Advertising Horsepower for Competitive Advantage

In general, most advertising seems to be viewed with considerable distain by everyone except those persons that are interested in the product or service being advertised. Many consumers are sick-and-tired of commercials from attorneys advertising legal services about everything from vehicle accident representation to sufferers of mesothelioma. However if you have recently been involved in a traffic accident or have or know someone affected by mesothelioma, then the aforementioned advertisement may be of more than passing interest to you.

Automobile dealerships and manufacturers go to great lengths and expense in the hope than when you eventually decide to seek a new car, you will remember their name. In the case of car dealers, advertisements in all media outlets, including Internet advertising, is absorbed as "just a cost of doing business."

Shotgun Advertising

When the Golf Channel shows a new  "Calloway Big Bertha" driver commercial, the audience receiving the advertisement is considered a "target market" because it is assumed that most of the viewers to the Golf Channel are in fact golf enthusiasts. This laser targeting of product to potential buyers is the nirvana of advertising strategies. Delivering the product message to actual potential buyers. Internet advertising is just the opposite in so far as the buyer searches for the product. The qualified buyer delivers himself.

A different approach is used when car dealerships show an automobile commercial during a sporting event. It is a fact that a majority of sports fans are male and many industry statistics show males to be decision makers in the selection of a new car or truck. Beer advertisements appear to share a similar philosophy.

An example of "shotgun advertising" could be seen in this years Super Bow by companies like Bestbuy and Salesforce.com. Neither company could consider viewers of the Super Bowl to be a targeted audience, however in the "shotgun advertising" approach, the viewer-ship is so large that something has to work. "Throw it up against the wall and see what sticks."

Political Ads

Television political advertisements seem, at best, to be generally "shotgun advertising" other than the sponsorships of party influenced "news" stations or Internet outlets and affiliates. It can be assumed they know in advance that in many cases a very large percentage receiving the message do not agree with their party or policies.

Internet Advertising

For the 2011 Super Bowl, Ford Motor Company decided their advertising dollars would be of greater value spent on their online efforts. In a November 2010 interview with Reuters, Ford's marketing chief Jim Farley said, "Customers are spending as much time with the mobile smart phone or online as they are watching TV now, so our advertising dollars have to flow to where the people are," With the average cost for this years advertisements being close to 3 million dollars for a 30 second spot, Ford's online campaign may be quite substantial.

Traditional advertising companies and agencies appear to be too slow and intellectually inept or unaware to adjust to the speed and velocity of the necessary Internet technologies and thereby lose the opportunity for a value-added revenue stream. In many cases they are already getting 100% of the advertising budget and may balk in incurring the additional cost, forsaking additional revenue. It will be up to the clients to demand an effective Internet advertising strategy, with the operative word being effective, "where the people are." Being a "media buyer" agency is not the successful business model now or in the future. Advertising agencies and businesses in the future will require a specialist, an internal  "Internet Marketing Technologist."

Advertising Wars

Make no mistake about it, business is war. Your competitors are working diligently to improve themselves and their processes, and the natural byproduct is an increasing distance between all of you in terms of sales and customer retention. They use any and all means possible to persuade your existing customers their products or services are better, and they form independent strategies to create greater awareness of their business and direct potential new customers to their front door, not yours. As they "muscle" their way to the top, your company is pushed farther down and farther behind. Internet advertising was supposed to be a way of leveling the playing field but alas, PPC and Adsense models are transforming the Internet into a carbon copy of bricks and mortars advertising agencies. They are quite simply just media buyers.

Christian Businesses