eBizBlog

Ad agencies have been around since the mid 1800’s.  In those days, they acted largely as print brokers.  By the 1890’s, agencies began to routinely hire copywriters and artists.  The birth of modern advertising – using ads to create desire for a product or service – is generally agreed to have emerged around 1902.  It wasn’t until 1917, when the American Association of Advertising Agencies was formed, that standards and norms began to be set down.

I’m writing about this because, as recently as yesterday, I was reminded of how we are still lacking those “standards and norms” – for the most part – in the eMarketing world.  The good work of folks like the Internet Advertising Bureau notwithstanding, there’s still a great gaping hole in most marketers’ minds when it comes to online marketing.  Or do we call it web advertising…or digital marketing?  We can’t even agree on a name for what we do, for crying out loud!

Why does this matter?  What happened to me yesterday was an unfortunate reminder of why.  In speaking with a client, it became apparent that when she said “butterfly” (I’m substituting this word for the name of an eMarketing vehicle), she really meant “moose”.  And the differences between the two were critically important in terms of her campaign objectives, budget and execution.  She’s not to be blamed for this, because in her organization there’s very little difference between a butterfly and moose.  They look alike, sound alike and act the same.  They’re part of a group of indiscriminate “Web 2.0 tools” that no-one had yet explained to anyone at that company.

What can be done?  For starters, let’s not assume that eMarketing know-how can be developed via osmosis.  Let’s encourage questions and dialogue. (Hey! Agencies! I’m talkin’ to YOU!)  Next, we in the eMarketing community need to insist on standards for our industry.  We will have to build them – sometimes from scratch – and be prepared to live and die by what we develop.  Finally, let’s agree that client education is not a bad thing.  Sometimes we need to educate even before we get the gig.  (Trust me – it’s worth it.  I do it all the time.)

It helps everybody when we’re all talking about a moose – and we know we’re all talking about a moose.