Cam Beck, over at Marketing Profs, recently wrote an insightful post called "The Publisher's Paradox: Why Traditional Advertising Models Are Dead"

The traditional publishing model for newspapers, magazines, etc has been to create great content, and sell advertising space on it. The author recounts how the digital scene has turned this model on its head.

Consumers now expect to get access to great content, not pay for it, and not be interrupted by advertising while consuming it. This is leading towards the decline of some traditional media giants, and the way advertising has been done.

Some marketers and advertisers have countered this trend by just getting bigger, louder and more in your face. This reaction is not the way forward however.

The author leaves the way forward open for discussion, offering only two things to survive in the new scene "content and the slow art of customer seduction". At first I found this offensive, but taken in context, it means that people don't buy you on the first look, {for the most part}. You don't enter a long term relationship without knowing something about someone.

Personally, seduction has all kinds of negative connotations for me, involving sleaziness and persuasion. But the point is simple. The way forward in marketing, advertising and selling, is to provide valuable information, and to build a relationship over time. We are going to have to become more creative about the messages we send, and the way we introduce them. It certainly is not going to be interruptive marketing though.