The Next Ad Agency Will Listen

I was brainstorming this morning with a friend about their web shop and how the different components of an online development presence & advertising resembles in many points what it currently exists in traditional ad agencies. Online PR, Developers, Copywriters, Designers, Bloggers, Search Specialist and so on are all specialties of the online world and they each have their offline counterpoint. Then I came up with the expression the “Next Ad Agency” and I am wondering what it would be like. If the current ad agency model is based on talking, communicating something, an idea, a product or service, along with a brand message, is it possible that the Next Ad Agency will actually listen?

As a search marketing expert, I can honestly say that I spend more time listening to the searchers, understanding their search patterns and search terms than I spend time communicating to them. I basically don’t communicate much and I don’t need many words. I don’t need many words as I am only answering their request. “Here you will find what you are looking for” is the basis of what I say when I am crafting my copy for a paid search advertising campaign for instance. And you know what? It works! Of course, it can get a little more elaborated than that on the SEO side but there will still be a lot of objective descriptions and simple sentences about what’s on the site. On top of that, when I explain to self-proclaimed communication experts what my communication “strategy” is for my search marketing plan, I often get a glaze on their face as it seems overly simplistic to them. It is simple and I am not ashamed to admit it. Since the consumers are now doing most of the talking, does this mean we have to do most of the Listening? Is it possible that user centricity implies that we start listening more than we talk? And that we can only talk if consumers give us the right to do so? Someone told me once we can way more friends listening than talking. It does work. My uncle was saying: we have 2 ears and one mouth which means we have to listen twice as much as speak. As far as I can see, the Next Ad Agency will do just that.

It seems like polarities have been reversed as consumers are taking control. I love my new verb: “listen”. Let me know what you think. I can’t wait to hear. 

Permalink /// Comments (0)

Comments