Who isn’t sick of being bombarded with ads 24/7? Online, offline, outside and inside? Can’t escape them.
Currently successful online companies like Google and Facebook have enormous followings and visitors, and their incomes depend on advertising. That’s why, says analyst and web entrepreneur Dave Winer, they don’t have a rosy future.
“Long term, however they (Google and Facebook) both have problems because advertising is on its way to being obsolete. Facebook is just another step along the path. Advertising will get more and more targeted until it disappears, because perfectly targeted advertising is just information. And that’s good!” More here…
Do you agree? Is advertising becoming obsolete, as in, you tune it out most of the time and could do without unless it REALLY REALLY pertains to something you care about?
If you agree, what kind of ad copy will you need to be effective, i.e. providing information to only the right people?
The best kind of copy would ideally not be copy at all. In the same way that we talk to each other through blogs, allowing readers to get to know us … I think the future will be much more relationship based in the sense that we will provide information from or for people of a certain persuasion.
Is creating a dialog with someone before there is talk or a product purchase to be considered copy or is it relationship building… maybe both?
I think ‘perfectly’ targeted might be a bit of a stretch but we have certainly progressed beyond the kind of mass appeal advertising.
Tim Draayer
http://www.networkmarketingjourney.com
I don’t understand the quote.
Google and Facebook are effective because the are targeted.
Sure, I’m not looking to buy something every time I do a Google search. But when I am looking to buy something, the ads are highly relevant.
Just yesterday, for example, I was reading an email and a targeted key word ad from Google caught my eye . . . it was exactly the kind of thing I wanted but didn’t know I was looking for.
Of course, you have to do things right. A good click-through-rate for me is anything above 0.1% (that’s right, 1 click per 1000 impressions!), but since you only pay per click, that’s perfectly fine.
With respect to my business . . . I do low-cost on-line and off-line ads, and it brings in almost more product and business builder leads than I can handle on a daily basis.
So, yes, I think advertising works.
Walter Reade (from Wisconsin)
(one way market on-line)
I couldn’t help but laugh at this…
2 Weeks ago…I used facebook for advertising and generated over 180 leads in 4 days time with each lead costing me only a little over $1.
Each lead can turn into $10-20/person who orders product month after month after month. Talk about a RETURN on INVESTMENT!
It is only getting better and better because being able to target your audience and be more effective with your marketing dollars has never been easier.
Advertising is not becoming obselete…instead I personally believe it is getting more effective for us as marketers…due to the way we can target our audience, and the technology that is allowing us to do that.
http://www.TestThisEnergyDrink.com
I agree Kim. Advertising as we’ve always known it is on it’s way out. TiVo is a great example. My wife was just saying last night…”The reason we have TiVo is to skip the commercials on our recorded programs.”
Jay NaPier
I know that many marketers like to imagine a day when ads will be perfectly targeted to an audience, so it’s “just giving information.”
But there are only a few things that humans need for survival. Food, clothing, shelter. Therefore, everything else must, on some level, be sold. We need to be convinced that we need it–even though we don’t NEED much.
And, for any business to grow, marketers need to explain/sell things to people who don’t seem interested . . . in hopes of finding that one who is and might not realize it yet (or in hopes of creating a sense of “need). Our economy depends on this consumerism.
Ads will never be obsolete–or if they are, it will only be after our economy has collapsed and we’re back to hunting and gathering (and even then, there’ll be some kind of ad posted on a rock–Make Money from Your Cave!)
I voted “no” because I think there will always be advertising. It will change with time.
It started with word of mouth, progressed to radio, then television, now internet. It went from blasting millions of people (inserts in everything – still) to what Seth Godin calls “permission marketing”.
Now we are working on “niche” marketing. New School. Calling out only to those who have an interest. So advertising will always be here. It will not become obsolete but it will change.
I don’t think we’ll ever be rid of advertising altogether, but we do need to shift our understanding about what it means.
The “perfect” ad copy is welcomed ad copy, which means it is expected, credible, trusted, and easy to read quickly.
On the side of my Network Marketing Business I work at a major hotel. Every morning (there’s a television in our breakfast area)our guests eat breakfast and watch t.v. usually the news. Someone “muted” all the commercials and what I’ve noticed is that rather than being happy the guests regularly are upset and say “why can’t I hear the commercials”?
After reading your post Kim… I just remembered that and put 2 and 2 together. The majority of our guests miss the Advertizing and perk up their ears if what we market is something they value.
Vicky
I used to be so toxic I felt tired & sleepy like Rip Van Winkle…I was sleeping my life away. Want to know what woke me up?