Blog Marketing Will Overtake Online Ad Placements
Researchers predicted that online web advertisement placements will plummet in the coming years. In a study conducted by Opinon Research Corporation, they highlighted that consumers are more likely to visit a website if it is in an article versus it being on a banner ad. In fact, even E-mail offers and SEO ranks higher versus banner ad placements. What does this mean? Well, it pretty much says that the blogosphere will really be considered as a prime advertising platform.
This data is taken from US respondents so it may vary a bit for the Philippines. Our numbers don’t exactly match yet (read post on Philippines Internet Users), however, we shouldn’t fail to ignore this trend. This very may well be the future of Digital Marketing in the next 2-3 years. I know a lot of people have already started to think that blog marketing is more powerful than banner ad placements, and this study just validates that.
Data and article from eMarketer
This basically is a testament to the fact that viral and social marketing is one of the best forms of getting your communication across. I know this may border on heresy for consumer awareness advocates, but it looks like the best way to get people to listen to your message is to mask your ads so that they don’t look like ads. Now the game is shifting towards the realm of public perception and PR versus mass advertising over TV, Print, and Radio. It’s just like what Al Ries said in his book “Death of Advertising and Rise of PR” – credibility of the messenger is now taking precedence over the clutter.
The first to be targeted by advertising agencies and marketers, especially in the US, will be the blogosphere. Now, more than ever, there is a need for bloggers to take more responsibility in the products that they endorse and write about in their articles and posts. I already foresee series of debates in the coming months both in the local and international spaces of blogging regarding this topic.
Nuffnang, one of the local blogging networks operating in the Philippines, now has more reason to organize events and product reviews. You guys should use this data when making your pitch to your clients.
E-mail Marketing – Limitless Potential
I’m a huge fan of Seth Godin, the man behind “Permission Marketing”. If you’re a marketer and you haven’t read that book yet, shame on you. For me it ranks just as high Kotler and Ries/Trout. E-mail Marketing is a close second in the list and I fully understand why it’s so effective. When you opt in for a newsletter or when you give your e-mail address via subscription through RSS, you are literally allowing someone to send you direct mail that you’ll see each time you open your inbox. That person can talk to you several times a week, and eventually I’m sure he’ll be able to get your attention and get you to keep on going back to his website.
I’ll write more about e-mail marketing in another post, especially in the context of the Philippines digital landscape.
How will this affect Google Adsense?
Soon, advertisers on Adsense will slowly reduce their ad spending. They will probably invest more in product review services. This maybe scary to a lot of bloggers who rely on Adsense for profit but I strongly suggest that you start looking already for alternative sources of income. The drop might not happen tomorrow or in the coming months, but it will definitely come.
How will this affect Friendster and other Social Networks?
Friendster, who’s local reseller is a good friend of mine (Mike Palacios), should think of more ways to promote products through other aspects of the network other than banner advertisements (maybe Rich Media?). I know that pop-ups are a big thing but according to this study, people will just close them without bothering to read what the ad has to say. Again – like what I said above, the drop might not happen suddenly. In fact, sales might still rocket up for the Philippines since we’re still in the infancy stage of the digital era. But that shouldn’t stop social networks from developing additional revenue streams, especially with this on the horizon.
If bloggers thought that mainstream media has invaded their realm already, they should think again. It’s only just begun. Once the big agencies here start flexing their muscles, powered by millions of pesos by consumer goods companies, then we will definitely see a real invasion. In fact, with the 2010 elections jsut around the corner, be prepared for Politician-sponsored blogging events. I’ve organized several of these already myself when I was still a consultant for Senator Mar Roxas. It looks like other candidates will probably do the same.
PS: It looks like BlueWater Day Spa is on the right track with their current digital marketing plan. Follow me on Twitter or add me up on Facebook! You can also Subscribe to New Media Philippines by Email.
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10 Responses to “Blog Marketing Will Overtake Online Ad Placements”
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as the guy who runs blogbank, we’ve never taken an ad sales approach to selling our ads. ironically, online ads for blogs are PR driven.
thus we don’t cut into the ad budget, but on the BTL budget.
more on this when i speak in iblog 5
I’m looking forward to hearing your talk Jayvee.
I’ll be there at iBlog5.
oops “ad sales approach to selling our ads.” sounds redundant.
to be clearer, companies tend to see “online” as the fourth or fifth way of selling advertising apart form tv, radio and print. (fifth if you add OOH ads)
thats where they fail because the paradigm was wrong to begin with
Agree with you a 100% Jayvee. The best way to tap the internet is to really leverage on social media. It’s marketing based on existing relationships and building the credibility and trust of a particular brand.
Nice insights here Carlo!
Regarding Google Adsense, I have nothing against using it for revenue but in my opinion, it is not a stable source of revenue for someone’s content. There are better ways to monetize content.
For consumers, well at least here, they tend to listen to other consumers more than what the company is saying thru blogs, forums and review channels. And there are companies who are starting to study how to engage the crowd.
Today, the wisdom of the crowd plays a major role in many businesses.
@Rob: Actually, there are a lot of bloggers who have stopped using adsense. I don’t use it here or in my food and personal blog (but I still use it in my gaming blog but seriously thinking of dropping it as well).
I’ll write more about other forms of revenue, especially for value bloggers, on a separate post.
Agree with the article. It’s obvious that in the future, people will be trusting their “peers” which means blogs rather than hardsell from companies.
With personalized content (stuff that you like) via blogging, the reader can select niche subjects where the ads are targeted.
I think it will work.
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But really, this is nothing new. This setup has been around since the early days of the internet. This is just the paid/unpaid online reviews setup given a different term (“blogosphere”), made more accessible to all, thus making them more affordable.
I don’t think the rising number of blog reviews will replace online ad placements. These two grow hand in hand, with the review pages always making room for ad spots. Ad spots are still and I think will always be the best way to monetize whatever content you’re providing. Be it a sponsored review, or not.
the internet has indeed become the best place to advertise. everybody has ebcome netizens of the new era in advertising.