Advertising is DEAD
You heard it here.
Although I am echoing the words of HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan who spoke at the recent Growth Summit. Halligan compares the death of the horse and cart last century with the death of advertising today.
Horse drawn cart VS automobile
The transformation from horse-drawn carts to automobiles in the 1900s is as dramatic a shift in society as the transformation from ‘traditional advertising’ to ‘inbound web marketing‘ that we are currently living through.
Both were wildly popular and effective worldwide for over half a century, and like horse drawn carts, advertising as we knew it, is destined for the same fate.
Advertising VS Inbound Marketing
Advertising aka Outbound Marketing aka Interruption Marketing has become so overbearing that most people are sick to death of it. Cold calls, TV ads, newspaper ads & SPAM are all types of this. It’s hyped, unrealistic, insincere & annoying. And people can and do block it out.
The flip side of this Inbound Marketing & it looks like blogs, social media, websites, viral videos, e-books and free trials. Valuable information, honest reviews from real customers, genuine advice. This is what people want isn’t it?
Rental VS Ownership
The biggest insight I got from Brian Halligan’s presentation was the analogy that ‘Advertising’ is a RENTAL model. And ‘Web Marketing’ is an OWNERSHIP model.
Advertisers have always rented. They’ve rented TV time, newspaper space & airtime. Here today, gone tomorrow. Leaving no permanent asset for the poor (or should I say rich) client paying for it.
Web marketers work on ownership. They own their blog posts, and tweets and ebooks. Each one is an asset that belongs to the company & continues to be shared, attract backlinks and earn search results for years after they were first posted.
Build a Moat Around Your Castle
Warren Buffett has always told businesses to build a ‘moat around your castle.’ He means make it hard for competitors to copy you, make it hard for people to knock you off.
In the web world, your inbound marketing is your moat. Your remarkable content is the water in the moat, your social media followers are the crocodiles & your back links are the high walls protecting your castle.
Baiting people
Brian Halligan says a blog post is more likely to be ‘viral’, commented on or at least retweetable if it has a controversial title — ideally one that polarises people!
You’ll notice the title of this post is exactly that. Part of me isn’t comfortable with polarising people, because people may criticise. However pushing the boundaries is good and to test Brian’s advice I am ready to cop it!
Is Advertising Dead?
You tell me….