commbasics

Five years ago I threw out a statement in a blog about how Facebook gets content, that caused a bit of a stir.  I said, “ Advertising doesn't work the way you think it does.”  No one commented on the focus of the post, just on that statement.  They didn’t like it.  They were mostly advertising people and a few B2B marketers .  A few things have happened in 2014 that makes me want to restate my position (not change it) and get a little deeper. Advertising does not work the way you think it does, especially in the 21st Century .   In the “Facebook Fraud” video, by Derek Muller of the science blog Veritasium, Muller makes the claim that pretty much all the business engagement you get from Facebook is bogus.  For the most part, he’s right because most people use Facebook as though it were a magic marketing box.  They believe that all they have to do is plug in pictures and content about their product and services and the world will be be...

Reading about the Google quarterly report yesterday gave me the subject of today's post.  Google is seeing a continued slump in ad rates and reports are coming out that show that mobile and online advertising is not seen as much by consumers as some in the media have claimed.  Yet budgets on mobile and online advertising are climbing fast.  How long before advertisers realize they are not getting a decent ROI and start pulling back? Of course, the knee jerk reaction is that the medium is at fault.  After all the content in the ads is the next thing to Shakespeare, right? It seems to me, and there are studies that back this up , that the approaches to content are still mired in the belief that online and mobile media are still "mass media" with the goal of reaching out the the lowest common denominator.  Campaigns are fileld with the wrong content targeted at the wrong people most of the time, which marginalizes customers. We recently had a me...

Wow.  I've been getting an earful for several weeks about the changes in B2B media,especially in the embedded, semi and electronics industry.  One might think it's Armegeddon. One PR maven just came out and said that the efforts of companies like Cadence, Intel and Altera to produced independent content is a smoke screen and that they are "clearly" not objective.  And yet when I've heard the same thing from others, no one can produce any CLEAR evidence that the content is anything but objective... at least as objective as a human being can be. Like climate change, humans have had a significant hand in creating the current environment and, like climate change scientists, there are those who say it needs to be reversed and those (like me) who say we need to adapt.  Why do I take that position?  Because no one knows how to reverse it. Let me be very clear, here: unless advertisers decide to quadruple their ad buys, like, tomorrow, noth...

Last week we started a lively discussion about how media is evolving, what is right about it and what is wrong about it.  We also touched on the issue of reliability and ethics. Today an article from emediavitals.com crossed my screen and deals with the issue of ethics and content head on.  You may not agree with it, but it's a statement of what reality is for media today. Let me say this about the issue of ethics: there is no organizational structure that can absolutely ensure content follows a particular ethical standard .  In fact, the reliance on traditional business models in media, rather than actually knowing what the professional standard is has helped hasten the demise of traditional journalism in the 21st Century.  Ethics is a personal construct. You either are or are not ethical.  No one knows for sure where you stand or what you are doing.  Only you do.  Everyone else is just assuming where you stand.  Your organizational ...

There's something of a controversy over the Dish Network 's technology that automatically skips over advertising on content recorded on their DVR system.  It's been the focus of Dish's advertising program as well as a Congressional investigation on the Future of Video .  Most people are pretty thrilled with the technology and it is boon to Dish.   I am a devotee of blasting through commercial breaks with my DVR and I'm a little envious of Dish subscribers who have the tech, although I'm very happy with Direct TV over anything else I've tried ( AT&T doesn't service my area with their system).  Here, however, is where the controversy rages. Dish is dropping AMC and a half dozen other channels over increasing fees , claiming there are nbot enough viewer to warrant the increase.  The problem is all the channels Dish is dropping are also subsidized by advertising and he advertisers are balking at pay rates for commercials...

The trend away from free content is gaining momentum, this time in the area of TV. An Associated Press article today reported that the broadcast industry is thinking seriously about following Rupert Murdoch's lead from last fall and eliminating advertising-supported media altogether. The trend away from free content is gaining momentum, this time in the area of TV.   An Associated Press article  today reported that the broadcast industry is thinking seriously about following Rupert Murdoch's lead from last fall and eliminating advertising-supported media altogether.  ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are all considering the very real possibility of going dark on public airwaves and broadcasting strictly on private broadband networks.  This will mean higher cable and satellite bills. This would be an earthshaking move for the information industry altogether and there are several possibilities that could arise.  Those who refuse to pay for broadcast will lose access...

Guy Kawasaki did a post in Open Forum this week on "Is Advertising is Dead " reporting on a panel of advertising experts from Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft.  The purpose of the panel was to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of using advertising to support a web-based business.  There were some good points, but like every other discussion I have seen on advertising it missed an important point:  How do you make it work? Advertising does not create sales.  It improves them, but  it doesn't create them.  It reinforces opinions and impressions that have already been established.  For advertising to work, the initial sale has to have been already made; the first impre ssion established.  The panel got close tot he subject with the  statement:  The key starting point is great content. When you have great content, you’re more likely to attract audiences, and audiences are what advertisers are looking for."   T...

News yesterday in the SF Chronic that Google is buying billboard space to sell it's apps.  Just wondering if that means everyone is going to start advertising now that Google is.