Advertising in a Post Billboard and TV World

With old-school advertising like billboards and TV no longer delivering results, we must look at what advertising means online. 

My story starts in radio.

I’d always had a passion for advertising and through a random set of accidents I ended up with a diploma in radio broadcasting. Being young and relatively care free I took the first job that would let me combine these two skills.

This job ended up being as a writer for a radio station in the middle of Alberta, a place that was on the opposite side of the country I resided in. The job paid a couple pennies above minimum wage and living expenses would be through the roof but I was 18 and this was an adventure, so I took it.

In my head radio was this exciting world filled with cool people and the chance to make a lot of money.

I was rather wrong on both points.

You see, within the few years I worked in the radio industry my pay actually DROPPED. I was getting more experienced yet I was making less money. It was the first inkling that I may had been part of a dying industry.

TV, Radio and Billboards No Longer Deliver

It broke my young heart when the realization struck me that what I thought was helping small businesses may actually be hurting them, or at the very least was a big waste of time.

Whoa, lets back peddle a bit. How about we discuss WHY those just don’t deliver any more.

It has to do with the nature of the Internet.

I’m going to use music as an example to explain how the internet is changing culture and business in general.

Have you Heard of Neo-Thrash?

It’s one of the hundreds of genres of heavy metal music out there. According to Wikipedia it’s a mix of bluesy guitar work and ‘harsh’ vocals. In the past bands who created these super unique genres would have an incredibly hard time finding an audience.

Now though, you can create this interesting mix of music and you’ll be able to find people that like it, maybe even enough people to stake out a living for yourself.

I’ve heard stories of bands who post all their music to Youtube and are able to make a living just through the ads.

There are enough people online that you can be far more successful by creating something unique than by being more appealing to a broad audience.

In a Roundabout Way I’m Discussing the Super Niche

The more broad your branding goes online, the less interest you’ll find among people. Just like radio no longer delivers results via advertising, having a broad reach and a ‘safe’ message or broad services no longer gets you success.

There’s a saying in some Asian countries:

Same same but different.

It basically means that the product is the same as another but slightly different somehow. This is a trap you need to avoid, as being the ‘same’ as someone else but offering a slight difference wont really work for you.

You need to create a ‘super niche’ a service and product that is completely different from others out there. The branding you build will follow this niche specifically.

What’s My Point?

Radio, TV and all the other forms of traditional advertising are the anti-niche. They attempt to get your message out to a broad audience in a hope that you will find the few people that would be attracted to your niche with your message.

This is a losing sum game.

You need to focus on finding a ‘super niche’. Advertising only to the people that might actually be interested in the unique service you offer.

This has been proven with the success of advertising platforms such as Adwords by Google that only shows your ads to people searching for similar things.

This translates directly into every form of marketing you do:

Adwords — Focus your keywords as tightly as possible to what you offer.

Social Media — Create conversions closely tied with your niche.

PR — Your contests, gags and anything else need to be closely related to what you do.

It goes on and on but I think you understand the point I’m getting at. Niche is where it’s at and you need to focus your marketing on it, not boaden.

My name is Kole McRae and I am the director of marketing at Rush Ventures — Your Startup Online Within One Day.