The Future of Advertising continued...

I used to subscribe to the local newspaper. Not any more. I don’t like their biased slant on the news they offer, and I can get up to the minute news on the internet- free. Besides, newsprint gets all over my hands and smells, and I never figured out how to fold them and read them like the commuters I used to see on the train whipping The Wall Street Journal around to fold and make it manageable.  

Then there’s radio. Much of the time I spend in my car I’m alone. I used to have music or talk radio on. It was a great distraction. There’d be some old favorite song that would make me smile and tap my foot, and then they’d play a commercial for some laxative or erectile dysfunction. That kills the mood. Most of my solo time in the car now is in silence so I can think through different projects or obstacles I need to work on or overcome, or of course, talk on the phone. I don’t need the distraction and mind numbing of commercial radio loaded with commercials to steel my valuable time.

The world is changing and those of us who feel bombarded by advertising are not only resistant to the one pitch after another flow of advertising, we’re beginning to be repulsed by it. We are demanding some benefit in exchange for giving our attention to a marketer. They need to entertain while offering their message. They need to give us information that we can use. Think of the SuperBowl ads costing millions of dollars. They entertain. We’ll listen to a pitch if it comes with value. But with most mediums, it’s either impossible or too expensive to consistently provide value.

That’s where the internet fills the void, and that’s why traditional advertising is doomed to take a back seat to internet based advertising.

Why do people go to the internet? To get information to solve some problem, for entertainment, and perhaps to expand their business. Have you ever thought, “I’ll log on to the internet. I hope I can find somebody who will try to pitch me, to sell me something.” Of course not, and neither has anyone else. Internet marketers have learned that truth, and the successful ones always give more value than pitch. And internet marketers are the pioneers of this new age of advertising that is developing. It’s based on truth and value. I’m proud to be part of that.

Watch. Traditional advertising mediums will have no choice but to move in the same direction. And it will happen fast. We are already to the point where we are selective about what we let enter our minds. When the buss goes by with the billboard on its side, do you make an effort to read it? Not if it isn’t entertaining or captivating in some way. We all have learned to look beyond the ad, as if it wasn’t even there. When our mail comes the same day as garbage pick-up, we open the mailbox and dump most of the contents right into that waiting trash can- and it never even enters our house. You too, right?

The future of advertising will be very interesting to watch!