Earlier there were ads on television, print and on billboards. Now, they proliferate your private spaces through social media and the internet in general. Your digital devices bombard you with ads of all types all times of the day. Advertisers have access to an increasing amount of consumer data and this makes privacy concern in the age of digital.
Everything though is not as bleak and there are always pros with cons. The data access has meant more personalized advertising. Advertisers are increasingly relying on providing personalized experiences to the customers. The adage “the customer is king” is truer today than ever before. The industry has seen a role reversal between the advertiser and the consumer. Now, the consumer has the choice of whether or not to engage with an advertiser’s content instead of being inundated with in-your-face hard-selling ads.
What customers have power is evident from the fact that 33% users find display ads annoying and 54% users never click on banner ads due to lack of trust. Customers may have no say in what goes up on a billboard or what is shown on television, they may choose to ignore it too, what with HD channels providing no-ad experiences to the consumer, but they can definitely decide what content to consume on the internet. Another trend on the rise is that of adblocking. As per a Pagefair report, there were almost 198 million ad block users across the globe. This technology gives real power to users who can now block digital ads in their browsers.
The positive effect of this is relevance in advertising. The advertisers are now focusing on the simple yet important basics of advertising – what to say and how to say it. Even though the rise of digital confused many marketers about the relevance of traditional modes of advertising, they are now understanding that digital is a support system and not a replacement. The one change that digital has brought across the board in advertising is the realization of the value of content. Digital has revolutionized even traditional advertising and now, advertisers create traditional and digital content to complement each other.
The number of importance advertisers is giving to content value can be understood from the number of educational campaigns that are being run. Conversions are now dependent on how well you can educate and engage consumers with your brand and this has been majorly made possible because of digital proliferation. Advertising can, therefore, be said to have received a facelift in this digital age.
A career in Advertising and PR is an opportunity to build brands while also developing and enhancing public interest in them. If you want to build yourself a career in this domain, build the skills required to excel in Advertising with the PG Certificate Program in Advertising Management and Public Relations.