November 07, 2007 | Wednesday
How grim is the future of non-search advertising?
By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in Events |Marketing |Online Sales |PPC
Tomorrow, the Law Society in Chancery Lane, London, will host the Latitude Client Summit: Digital Renaissance & Revolution. I’ll be presenting there on commercial blogging, and moderating a panel on the integration of social media with other online marketing methods (search, display, affiliates). As it happens, my friend Jeff Jarvis had a column in the Guardian this week which has some relevance here.
Jeff sparked the notorious “Dell hell” firestorm a couple of years ago when his Dell computer turned out to be a total lemon. An influential media figure (and blogger), Jeff detailed his interactions with the company as he tried to sort out his machine. The service he received was, by any measure, shockingly incompetent. His blog posts were linked far and wide, picked up by mainstream media around the world, and soon he well and truly did have the company’s ear. Here’s what happened, in Jeff’s own words:
The Dell response to blogs then? Look, don’t touch. This came as Dell’s customer-satisfaction ratings dropped, its earnings disappointed and its stock fell. That August, I returned my Dell, bought a Mac, and blogged an open letter to Michael Dell urging him to read blogs, write blogs, listen to customers’ advice, and “join the conversation your customers are having without you”.
The following April, Dell did join that conversation. Suddenly, technicians were contacting bloggers to solve their problems. Dell started a blog. Michael Dell opened IdeaStorm, a site where customers could tell the company what to do; as a result, Dell is now selling Linux computers and reducing the “bloatware” on new machines. They’re starting wikis where customers can share what they know and extending forums where they help each other.
Dell’s executives say their new problem is managing and spreading all this knowledge from customers. Its chief marketer said his new opportunity is to rely on customer-advocates to sell computers. And Michael Dell predicted a future of “co-creation of products and services” with customers.
Jeff says that the “fist in the face” lesson here for media and marketing is that the ubiquitous ad-supported online business model is in for a much rougher time of things. Companies are starting to suss for themselves exactly how to market to people directly, by creating reciprocal value for customers and shareholders alike - something no banner image can achieve. Hoping to get rich by slapping display ads on a site just isn’t going to fly. The display ads must be carefully and seamlessly integrated with search, social media, or - most ideally - a combination of the two.
Blogger Doc Searls contends that on the internet, “supply and demand will find each other . . . Advertising will still be part of that picture, but it won’t fund the whole thing.” Beth Comstock, a digital exec at NBC Universal, complains that every business pitch she hears is ad-supported. “It’s just not going to be possible,” she said recently. “There are not going to be enough advertising dollars in the marketplace - no matter how clever we are, no matter what the format is.”
Of course, search does not come into the line of fire here, as it goes beyond mere “targeted” advertising and brings companies to the attention of potential customers who are actively seeking the products and services they offer.
One question I will definitely have for the panel tomorrow is this: “For how much longer will it make sense to put ad spend into traditional forms of online marketing that are not expertly integrated with search and/or social media?” This is assuming that it still does today…
I suspect that might get things off to a lively start. Looking forward to it!
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