The Internet Presents Opportunities

The article about why advertising is failing on the internet made some good points about why advertising is suffering with the popularity of the internet. However, the lessons I have learned from this course have shown me that the internet provides new opportunities for advertisers, not just challenges and road blocks. While the traditional form of advertising may be going by the waist side, marketers need to be creative to capture their potential customers’ attention. We have learned for the past six weeks about the various innovations that have been thought up out of necessity that can make online marketing successful. From targeting ads to the auction style platform, there are many new ways that marketers should be looking at their craft.

The author states that marketing is going to fail because consumers don’t trust advertising, they don’t want to view advertising, and they do not need advertising. I would argue that all of those points were true even before the advent of the internet. The last point is truer now than ever before, but the first two points were certainly true before the internet became so popular. I don’t think there was ever a time in recent history when consumers trusted ads or wanted to be marketed to. But the difference is customers now have a platform to voice their feelings, and if they do not like an advertisement others can quickly hear their complaints.

I agree with the premise that there are significant new challenges to advertising, but isn’t that true with every field as the market advances and evolves? The marketers who can be ahead of the curve and utilize the internet to their advantage will succeed and the marketers who cling to old concepts and ways of operating will ultimately fail.