Traditional advertising is something we have been having trouble with in recent years. We don’t trust it. We have learned to ignore it for the most part. And, generally, we don’t really care what the company has to say about itself.
Some may disagree with me, but that’s okay, I hope they do.
There is a future to marketing…it’s just no longer in the hands of the company.
Traditionally
In the past, a brand could get traction by having a large advertising budget or putting their messages in all the right places for their target to see. But mostly, it revolved around having a large budget.
I have my degree in advertising and understand the logistics behind what companies are trying to do with each ad. I’ve also been a creative director for an ad agency so I know this from personal experience.
Traditional advertising has been on it’s way out for some time, but it will always have it’s place. We’re just going to see a little twist in the way things work with it.
The Twist
It’s simple really. We’ll likely always see ads, they’ll just be targeted differently. They’ll attempt to reach deeper with the current customers instead of attracting new ones. They’ll be more specific with their wording, not to introduce people to a product, but give them more of a connection with it.
The twist is that people no longer find out about new products through traditional ads, but rather through their friends and social networks. We already are actually. We trust the reviews of people we don’t know about books we’ve never heard of. We trust the recommendations to restaurants we’ve never ate at because we looked them up on Google or some app.
The twist is a very interesting phenomenon…and it’s changing marketing at it’s core.
Build Connection
The connection economy has brought with it loads of changes that few have ever seen. In fact, many of us have never even thought of many of the things that are now happening in the economy but we’re slowly starting to understand it.
One of my favorite quotes pertaining to this is from Seth Godin. He said “This recession is a forever recession.” Traditional ways of doing things are just forcing us into a race to the bottom. The problem with that race is that you don’t want to win.
Building connection with our current customers is the best way to get our messages out there. Whether you are one person or 5000, the brands that build a connection with us are the ones we care about. They are the ones we promote on social media and via word of mouth. And since brands have always known that word of mouth is the best form of promotion, those that decide to capitalize on it and build deeper connections will thrive in the coming years. If you need help, I’m here.
Have I mentioned that you can snag my book, The Connection Brand just by subscribing to my email list? So go ahead and do that in the sidebar (or below this article if you’re mobile.)
Question: How are you truly connecting with your customers so they talk about you amongst their friends?