Keyword advertising is one of the best marketing tools to come along in decades. Google has led the pack of providers since the medium was born. Now Google hopes to extend that dominance into other marketing mediums, namely newspaper and radio. Proceed with caution, because while all three offerings are integrated in the Google AdWords toolkit, they are distinctly different.

It is quite possible that Google's print and radio advertising tools might be the next big thing in marketing. A decade ago, skeptics warned that selling ads alongside search engine results would corrupt the integrity of the search engines and render them useless. Except for a few outliers, that didn't happen. Point being skeptics are often wrong, so do your own analysis.

What is certain is a decade ago a few brokers embraced early on what online keyword advertising could do. And they reaped the benefits of being early adopters. Google's keyword advertising boasts a handful of powerful benefits: ease of entry, scalability, precision tracking, precision budget control and precision targeting. These qualities are rare in other forms of marketing, including newspaper and radio ads.

Online ads have pre-qualification built in based on the keywords that were searched. Newspaper and radio intentionally reach a broad audience. Newspaper and radio advertising is "interruption advertising" for the most part. The hope is that you catch someone's attention and he or she becomes interested, not that you catch the eye of someone who is already interested. That's a big difference. In mass advertising, you are spending a large percentage of your investment reaching people who aren't even qualified, and you make your investment whether or not they respond to your ad.

Google is showing their own marketing savvy by closely aligning their newspaper and radio advertising programs with their wildly successful online advertising product. Recently the "Print Ads" tab started appearing in the Google AdWords client interface screen. But while the provider, Google, is the same, the marketing mediums are very different. Proceed with caution when considering Google's print and radio ad tools. Asking yourself one simple question should help: would you have advertised in that newspaper or on that radio station before Google got involved?

Google radio and newspaper ads may be a great opportunity for brokers who are generalists or who have large marketing budgets. Google has now turned every marketer into a far-reaching media buying department. Last year, you would have needed to contact each individual newspaper and radio station to place ad orders (or hired a big-time media agency to do it for you). This morning you can buy online, radio and newspaper ads in Orange County, Boston and Savannah in less time than it takes your coffee to go cold.

As with all marketing investments, don't get swept away by the seller's name or reputation. Carefully analyze the opportunity to make sure it is a smart investment for your business.

Learn more about Google's new advertising tools:

Newspaper: http://www.google.com/adwords/printads/

Radio: http://www.google.com/adwords/audioads/