Advertising could be made much better if it tried to please its audience, instead of treating them like victims who deserve x amount of abuse in return for whatever free site they’re getting. It doesn’t work anyway; audiences learn to tune out boring ads, no matter how loud they shout.

What we have now is basically print and TV advertising translated to the web. The right answer will probably look very different. It might not even seem like advertising, by current standards. So the way to approach this problem is probably to start over from scratch: to think what the goal of advertising is, and ask how to do that using the new ingredients technology gives us. Probably the new answers exist already, in some early form that will only later be recognized as the replacement for traditional advertising.

Bonus points if you can invent new forms of advertising whose effects are measurable, above all in sales.

I couldn’t agree more.

“There’s no question, you have to compete for attention and in order to do so effectively and genuinely, you need someone who can help tell your story, the right way, through the people who reach your customers. It’s not an overnight process and it’s not something to “be gamed.” It’s a process of investing in, building and leveraging relationships now and in the long term. And yes, if you do things right, bloggers, reporters, and analysts will want to talk to you about your company and vision along the way.

• Understand You’re Not the Only Story in Town
• Pick the Right Person or Team to Lead PR
• Participation is Marketing
• Identify The Target Audience For Every Step Of Your Growth
• Don’t Launch on Mondays
• No Two Bloggers or Journalists are Created Equal
• Measure Success, Not Traffic
• Customize the News For Each Influencer to Make His Or Her Job Easier
• Get a Spokesperson
• Your Company Blog is More Powerful Than You May Think
• Blogger Relations Extends from the “A-List” to the Magic Middle
• Follow the Conversations and Join In