Big or little
December 26th 2008 05:27
One of the blogs I read almost every day is Seth Godin’s. I’ve always found him an interesting ideas man, someone who makes you rethink stuff you thought you knew, or challenges your preconceptions.
He’s very hot on dealing with the ‘value’ of the Internet, particularly in marketing terms. So many businesses have rushed into Internet action, doing the same old things they’ve always done (especially in terms of advertising) and have then wondered why things don’t work, or change, or why the profits don’t increase.
But the Internet is a whole big new ball game. Even now, people are still only just getting then hang of it. Some of them, anyway.
And advertising on the Net. I guess people read the ads (I do myself sometimes) but it’s curious that the horrible little text ads that Google and other firms do are just as effective as the long banner ones with animation – in fact often more so. The ones I find least effective are the ones that invariably appear when you open some page - imdb.com, for instance, has had the same ad appearing for what seems like months now, to the extent that it’s annoying. Repetitive ads don’t work on TV, although the advertising people seem to think so; they don’t work on the Net either. (The worst thing an advertiser can do, in fact, is have the network show the same ad constantly throughout the night when you’re trying to watch a movie on TV. But they keep doing it.)
In a post called Confusing Activity with Action, Seth writes: For big brands and marketers with significant budgets, the Internet represents a loss of leverage. Money doesn't buy you as much attention, and you have to work much, much harder for every eyeball.
He goes on to say that individuals actually have more leverage on the Net, and have it without spending a cent in more cases. In fact, individuals and tiny little one-man band businesses,such as those that sell weight loss pills are better off than many of the big businesses.
The Net turns marketing on its head, but a lot of brand names and big businesses haven’t figured it out yet.
He’s very hot on dealing with the ‘value’ of the Internet, particularly in marketing terms. So many businesses have rushed into Internet action, doing the same old things they’ve always done (especially in terms of advertising) and have then wondered why things don’t work, or change, or why the profits don’t increase.
But the Internet is a whole big new ball game. Even now, people are still only just getting then hang of it. Some of them, anyway.
And advertising on the Net. I guess people read the ads (I do myself sometimes) but it’s curious that the horrible little text ads that Google and other firms do are just as effective as the long banner ones with animation – in fact often more so. The ones I find least effective are the ones that invariably appear when you open some page - imdb.com, for instance, has had the same ad appearing for what seems like months now, to the extent that it’s annoying. Repetitive ads don’t work on TV, although the advertising people seem to think so; they don’t work on the Net either. (The worst thing an advertiser can do, in fact, is have the network show the same ad constantly throughout the night when you’re trying to watch a movie on TV. But they keep doing it.)
In a post called Confusing Activity with Action, Seth writes: For big brands and marketers with significant budgets, the Internet represents a loss of leverage. Money doesn't buy you as much attention, and you have to work much, much harder for every eyeball.
He goes on to say that individuals actually have more leverage on the Net, and have it without spending a cent in more cases. In fact, individuals and tiny little one-man band businesses,such as those that sell weight loss pills are better off than many of the big businesses.
The Net turns marketing on its head, but a lot of brand names and big businesses haven’t figured it out yet.
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