Facing Advertising's Major Problem Online Head On!

Recently while scrolling through Facebook on my phone I saw an ad that was being targeted at me and I was slightly baffled as to why I was seeing it. It was a sponsored ad for Hulu Plus and the shows the advertised in it were Novelas! (Spanish Soap Operas) Lucky for the marketer in me, Facebook allowed me to see why I was being served that ad. I was slightly disappointed to find out that the reason I was being served it was because I identified myself as Hispanic/Latino on Facebook. Why would I be served this ad? Sure I'm Latino, and sure I speak Spanish but I much rather watch an episode of The Blacklist or Game of Thrones than a program meant for people my mothers age! This is only one example, there are always many ads like this one I feel like have nothing to do with what I am actually interested in. The internet has now reached the point where there is way too much clutter out there and consumers are starting to fight back!

In 2014 the United Nations reported that 3 billion people had access to the internet around the globe. Professionals like myself are constantly bombarding those 3 billion people with messages to buy a new lotion, sign up for a service, vote for a candidate, donate to a foundation or pretty much anything else you can think of. Many things get lost in the shuffle, meaning a lot of money gets wasted! Google themselves admitted that more than HALF of the advertisers on the internet wasted their money. "56.1% of ads served on the internet are never even 'in view'—defined as being on screen for one second or more." With this in mind, should we continue making these investments? Going back to my Hulu Plus story, is it really effective to just blankly target Hispanic People? Clearly Hulu sees the value in having a Hispanic following, but are they reaching the right people with such ineffective tactics and targeting?

Consumers are also beginning to get fed up with ads online, in the mid 2000's people flocked to services like TiVo and DVR to skip through TV commercials. Skip forward to 2015 and now many people now have installed AdBlockers on their internet browsers to make their online experience more desirable, just like people used TiVo to skip through the commercials in order to make their TV watching experience more desirable. These AdBlockers block anything from YouTube video ads to banner ads all over the web(including Facebook Ads), leading to major losses in revenue for anyone who has made that investment. The scary part for digital marketers is, that the number of people using such services is growing rapidly.

So what should marketers like myself do now? The fact of the matter is, we as content creators and media gatekeepers have a responsibility to work hard to reach our desired audiences. The same ole methodology of throwing money until something sticks just simply isn't working anymore. Our livelihoods depend on making serious changes to the way we do things in our industry. Companies like BuzzFeed and the New York Times have already begun making strides with methodologies like native marketing. Many small businesses, like the ones I work with at Likeable Local, try building communities and a reputation on social media networks. Others even try to go viral with video campaigns that promote a message, like the clothing store from Los Angeles who released a video last year of strangers kissing.

It's time we break the status quo, it's time that we in the advertising and marketing industries realize that in order for us to sell brands going forward, we're going to have to be a little more creative if we want to be successful. We are here to help brands find their voices, not burden consumers worldwide.