‘We interrupt your peaceful reading of this article to show you this ad about snowboards’.
Hmm, well I WAS enjoying reading that article about visiting Mt Kosciusko in the spring … I’m not a snowboarder anyway …
This post is about interruption marketing versus content marketing. In the example:
- The article is the content marketing.
- The ad is the interruption marketing.
Which is more likely to get your attention? Which is more likely to drive action? The content or the interruption?
Content marketing is a great tool to implement permission based marketing. Its the opposite of interruption marketing.
I like the post Joe Pullizi wrote about interruption marketing on Facebook: Facebook: Ads Still Interrupt, Even if they Come with a Photo of My Sister.
Joe makes the point:
… as ultra-targeted as this is, it’s still advertising. It still interrupts.
Exactly. Just because something is targetted, it is still an interruption.
I’m not suggesting interruption marketing is wrong – it can be annoying, yes, but if you don’t like an article with an ad in it, you can read something else.
But if you are investing in online marketing, what is the better investment?
What did it cost to operate the snowboard ad campaign? To publish the content?
What is the effectiveness of each in driving action?
Consider what you spend to market your own business? How much have you spent on interruption marketing? How effective has it been?
What have you invested in content marketing?
Do you want to be the content or the interruption?