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Retro Digital Advertising

Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners,

Below are a few observations gleaned from building and promoting an online entrepreneur advertising platform.

What is retro digital advertising and how do you do it?

In short, retro digital advertising is the way advertising was done before the internet or digital age, and is now done online. Advertising was a slow and costly process in comparison to the digital tools and platforms available today. And it was primarily done within the domain of the advertising professionals for it to be considered a success.

However, even though our tools and technologies have evolved rapidly and become universal, good old human nature has not kept pace. Let's look closer at a few pros and cons as to how much things have really changed when it comes to old and new advertising methods and the results.

Retro advertising:

  • Cost was always expensive if you wanted real results.
  • Print and direct mail took time to produce and yield results.
  • Television and radio was expensive and required ongoing ad spend.
  • Only a few and slow ways to track effectiveness.
  • Public reaction to campaigns could easily go either way.
  • One brilliant campaign could make you a household name.
  • Was only the domain of the advertising and marketing professionals.
  • Sometimes less is more.
  • Creativity was paramount.
  • Trust took time to establish.

Digital advertising:

  • Cost is always expensive if you want real results.
  • Brand awareness and organic growth take time to gain traction and yield results.
  • Television and radio is expensive and required ongoing ad spend.
  • Maybe too many ways to track effectiveness - vanity metrics.
  • Public reaction to campaigns can easily go either way.
  • One brilliant campaign can make you a household name for 24 hours.
  • Anyone can fancy themselves an advertising or marketing professional.
  • Sometimes less is more.
  • Viral potential is paramount.
  • Trust takes time to establish.

As they say, the more things change the more they stay the same. Are there really many more advantages for us today in being able to advertise and promote our business online 24/7/365.

Engage with fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners near you

Our solution is to encourage the practice of what could be described as retro digital advertising, using digital tools in an old-fashioned way. Basically, for any advertising to be effective, someone has to become interested in your product or service and you then have to engage with them in an honest and authentic manner. This transactional conversation is as old as speech itself but incredibly hard to facilitate online. This being due to the flood of duplicate and recycled content, spam, fake users and posts and hyped marketing gimmicks that bury the opportunity to find and connect with a potential customer or client. Simultaneously reminding oneself that you are dealing with a person and not just a "consumer" or "lead". Retro puts the "person" and the "relationship" back in the equation.

Our relatively simple digital advertising platform attempts to facilitate the above, forging and establishing new business relationships one at a time. There are only two conditions to membership which is that your business or venture must be legitimate, and you are willing to network and share with other members. Personal engagement is critical for real growth and success, only leaving a long trail of posts littering the internet achieves nothing. One does not need to be a rockstar, celebrity or influencer to be successfull, one simply needs honesty, common sense and basic manners. To sum up, our network works on the principal of mutual respect and reciprocity which requires a little time and effort.

View our Entrepreneur Articles on our vision to build up local small business.

Regards, Justin Grounds.
Founder & Admin

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