How much advertising is too much advertising?
By Denis A. Baldwin

It's everywhere. Everything around you is coated in a thick shell of it. It's a residue left by our words and our ideas and our emotions. It's one of the first things we see when we wake up. It's one of the last things that plays with our mind as we go to sleep. It's everywhere we go, everything we experience and in everything we do. Even our interpersonal communication is tainted by it. What is it? It's Advertising, and it's getting out of hand.

According to a recent study by Yankelovich Partners

* 60% of consumers feel more negatively about advertising than they did a few years ago.
* 65% already feel overwhelmed with too many marketing messages.
* 61% feel the volume of advertising is out of control.

Knowing all of this could seem daunting.. and down right discouraging, especially for those of us that make marketing our lives. How much is too much? With people so desensitized to advertising, why would anything we do work? What could my budget for advertising do if the millions already spent are being overlooked?

The simple answer is that we need to quit with the advertisements and start with social marketing. Marketing your ideas in a way that appeals to the consumers sensibility and interest instead of the corporate idea of what people want. Get to know your customers. Give them the tools to market to themselves. Give people a forum to share their needs and then respond to those needs. Marketing isn't about ad dollars and billboards and billion dollar campaigns. It's about giving each of your prospects the tools to make the decision to be your customer. If the power is in the hands of the people, the people will use that power to purchase.

What does all of this really mean? Be witty and brainy and full of ideas without being pushy. More on that in my next article.