R2 Copy Blog

Looks like people don’t like being “sold to” with boastful advertising. I know because the content writers, bloggers and self-proclaimed social media gurus have told me this over and over. And over again.

Really? Thanks for clearing that up.

But I’m not about to give credit for that observation to digerati who develop line after line of dull, unimaginative content any more than I’m giving credit for the Internet to Al Gore. And if you tell me “people don’t like being sold to” followed by “they just want information,” and I’m smiling when I say this, I just may heave on your shoes. 

Of course people don’t enjoy being sold to. They never have. Advertising pros have always considered this an essential truth–it’s right up there with you can’t bore people into buying your product. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been lots of bad, overbearing advertising out there, just like there are lots of dull Web sites created to engage Search Engines rather than people. But throwing advertising under the bus, or worse, suggesting it’s archaic, is misguided.

Look, I get it. Social media has indeed (gulp) changed the conversation and I agree there’s no going back. McCann Worldwide says 82% will believe a stranger online before they’ll believe your paid advertising. That’s sobering. But advertising isn’t going to go away. It’s going to evolve. We’re all going to have to get better at our craft. Advertising is going to become more accountable and more credible because it has to. 

So give me the tracking. Give me the low-cost reach.  Give me the unfiltered conversation the new digital world provides. But for the love of Pete, let’s make the work interesting, shall we? Let’s create language that pulls readers from one page to the next. Let’s give audiences a reason to watch. Let’s make our brands the subject of conversations online and off.

We might actually sell something.