Show me you're honest

Jay Deragon, in his insightful blog "The Relationship Economy", recently talked about online ads and how the advertising that supported the offline media for a generation or more is quickly falling from grace online. As we're all finding nowadays, no one's clicking.

It's not a surprise that, as Seth Godin's also saying, we need to abandon the old mass marketing fixation and embrace the new revolution of niche (community) marketing - as I've said countless times in conversations to colleagues, agencies and on here - it's all about talking with, not talking to.

Adverts are the acme of this outdated model.

An example for you: I'm currently testing a few adverts on Facebook to see what the network can offer and they're getting around a 0.15% clickthrough rate, a lousy return*.

It could be that the copy's rubbish, or the accompanying image isn't visually appealing, but if they are - and I feel the offer itself is sound - then it highlights what we're seeing on the web at large. And as "social" become the norm this situation will only worsen.

So instead there's the conversational, inclusive model. It's a hell of lot more work, but talking with potential customers, building a relationship based on trust and honesty, and working through the three Rs is actually a much more successful model, and one that has truly impressive, long-term outcomes.

So much so I personally coming to think that it's not a revolution as such, more a completely new dynamic in marketing and advertising that's a step beyond what we've done in the past - one-on-one and one-on-many customer relationships broadcast across the web, all helping your brand (and your own personal brand as an added bonus).

As Jay signs off in his article - "Show you the money? Show me the value". It's a nice summation of where we're going with online marketing and adverts. That, and "Tell me, honestly, why I should show you the money".


*I'll expand on my findings on Facebook once the results are fully in - the site's "social ads" are good for one thing, as I'll reveal soon.

Labels: adverts, community, online, social