Magic beans, TV and the web

"New media isn't the perfect marketing medium, and it won't be until we find the magic beans.

TV had magic beans for forty years. For forty years, anyone, even a complete moron, could make a lot of money using TV ads. Buy enough ads, don't screw up, you're rich.

The hard part was buying enough ads, but once you did that, victory could be declared.

On the web, there are countless marketers just standing around waiting for someone to hand them the magic beans. And that's the problem.

Marketing online takes too much measurement, patience, creativity, technical knowledge, flexibility, speed and authenticity. It requires too much thinking and not enough going out for dinner with clients.

Perhaps there will never be magic beans again. Perhaps marketing is about to transition to a new kind of profession, one that requires insight, dedication and smarts.

Or maybe someone will find some magic beans."

via Seth Godin


This is the exact reason I laugh when those who are quite obviously less than tech savvy proclaim the wonders of marketing on the internet. Any conscious teenager can tell you that the internet is simply super-saturated and most people are highly adept at tuning out the "noise" that clutters probably 90% of the internet. Finding truly unique, insightful ways of marketing is the key to success in the 21st Century; eschewing the outdated advertising paradigms and working with the reality of the available medias. It's no longer about slapping up your ad and watching your profits roll in.