Seth Godin reports on gPhone rumours

This post is from from my other blog here

According to marketing guru Seth Godin, rumours about Google's (as yet unconfirmed) gPhone point to this potential iPhone killer being low-cost, open to all carriers, and funded by geo-targeted and personalized (relevant) ads. This concept highlights once again the misconception that people - especially the under 35 crowd of cynics - hate advertising. We don't! We just hate high-noise, low-signal interruptions that are not relevant to our life / taste / needs / locale. Truth is, studies have shown that we love to be provided with relevant advertising, tailored to our tastes, our location and our needs. As a reformed frequent traveller, I can testify to the value that I would place on ads for affordable local restaurants delivered based on the GPS location determined by my phone. How about finding the nearest florist on my drive home to an angry wife? The real lesson here is that as business owners we need to learn to develop relevant targeted advertising that applies to our clients, or those people we desire as clients. The age of the one ad draws all customers approach is ten years dead, but still businesses spend billions collectively on generically trying to shout louder than the competition instead of beginning a conversation with a few key people in a niche. (If you don't know what "Long Tail" and "Permission Marketing" (not talking about opting in to email lists, either) mean, it's time to hit your local book store or Amazon and read up!)