter user), but you can also set up opportunities on a CPC basis. Go to Sponsored Tweets for more information; it costs nothing to sign up and look around.

Marketing can take on a variety of different forms. You see the ad banners on websites, advertorials in newspapers, and commercials on television. Another venue that can be worth considering is product placement, even if your budget isn’t the biggest. There are a number of YouTube partners with large viewerships, for instance, that may be interested in sponsorship by way of product placement.

Should you choose to partake in this kind of advertising, you have to ask yourself a very simple question: do you want subtle product placement or do you want obvious product placement? As with so many other things in life, there are pros and cons to either approach. With subtle product placement, you are less likely to upset the viewers, but you may also be less likely to get their attention. They might not notice that you’re in there at all.

With more obvious product placement, it’s much more certain that the viewers will notice that your products or your brand are featured prominently in the video. However, video producers may be less likely to take on this kind of sponsorship and you may actually offend or upset many of the viewers. People don’t like being “sold” on something in this way.

So, not surprisingly, the best approach is usually somewhere in the middle, but what do you think? How do you react to product placement on television, in movies, and online? Perhaps The Greatest Movie Ever Sold by Morgan Spurlock could be worth exploring.