The Super Bowl has become the biggest spectator extravaganza of the year. People from all over the world tune in for the event…regardless of their feelings about football or the teams on the field. It’s an excuse to have a party, come together as friends and family in a non-traditional holiday sort of way. And, if the game is good, it’s a bonus.

With so many eyes glued to the television, companies with hefty marketing budgets have ran out of ink writing a check for a 30-second commercial spot during the game, spending upwards of $2 million. Some companies purchase two, three, or more commercial time, and usually fire their biggest creative bullet for the worldwide spectacle.

But here’s a question: Without giving it too much thought, how many commercials do you remember from this year’s game?

Off the top of your head, you probably struggled to piece together three, even two commercials. And the reason for that speaks volumes towards the paradigm shift that’s taking place in the way the world consumes the information and products they crave.

The lion’s share of sales and revenue used to go to companies who spent the most on advertisements. Now, the rules have been rewritten. This dramatic change has revealed that companies with enormous advertising budgets are not calling the shots anymore.


The consumer is in control. And interruption-based marketing tactics that once worked like a charm fail to pack the same punch.

Interruption-based marketing, also known as “outbound marketing,” are commercials and emails that serve to make noise and hopefully grab a handful of people’s attention. The problem is, with so many companies making a loud racket, consumers don’t know where to focus their attention.

Now, with the rise of “inbound marketing,” meaning companies set themselves up to “get found” on the Internet when a consumer searches for their particular goods or services, a small business with a small advertising budget has the opportunity to reach a wide consumer base…one of similar, or even greater size, to a major corporation with billions to invest in advertising.

Consumers aren’t paying attention to the commercials like they used to. They’re not digging through coupon fliers and yellow books. It’s a world of instant gratification, and the Internet satiates all consumer needs. Everything they need is at their fingertips, and you need to make sure your business is there, too.

In order to be successful with inbound marketing, you need to position yourself for visibility where customers are frequenting, much like the trade shows and expos of yesterday. More specifically, you need to have a presence in three of the biggest and rapidly-growing segments of the Internet.



1) The Search Engines - The majority of people use sites like Google to shop and gather information, with the average person initiating dozens of searches on a daily basis. The real-time results and plethora of information gives consumers the ability to sit at their computers and collect the information they seek. To take full advantage of this new trend, you must completely re-evaluate the way you market your business and take into consideration that traditional forms of advertisement are falling on deaf ears.

2) The Social Mediasphere - The Social Mediasphere consists of many different sites that you’ve probably heard of: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, MySpace, etc. These sites were once viewed as niche, but are now considered much more mainstream. Many companies are privy to the fact that MILLIONS of people frequent social media sites daily, therefore realize that creating a presence on these sites opens up an opportunity to build their brand in front of a sizable audience.

3) The Blogosphere - The blogosphere is over 100 million blogs and growing, and all consumer niches have blogs run by bloggers who really know their stuff. The days of reading a trade publication have been replaced by finding a blog on Google and subscribing to it in order to receive information directly from the horse’s mouth.

In order to be successful with your marketing today, it’s important to stay current with trend developments and match your efforts with the way consumers learn about and shop for your products. Building a web presence in today’s online, on-demand marketplace has never been more important than it is today.




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