As more marketers and advertisers are drawn to the allure of click->buy, is there a new paradigm being created that pits the show-me-the-results-today mentality against an organization’s traditional sales cycle?

Much has transpired over the last few years to fuel the “right now” attitude of the current digital era, and this movement has slowly but surely seeped into the commercial marketplace as well. Companies are expanding and shifting advertising budgets to the digital medium because the promise of an instant audience (that’s where people are migrating) with instant revenue (and those people are spending money) is too tempting to ignore.

But even though more people are spending more time online, does this automatically equate to more dollars spent or more purchases made?

Not necessarily. Remember the shopping mall? 10-20 years ago it was as much of a place of business as it was a place to hang out. People would socialize and gather - to talk with friends, see a movie, or do some window shopping. Today, destinations like MySpace, services like text messaging, media outlets like YouTube, and shopping experiences like eBay are taking the place of what historically have been offline activities.

And just like the tire-kickers of yesteryear, people regularly visit these sites without the intent to purchase something or engage in a transaction.

Online has become the new offline. Activities that were once terrestrial commonplace are now happening digitally at an increasingly growing rate. Everything has gone digital - music, watching TV or a movie, communicating (voice or text) - even grocery shopping.

Clearly those organizations with a significant portion of their revenue coming from online channels expect to see positive returns on digital initiatives. But, if online is the major or only path to market or customer engagement it makes sense for a direct correlation to exist between advertising dollars and revenue.

Too frequently, however, do companies succumb to the allure of digital marketing and advertising without a clear sense of expectations. The positive hype around online advertising is often loud enough to drown out the fact that even though more people are spending more time online, it doesn’t necessarily translate into instant revenue or positive return.

Though many sectors have figured out how to sell online profitably there are still those who, in terms of direct revenue generated from digital initiatives, have yet to see a clear picture of any type of return. This is not to say that search marketing, banner and rich media ads, or other types of digital advertising aren’t worth the investment. But it does mean that if those types of strategies are employed then there must be clear expectations of what to expect, and when to expect it.

For many companies real sales still take time. If a pay-per-click advertising campaign is put online one day, chances are it may not generate direct revenue the next. However, if the offline or historical sales cycle is 3 months long a benchmark for performance and expectations is  already in place, providing structure and context around the effectiveness of that campaign.