That might be adequate. After all the difference between unsuccessful direct marketing and successful DM is a couple of percentage points, all in the single-digit range.

But after watching one marketing fad after another go by (“Branding!”), and one communications fad after another come and go (Genie!), I’d prefer more convincing about a marketing fad tailored to a communications fad.

Now if you want to talk about taking advantage of fads, that’s something else entirely.

http://buzzcanuck.typepad.com/agentwildfire/2008/07/marketing-profs.html

My question is: do you get full value from a 3:1 advantage when your target’s trusted friend is just as apt to recommend AGAINST something as for, whereas an ad will always promote your product/service?

Does anyone else find something more authoritative in newsprint than if you come across precisely the same thing in some other form (handwriting, spoken word)?

-brian (the other one)

That will never work!

Think about your relationships. There are a lot of people you like, but if you really know them well, there are not many you think really knows what’s going on.

The real value of the social media is in the interaction with people you do trust. With an advertisement, you can look at its content and say “That’s a steaming pile…” and walk away. But in a conversation, you can start out by calling a position a pile, but be convinced by the end of the interaction. you can also balance out the conversation with input from others almost in real time.

Traditional journalism has an edge over both of these however, because people are inately trained to trust what the media says… even when they say they don’t. Why? Because what you are reading, listening to and watching actively (as opposed to the interruption of advertising) is being mentally consumed by … people you trust. And when they repeat the same information, it creates the perception of reality.

The nice thing about social media is, if the bloggers and podcasters follow the ethics and rules of traditional journalism, they can create that same circle of trust.

What has to be maddening to the PR and advertising practitioners is that there is currently no way of effectively predicting how that will work.

http://decknetwork.net/

It’s a different take on online advertising and target markets. The thing I find most appealing is that they won’t let just anyone advertise, raising confidence of the consumer. (Anecdotally, when I see a Deck ad, I do tend to think that it’s for a product that is much less likely to suck.)