The once-lonesome trails of the information superhighway are now overly congested and traffic is bumper-to-bumper.

This is true not only of the number of Web sites themselves but of the proliferation of Web and dot-com advertisements. The amount has reached critical mass.

Every day we are bombarded by dot-com ads. The sheer volume is so overwhelming that most of us are left with little more than a memory of countless dot-com companies that offer something we’re just not sure what.

Although the Internet is still basically in its infancy, marketing-wise it has shot from toddler to grown-up overnight, and the marketing strategies of even one or two years ago will no longer suffice.

From sponsorship of college football bowl games, to Internet banners, to stickers on produce, companies are trying any and every advertising and marketing avenue available to lure customers to their sites.

Advertising, when done adeptly and consistently, is essential, but these days it can only take an Internet company so far. To truly establish a company in the public eye, it’s imperative at some point for the message to take that defining and validating leap from an ad that precedes the evening news to the story featured on the news.

Whether a company’s objective is to obtain more funding or attract more consumers to its site, there is nothing as validating and legitimizing as a well-placed print piece or TV segment.

The trouble is that in the past, garnering Internet-oriented press was so easy. Stories about the launching of new IPOs, teen-aged wunderkinds who became overnight billionaires, and the very novelty of it all commanded reams of print as well as hours of TV and radio coverage. The Amazon.coms of the world were featured in every magazine and newspaper and on every TV and radio station.

Novelty is gone

But new IPOs no longer command the attention they once did and youthful billionaires, although still newsworthy, are no longer the big stories they were even two years ago.

These stories will continue to garner press, but they are not enough for a company to build a media presence around. The days of easy media are lost to the 1900s. The 2000s will be a more demanding, more media-savvy time.

In response, many Internet companies are turning to the world of films and celebrities, hoping that by partnering with Whoopi Goldberg or Cindy Crawford, some of the stars’ fame and sheen will rub off on the Web site. These companies are aware that the media love celebrities, who are often the glow that drives the media like moths to the proverbial flame.

But even the celebrity factor is wearing thin and Internet companies are being faced with the same dilemma that brick-and-mortar companies have faced for years: After the initial fireworks have cleared, how does a company consistently develop engaging and credible stories that will interest the media?

This is where media relations and media placement come in. When it comes to marketing an e-commerce site or Internet product, a company must now broaden its scope to include an effective, story-driven media campaign. Unlike advertising, effective media relations can validate and legitimize a company and for a fraction of what a comprehensive ad campaign costs.

This is not to say that advertising and media relations are mutually exclusive. The two have different tasks to perform and one reinforces the other. Both are vital to a successful overall campaign.

But for the present, many e-commerce companies are doing advertising overkill and under-utilizing the immense power and effectiveness of a well-targeted media relations campaign. Few are doing their homework, thinking out of the box, and developing unique, compelling hooks and distinctive story ideas.

Dot-com burnout

Meanwhile, the media are suffering from a bad case of dot-com burnout, and it’s no longer enough to simply send out press releases announcing that a new site has been launched. Every day, thousands of press releases and pitch calls flood the e-mail, snail mail, phone and fax lines of every media outlet in the country.

If a company wants to be noticed, or heard above this deafening roar, it better know what each particular media outlet wants, understand each particular outlet’s demographics, and know how each editor or producer likes to be pitched.

Above all, there had better be a story a real story. If a company’s about to swallow up Time Warner, there’s a good chance it will receive all the press it can handle. Otherwise, some imagination and creativity are in order.

A release that a new site has been launched might get a company some ink in certain trade publications, but that is not enough. Preaching to the converted is not the wisest way to grow.

This is no longer a one-story-fits-all world, and it’s imperative that a company develop releases, hooks and ideas that will compel an editor, writer or producer to want to do a story. The media are less a unified country than a segmented group of islands, each with its own interests, philosophy and needs.

What interests the Wall Street Journal will not necessarily interest USA Today, “60 Minutes,” People, Vogue or Oprah, and the job of an effective media campaign is precisely that: to interest each one of those venues. The name of the game is to reach the largest number of consumers, and that is done by placing stories in a wide variety of media and reaping the rewards that positive news coverage offers.

Anthony Mora is president and CEO of Anthony Mora Communications Inc., an L.A.-based public relations firm. He can be reached at [email protected].

Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact James Klein at (213) 743-1759 with feedback and topic suggestions.