Advertisers unspoken deal with consumers is lost

Once upon a time advertisers said “we will give you high quality content in media such as television, radio, newspapers, and magazines, in exchange for a short interruption from our sponsor.”  That deal has changed — leaving consumers with the power. Actually consumers have had the power for quite some time since things such as: TiVo and DVRs, Satellite Radio, even RSS feeds and Google reader have come about – changing the effectiveness of online advertisements. Even spam filters have changed the way email campaigns are run. Consumers are creating their own content with blogs, social networks and wikis and over the past 3 years or so, advertisers have lost more and more of the “power”.

So, why write this article now, if we have know about this change for quite some time ? Well, during the current recession, advertisers and marketers have learned that interactive marketing is more effective, and much less expensive… leaving the most effective ways of marketing absolutely free (but requiring much more creativity to make them work properly).

Most marketing budgets are increasing on the interactive side by shifting money away from traditional marketing – even in this recession – and with most businesses running very lean – they are seeing a difference. One huge factor in all of this is that big business leaders are now understanding, using and embracing what they did not 3 years ago. Digital marketing is not experimental any longer. Not only does it generate leads that are much more targeted (consumers go to the businesses and brands they are attracted to – rather than brands and businesses hammering their message into consumers, interrupting the flow of valuable content) and brand buzz, but the metrics to prove it!

Digital is now at the core of so many campaigns

People have been saying the end of mass media and traditional advertising is coming to an end for years now. We can now prove it with the 6-yr interactive marketing spend forecast released from Forrester, and in the tough times of this economy — creativity has reigned strong over big ad dollars!

Social media, viral advertising and getting consumers to buy what you are selling is no longer about hammering them over the head with huge costly campaigns. The best things in life are free… well almost.

It still takes hard work, know-how, creativity and a driving passion for what you do. Those of us who have been doing it for the past 10 years and have grown up alongside it — are now finessing our ways – and can be ahead of some others out there. But there’s still time, and if your in advertising, learn the language, and most important of all – learn how to apply it!