It is a sunny morning and you are sitting in your office. With a cup of hot coffee by your side and memories of the weekend’s activities still fresh in your mind, even if you say so yourself, today at least, life is sweet.

As you take a sip of your early morning double cappuccino a rush of cool air blows through the room and you catch a movement from the corner of your eye. In the blink of an eye there is now an smartly dressed stranger sitting in the chair opposite. Surprised, you bet; you didn’t hear anyone knock and just as you are about to say something he begins in a calm and measured voice.

‘Here is the deal’

‘In every city of the world I am going to display your product on billboards at the busiest junctions.’

‘I will be able to tell you how many people see the advertisement, their nationality, age and gender.’

‘I will tell you exactly what they think of your product and can even give you their contact details. While they are reading the billboard I will make it possible for them to view your website and, if they feel the urge, make a purchase.’

‘I can have all this setup in two days and it will cost you less than a small advertisement displayed in your favourite trade journal.’

He pauses momentarily. ‘Interested?’

Now you might think that you should beware of offers that sound too good to be true, that you are going to wake up soon or maybe that you really should get a lock for that office door.

But let’s just take time to reflect. If you are still reading this well I am that man who has come from nowhere and offered you a deal.

The advertising site is on the Internet and the billboard I’m offering is the much underrated online survey.

Stop for one moment and start to associate an online survey not with ‘market research’ but with ‘marketing’. And not any type of marketing this is ‘Marketing’ with a very large capital ‘M’ and in flashing neon lights. Marketing that is effective, direct, low cost and quick.

Publish an online survey and advertise it on a website, or via email, and like a billboard by the side of a major road junction, your message will appear in front of people. Unlike a static billboard where the amount of people that see an advert has to be estimated (based no doubt on some arbitrary percentage of passing vehicles), the online survey accurately records the number of times a survey is started.

Online surveys can ask demographic questions such as age, gender and nationality and in doing so allows you to collate metrics about the effectiveness of your promotion and confirm that you are interacting with the target respondent on a one-on-one level.

Unlike billboards where the message is often subliminal, or maybe just trying to achieve brand awareness, with online surveys you have the opportunity to connect with the public to find out what they really think about your product, how it relates to them, how it is perceived.

Using an online survey website it takes only minutes and hours to create a survey and using the power of the Internet an online survey can reach hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

Even if you offer a prize as an incentive for people to complete the survey or use Pay Per Click advertising to capture a wider, or more focused audience you will still have low cost but effective marketing.

‘So tell me. Is it a deal?’