What is the best place to advertise?

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on February 25, 2009 at 11:27pm

Indy.gov

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Permalink Reply by Peter Dunn on February 26, 2009 at 8:23am

The point of the question is simply to get people's opinions. I realize that there is no perfect solution.
Per your point, I would make the assumption that the entity being advertised is a website.

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on February 26, 2009 at 8:47am

One more, if my budget was not an issue: The commercials during American Idol. I wonder how much those spots go for?

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Permalink Reply by Arik Flanders on February 26, 2009 at 9:30am

If you want the college students, then on my website :)

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on February 26, 2009 at 12:13pm

One powerful approach is to go after local bloggers and make it worth their while to do a post on your site. The downside (or upside) is that this isn't an approach you can throw money at. Developing relationships with bloggers often doesn't cost anything, but it does require time. In addition to the direct exposure to their readership (many of them will be local and all of them are demonstrably interested in going to a website), this can lead to some indirect benefits as part of an SEO strategy. Not enough to make a dent all on its own, but it can lay some groundwork for a more developed SEO campaign.

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on February 26, 2009 at 12:25pm

Very, very good call. Should have been an obvious one! Along with the blogger community, very, very necessary would be the Twitter community.... Which encompasses nearly all Indy bloggers, but Twitter is lightning speed, viral communication..

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Permalink Reply by George Roots on February 26, 2009 at 12:49pm

I am definitely not a blogger, I've done 2 or 3 in my life! But I do understand the power in it. I would guess by this comment, you may missing the direction marketing is going. There are myriad reasons to create a strategy utilizing the versatility of blogs . And even though I personally do not actively blog, I am a web developer with quite a few sites utilizing google analytics, and can you guess what part of our sites people most want to look at? A marketing strategy not using blogs, I'd say, would either have to be considered questionable or bona fide genius.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on February 26, 2009 at 12:50pm

You're guess is right in the sense that I do have several blogs I've written on, although it's kind of a side thing. I'm a PHP programmer. I couldn't come up with a good way to say that the best way to promote a site is to hire a PHP programmer, so I figured the next best thing was to give my honest opinion. :)

Probably the criteria for what we consider a powerful approach is different. The suggestion of Google Ads that you mention earlier in the thread is a good one, and the reasons you give are very helpful to anyone reading this thread.

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on February 26, 2009 at 12:53pm

Let me guess, you're not... If you were, you'd definitely see the power in it.

Here is one stat that might help to change your mind:

Tyson Foods posted a blog stating that they would donate 100 pounds of food to select food banks in Austin, TX per comment on the post. They were filling a 35k pound semi-truck trailer. Within 6 hours..... 6 HOURS the truck was filled.

I don't think that the power of blogs, microblogs, or social networks can be denied with that stat.

Any reputable marketing expert that is not using these mediums, should take a second look at their approach.

If I was promoting myself or my blog, or my company, I would have posted the links to all. :)

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on February 26, 2009 at 1:19pm

Because we have been working with the Indianapolis branch of the American Advertising Federation, we have discovered that the juggernauts in the advertising industry in Indianapolis, have not yet begun to test the waters in social media and know that they need to get into the medium because they too are seeing the success of it.

What major marketing companies are you referring to?

Regarding Google Ads; I almost never click on them. I click on organic results. I know that the ads do work for people, but I can count the number of times that I have clicked a Google Ad on one hand...

I'm curious, what is your definition of blogging? Is it just blogging that you don't see as effective or is it social media as a whole?

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Permalink Reply by Jon D. Speer on February 26, 2009 at 9:35pm

I'll read the other comments too and apologize if this is already covered. But with just about anything, there is an adoption curve. Right now, blogging is capturing early adopters. Soon, a tipping point will occur and blogging will be mainstream.
As you and others have stated, there is likely not just one medium. A comprehensive strategy needs to be established for reaching your audience. If your audience doesn't have bloggers, blogging is not a very good solution. If your audience doesn't watch American Idol, advertising during the program is not a very good solution.

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Permalink Reply by Colin Clark on February 26, 2009 at 1:05pm

Blogging has become such a buzzword lately that a lot of people don't understand the strategy behind making it powerful. If you blog every day and do nothing else then it's not powerful at all! If you don't blog at all, but you find innovative ways to 'infect' the blogosphere with your message, then it's extremely powerful.

When you talk about bloggers and social media users in general, you're talking about a segment of the population that LOVES to spread good ideas and loves it even MORE when they get the chance to rip apart a bad idea. A strategy that addresses this can be extremely powerful, but it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish and weather a blog strategy is going to be the key element, the side element, or not an element at all.

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