It’s almost amusing to see how a new year always brings some new way to look or define something. Many experts figured that “digital advertising” would be one of those evolving definitions that would bring a fresh new look to 2009, and they were right. Be careful when doing business how companies define the word “digital”. Advertising agency holding companies have made very little effort and investment in digital. What they call digital is Flash and Photoshop, what you or your clients are asking for is SEO and SMO. These are wildly different disciplines.
SEO and SMO firms don’t view Flash as digital marketing or advertising, not even close. If you want Flash, I can have you Flash by 3:00 PM today, no questions asked. However, Flash does not spider in search engines properly, requires plugins, doesn’t work on many mobile devices and is practically useless in providing any ROI for clients. You might as well get used to spoon-feeding Flash a healthy dose of “digital” pea mush and tuck it in at night with a bedtime story.
