Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Before the days of Mass Media where consumers could be reached through advertising in newspapers or television ads, people would have to be directly engaged with in a bid to persuade them to buy your goods or services - whether it was over the counter in a butcher’s shop or tradesmen calling door-to-door for work.

TV, radio and television offered a medium to put you product or service directly in front of consumers and suddenly build brand awareness. Fast forward to the present day though and things aren’t that simple as we are spoilt with thousands of media outlets to choose from…and that’s not even considering the Internet.

So the current marketing spiel is that you should engage consumers online because that’s where they spend all their time, they are just sitting their waiting to create your next ad and upload it to YouTube, of course everyone has a blog to talk about your product or service, and they are just dying to add your brand as a friend to their social networking profile.

Of course I’m being completely sarcastic, but talk to some people and that’s what they’d like you to believe.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it time and time again - we are simply replicating the mistakes of the past by copying and pasting traditional advertising methods and replicating them online.

Helge Tennø highlighted some interesting commentary from Faris at Naked Conversations:

Technology / distribution is still just tools, being brought to life through the essence of our story.
What is distribution without story?

The Internet is a medium that gives marketers access to millions, but as Faris points out what’s the point of having an audience if you have nothing to tell them?

Sticking a funny video up on YouTube does nothing for your organisation if doesn’t reflect the experience of consumers when they engage with you or if your product or service serves no purpose in the context of the video. Take a step back, start with happiness as your business model and then come back to me with your funny video.