1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate, in general, to the field of online advertising, and, more specifically, to methods and systems for inserting advertisements in e-mail messages, which are transferred through unified messaging solutions.
2. Description of the Background Art
Various means of communication like Electronic Mail (e-mail), voice mail, Short Message Service (SMS), and facsimile are used for fast communication. In these means of communication a one-way message is typically sent. Although some communication means, such as “chat,” allow two-way exchange of messages in real time or near real time. A message can include text, audio or image information. A messaging solution is a means of communication that facilitates transfer of a particular type of message. For example, an e-mail can be used to transfer text messages. A unified messaging solution incorporates the various means of communication and facilitates transfer of all types of messages. The advent of faster means of communication provides various companies with business opportunities. Conventionally, companies are using these means of communication for advertising purposes.
In one such conventional technique of advertising, advertising messages are attached to an e-mail message. An advertising server parses the e-mail message to recognize the keywords and language patterns in the e-mail message. Using these keywords and language patterns, the advertising server selects some relevant advertising messages that are related to the content of the e-mail message. The relevant advertising messages are then attached to the e-mail message. Accordingly, a receiver of the e-mail message is presented with the relevant advertising messages while viewing the e-mail message. The unified messaging solutions facilitate the sending of a voice mail message as an e-mail attachment. However, in conventional techniques, the advertising server cannot parse the content of the voice mail message. Therefore, a relevant advertising message cannot be attached to or inserted into the e-mail message to which the voice mail message is attached.