We’re an on-demand society and we don’t want to wait for anything. I don’t want to wait for my morning paper, I don’t want to wait till 9pm to watch that movie on TV, or till next month for my next issue of Fortune magazine.

Everything I want is online. At the click of a button I can access nearly anything. Smart phones, tablets, and more readily available high-speed internet connectivity have made Internet consumption easier and easier. Internet Marketing Guru Gary Vaynerchuk is always saying “Follow the eyes.” Where ever the audience is, you should be too.

So if you’re thinking of advertising in the newspaper or a magazine, creating a TV or Radio spot, or a billboard, I would advise you to think again. This may or may not come as a surprise to you but those traditional mediums are dying, if not dead. Yellow Pages...what’s that? Let's talk about each one a bit more.

Print. That's print in all forms, Magazines, Newspapers, and Classifieds/want-ads. The writing was pretty much on the wall (or on the screen in this case) as soon as everyone with an internet connection was able to publish content to the web and distribute to the world. Blogs, online publication...Craigslist. They changed the way we consume information, making print obsolete, and less desirable for advertisers.

So we follow the eyes. With people on websites and on mobile, advertising dollars are being redirected to where the people are. As a result, web and mobile advertising is skyrocketing. Why do you think Google makes so much money?

Try this instead: Google Ad words uses keywords to target people looking for your products and services. They often give you a credit to try it out. Or Better yet, find smaller publications or Blogs that specialize in content that would appeal to your target market. These often have loyal readers who are more likely to be interested in the advertising if it's more applicable to them. Oh, and don't forget Social Media. More than any service on the web, Social Networks have tons of data on their users. You can leverage this to supercharge your marketing. And their user base is active and huge (Facebook currently has 1 Billion active users). Right now 74% of all adults online use Social Media.

Radio. Radio certainly isn't dead but there are more options and the format has changed. Internet Radio, Satelitte Radio, HD Radio. Not to mention ever since the iPod our ability to build large personal libraries of music has caused many to tune out the radio completely. 

Try this instead: Follow the...Ears, in this case anyways. Internet radio subscribers are on the up and up. There are a bunch to chose from, Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, Songza, Slackerz, etc. And since people like to get their music for free, these services require your advertising dollars to stay afloat. But rather than just blasting out over the airwaves hoping people hear you, you can pick music services you think will appeal to your market. The ads, which are both visual and audio, (allowing you to be more creative), can be clicked on and redirected to your website. This provides a chance to interface with clients immediately. You can track those interactions to see if your advertising money is getting the results you want. Can't do that with traditional radio.

TV. This goes for both Network Television and Cable Providers. Their days are numbered. Overpriced services and unnecessary bundling are driving viewers to the web to consume their favorite programming. Even if viewers are still watching, DVR has enabled us to skip right over ads. TV advertising isn't cheap and tends to be a luxury of bigger companies with a large enough budget to blast out to a broad audience hoping to hit their mark.

YouTube is doing to TV what blogging did to Newspapers and Magazines. There are billions of hours of content, and I can watch whatever I want. Other services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime allow me to still watch my favorite shows and Movies. I can get everything online, whenever I want, at a fraction of the cost. Life is good!

Try this instead: You can advertise on YouTube or Hulu's free service. Networks will even rebroadcast their shows on their website, and you can advertise there as well. There are fewer advertisements there, and can't be skipped so you have a better chance of catching the viewer's attention. And like internet radio ads, they can be closely targeted and tracked.

People often view change as a curse. In this case it's really a blessing. You just need to see the silver-lining. The internet has revolutionized every industry it touches. Sales and Marketing is no different. And it's a very exciting time.

• On the web you can now reach everyone, not just your city, or state, but the world.
• You can track engagement. No more "blast and pray". Know what makes a difference and adjust accordingly.
• Specific targeting. Traditional mediums reached out to everyone. The web can help you focus on the customers you want to reach.
• Oh, and now that it's all digital, you can automate your marketing. 

For small business this means you can do so much more with much less.

Marketing gets better with Technology

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