Think back to the limited advertising options marketers had in the years depicted in the hit series “Mad Men,” when a pithy line in a magazine ad or a clever TV commercial was all you needed to promote a new product. With the advent since then of cable, satellite, websites, streaming video and mobile devices, it’s a whole new world of media opportunities. Trouble is, this world is also very crowded and very noisy. Consumers seek and increasingly expect to have more control over their content. But too often they are overwhelmed with unwanted message clutter and spam. In the meantime, marketers have long sought the ideal advertising environment, where they can greatly reduce the expense of unnecessary reach and communicate one-on-one with just the consumers interested in hearing what they have to say – at just the right time.
PlaceWise Media has identified the single coordinate point where these two quests intersect as Waste-Free Advertising℠ the place where only information and messages wanted by the consumer will be delivered, and where advertisers can effectively and efficiently communicate to an audience made up of only needles – no haystack.
Mobile marketing is the key to waste-free advertising. Mobile advertising isn’t simply a new screen with which we can blast brand messages as we might on a digital display at a checkout line. Mobile devices are personal devices, and the advertising we push to this medium should respect that fact. Mobile is a very specific platform for reaching a very specific consumer with timely and relevant messages. It enables the 1:1 marketing relationship because we know the eyeballs on the screen belong to a specific consumer and not an ambiguous target audience. We don’t need to buy ads with the hope that the right people see it at a time when they might be ready to act. We can send the message from our brands and retailers, to the specific consumer who requested to receive information and we can time it to the precise moment they are most likely to use it.
The ability to determine location is only part of our ability to deliver relevant advertising to mobile devices. Just because someone is walking by a pizza parlor doesn’t mean sending them a pizza coupon is a relevant message. We need to know the individual consumer with whom we’re communicating—unlike traditional advertising and digital marketing we should not be making educated guesses based on audience demographics. We need to use mobile to engage in a voluntary, 1:1 marketing relationship. Without the shopper’s input, we cannot deliver true relevancy. It’s at the intersection of location and consumer preference and control that we find the promise of waste-free advertising, and it’s there that we can deliver to the shopper “just what they want, right where they are” and you, the advertiser, can find “just who you want, right when they’re ready.” It’s a potent combination.
PlaceWise Media invites the marketing and business communities to offer their views and comments on waste-free advertising and the changing media environment. Please visit www.wastefreeadvertising.com for more information and to join the conversation.