He makes some very interesting points about building connections between people within the product itself. As a conversational marketing strategist, I naturally find this very relevant because, the majority of time, both products and retail experiences constantly fail to create opportunities to connect customers to customers; almost as if their marketing directors are afraid of having customers talk to each other.

But this thinking is akin to sticking one’s head in the sand, because customers ARE having these conversations everyday in forums, blogs and twitter streams, mostly without the brand’s participation. So here’s the rub, marketing directors either need to accept this fact and adjust their product, approach and ideally their entire business structure, or continue to struggle in a world that will become increasingly hostile.

Doesn’t seem much like a choice to me, but it still amazes me how many consultants and marketers alike think that old ways of doing business – make a website, buy a print, radio or TV ad – will draw people in to buy and do business. What they don’t see is that the main reason people are probably still doing business with their brands is because of:

a) previously good personal experiences,

b) lack of choice

c) Word of Mouth from other customers

and NOT from overpriced ads.

There are far more cost-efficient ways of doing business today. But it does mean accepting that change has happened and that it’s time to embrace new options. And Seth gives plenty of cases in point.

media usage change over time

I recently showed this image to a marketer of a traditional tea brand. The chart clearly shows the year that the Internet will wipe out television, print and analogue radio as consumer’s preferred media. That year is 2010. By 2020, all media will have converged into pure digital platforms. 

Isobar, the agency who made this chart, believe we (as in Western countries) are already at the tipping point which started in last year and is continuing now. We can see the change happening all around us. Here in Britain, Virgin Media is pushing broadband rates up to the stratosphere by installing fiber optics to the houses, otherwise known as the crucial last 10 yards that currently limits many people’s broadband speeds. Current broadband rates are at 20mB/sec in some places (though naturally real speeds vary dramatically). Basically though, it’s already fast enough to stream HD quality movies in realtime. This largely explains the phenomenal success of BBC’s iPlayer. 

As media converge online to the point where digital media accounts for over 80% of media consumed, the distinctions between different types of advertising will disappear.  Branding, direct, print, TV – will become a seamless marketing continuum. 

However, even though there will be more opportunities for online operators to put advertising messages in front of consumers as people start consuming the majority of their entertainment/ infotainment and services online, the challenge to create a measurable impact with them will be greater than any marketers have faced before. Being able to filter, ignore and even bypass ads will be easier than ever.

1998 eye tracking study by Future Lab

Already by 1998, a mere couple of years after banner ads become serious business, consumers subconsciously started to ignore online ad media. During this time, the average click rate for a banner was around the 2.3% mark. Over the years, most sites blindly stuck to their guns and kept the same formats and placements year after year, to the point where the average click rate has now dropped to 0.03%. How anyone in their right mind can claim this to be a reasonable or effective CTR is beyond me, and it should be beyond you as well. 

Simply put, if you are still using classical online ad strategies of buying banners, skys, leaderboards and whatever, you will continue to see your ROI erode to the point you might as well go back to buying those unaccountable television ads again. Your digital strategy needs to adopt with the times. Online ads are no longer a viable option. Instead, you should be looking at other options such as creating branded entertainment or branded utilities which bypass the consumer’s filtering process and engages them with value adding interactions.