Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Google has become a world-shaking force to those of us who work in the virtual world. We blog our brains out analyzing trends and technologies, writing long essays and talk, talk, talking. All of which I love. However, my client base doesn’t want to talk theory, they need to quickly know fundamentals such as, “Should I do ‘pay per click?’”and “Are Adwords a good idea?” Maybe, maybe not. Here’s why.

One New York Times article headline was “How Google Took the Work out of Selling Advertising.” Well, perhaps it took the work out of selling advertising, but it hasn’t made effective advertising any easier. And, I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Once we wade through the hoopla - advertising on the Web is still largely nothing more than the same old stuff in a different format. “New!” “Improved!” “Make money at home!” “You’ve just won a free iPod (or computer or car)!” Rrrright… Ads are still screaming/blinking/flashing at us (and we largely ignore them). “Billboards” clutter up our travels on the info highway. Hoary bait and switch schemes have moved - with little to no changes - to the Web. Creative agencies continue to pour out generic marketing speak. And so it goes.

The bottom line: Web advertising can be as good (or bad) as any other tactic to get your markets’ attention. If you put out dull or bad messages, no amount of tech glitter can help. So, think about your message (and make sure you can deliver on it) before you spend a dime out here on the Web (with Google or anybody else.)

Tags: google, advertising,marketing