What's Missing In Online Advertising

May 25, 2004

John Battelle has a nice piece titled, "What's missing in PPC/Behavioral/Contextual Ad Nets" Battelle says, "If advertisers are going to truly benefit from marketing on blogs, they will have to get to know each one to the point that their ads speak with a voice that is consistent in the community where they are advertising." Well said John.

I call this type of advertising "Conversational Advertising." Traditional Blogs are much different then websites. Blogs are conversations. Placing a simple tile ad some place on the blog doesn't speak to the blogger or his audience. It interrupts the conversation.

If for example, your favorite weblog publisher makes a few on-topic product or service recommendations, you probably would welcome those suggestions. It’s not SPAM or Junk Mail if the product being discussed is something of interest or comes from a trusted voice. The Weblog publisher understands she must strike a balance between value and ad revenue. And if the ad appears in an RSS feed, and the value is not there, one-click and you loose a customer.

In the world of Conversational Advertising, the audience rules. Conversational Advertising understands it’s all about trust between a publisher and her audience. It uses the characteristics of Weblogs to create effective campaigns. It gives customers ownership in the advertising process. No longer are ads 'thrown' at consumers because some marketer decides what is best for the customer. Customers can now interact more openly with the brand and discuss likes and dislikes. Advertising becomes part of the content.

Battelle sums it up best, "But if advertisers want to find those sites that, in the long term, are endemic to their business, sites which reflect a conversation they'd like to join, they are going to have to actually join the conversation. And we, as bloggers, are going to have to help them join. This is our mission at Pheedo.

Posted on May 25, 2004 10:13 PM
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