There is a popular and funny story among the economists. An economist was walking on the street and found a $100 note lying on the sidewalk. He said to himself “Nonsense that can’t be a real $100 note. If it is, someone else would have picked it up” and walked away. Of course, would you rather believe the theory or the ‘piece of paper’? 
Not just the economists but all of us are sceptical. Even if I tell people that there is a better way to market their products – that everyone is searching on the internet before they buy almost anything and that advertising on the internet is cheaper and better, the questions they ask are: a. if that was true why didn’t I hear about it until now b. if that was true why everyone is not advertising on the internet then?
If you are advertising with the traditional media it is in their interest not to tell you anything about advertising on the internet or at least try to confuse you about the adverting on the internet. It is true, not everyone is advertising on the internet (that’s probably why it is still cheaper to advertise). One of the reasons for not advertising on the internet is not being able to keep up with the changes in the search engine algorithms and the amount of time required to understand this type of advertising and to manage such campaigns profitably.
Is Internet Advertising For You?
When people don’t believe that internet advertising/internet marketing is better, I used to wonder what else one can do apart from “bringing them to the water”. I realize now that people will learn in their own time. Maybe GFC or some other crisis will force them to find alternatives to generating qualified sales leads or to making advertising more accountable. Then they will start their search and find internet advertising. The teacher appears when the student is ready, they say.
