Let's Talk About Ads

Digital Ponderings

Listening to a Chief Digital Officer's approach to digital marketing was much more interesting than trying to stumble my way through the concept by experimenting online. While I enjoy reading Digg posts, blogs, Facebook feeds, magazines, and newspapers, it's really hard to find time to actually do all of that. So to have it all summarized in a presentation was really helpful.

JP didn't touch upon anything I hadn't already heard, but the passion in his voice about how things are turning digital really made me want to get back into the digital world. As much fun as traditional media is, and as much as I like trying to help come up with 'new media' ideas for my company, I miss the interactive experiences that I've had since sophomore year. I've tried to keep up by almost overloading myself with information on the subject, but it's not the same as being totally immersed in the field. This traditional media stuff is holding me back from the digital world.

I always try to think of a good question when listening to presentations like this. I wanted to avoid the usual questions about where the future is headed and what the effects of having to measure everything means. Those questions just show that you're not familiar with the field because those are the most common questions that everyone asks. I have always wondered something about the digital advertising process. A lot of traditional advertising is used for brand building. I see digital advertising a lot more like direct marketing in that if results are not seen almost instantly, then the campaign gets changed or cut. But in such a fast-paced environment, isn't it more difficult to build a lasting brand that people can relate to?

JP answered my question really well. I've been looking at this whole digital thing the wrong way, and I now have a new perspective. Digital is not going to be replacing traditional media any more than television replaced the radio. We still listen to the radio, and we're still going to be watching television. It's more about the when and where. Digital advertising should be integrated into one's overall campaign in order to target the population you want to reach. But if you choose to do an entirely digital campaign, yes, it will be like direct marketing. However, it's important to use many different digital mediums like blogs, text ads, banner ads, microsites, etc. Then if one doesn't work, money can be taken away from it and fed into one that does work.

posted by Sarah @ 12:15 AM