The Future of Advertising.

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According to Forrester Research, Interactive marketing spending will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012.

To put this into perspective, interactive marketing, which currently accounts for just 8 percent of all ad spending, will increase to 18 percent of marketers' total advertising budgets in the next five years.

What does this mean for you and your business?

Before Television, there was word of mouth.

During the Golden Years of Television, a company could partner with a advertising broker, outspend their competition and enjoy the results and profits as millions of viewers tuned into to watch their ads.

Now, we've come full circle.Now, companies must navigate through the colossal information age to convey their messages and to pitch their Unique Selling Proposition (USPs)

There is one problem, though.

Customers Are Smarter and Customers Are More Informed and Customers Are Becoming Immune to the barrage of information they face everyday.

To survive in the Post-Television Age, companies must position themselves in several ways.

1. Viral Marketing.

2. Referral Marketing.

3. Guerrilla Marketing.

These strategies are not new to marketing, but both require certain tactics to succeed.

In short, viral marketing is how ideas become viruses when spread from person to person. Like Malcolm Glad well eloquently describes in his NY Times Bestseller, The Tipping Point.

Some of these strategies and tactics include social networking, blogging, press releases etc. to convey the message. Once the product or message is launched, the company watches the idea spread like a virus from host to host.

I don't think that television advertising will ever completely be ignored, however, with the invention of Tivo and improved technology, I do see the onus on the advertisers to include improved targeted advertising to the viewers.

In my opinion, the best marketing and advertising campaigns use all forms of advertising at their disposal.

There are 7 forms and synergistically using all 7 to convey your message is the most powerful and only way to survive in the post-television world.