What to Expect from DIY Ads

When traditional media buyers first come to do-it-yourself advertising, they may be in for a surprise, according to panelists in the “Do-it-Yourself Ads” session at Ad:tech this morning.

“Media managers are going to have to humble themselves and realize they’re going to be doing the work themselves, instead of just calling someone up on the phone,” said Farah Miller, manager of new media at Random House’s Knopf and Pantheon. Despite the size of the parent company, the marketing budget for each book puts Miller in the position of thinking like a small business. So the value of DIY ads — things like AdWords, BlogAds, AdBrite and others — comes not just from its low price, but from the ability to quickly make changes when things are not working.

That idea was echoed by Henry Copeland, founder and CEO of BlogAds. He says the power of DIY ads rests in its lower cost, ability to make changes and react to the campaign’s performance, and the added control it gives advertisers.

“Traditional advertising is like an ICBM [inter-continental ballistic missile]. You spend a long time building it, launch it, it lands and you’re done,” he said.