I am a big fan of using simple analogies to explain things that are otherwise complicated.
Therefore, with regard to Google’s announcement that it is eliminating newspaper ads from it’s popular ad words product, i’d like you to imagine the following:
- The world’s advertisers are watching a real life game of Survivor
- The contestants are different types of media (Web PPC, TV, Radio, Newspaper, Outdoor, Mobile PPC, etc.)
- The contestants goal is to please the advertisers and stay on the island
- The island is slowly shrinking as fewer dollars are being spent by advertisers
- The name of the island is Adwordia
- The host of the show is Mr. Google (not Mr. Probst)
- The host has all the votes and unilaterally decides who stays and who goes
Unfortunately, for the newspaper industry, Mr. Google grew tired of selling remnants and splitting paltry fees. Therefore, he decided the newspapers had to leave Adwordia.
Left to their own devices newspapers still sell $40 billion worth of advertising per year. So, even though they have been booted off the Google island, you can still talk to their sales reps and buy their ads — at least for now.
Of course, if you happen to be a small business, then I would suggest that the key to your marketing future has nothing to do with buying expensive ads — not from newspapers or anyone else. Instead, your future depends on your ability to get found for free in natural search. To this end, you should seek simple to use tools that can help you create interesting and engaging content that is highly specific (topically and geographically) to the products and services you provide.
