What is advertising? To put it in the most simple terms, it is the way to put across some information to a set of people so that it can be beneficial to you in some way. And of course, it is a paid form of “marketing”.

The most common form of advertising when we first think of it, is TV advertising. But that has its limits because you can never measure its influence. Online advertising is one step ahead as you can get a better idea of whether the receivers of your information are listening to you. Also, it is one more step ahead in trying to ensure you know you are hitting that section of society which you want to target.

But here’s a truly amazing form of advertising that I came across a few days back, through a friend.

This guy walked into a book store and went to a section which said “Search Engine Marketing”. He then browsed through a few books, before hitting on this one particularly interesting book. Before buying it, he just quickly scanned through the book to ensure good quality. And right at the centre of the book, he saw the visiting card of the CEO of a startup for Search Engine Marketing. He bought the book, and then called the CEO.

On telling the CEO how he had come across the information, the CEO told him that he had put his card in every single bookstore which had that book in Mumbai. He then interviewed this guy, and in 1 week’s time, he had joined that company in his first ever job.

So the startup ensured they advertised in exactly the right places – the CEO knew that he would only want to interview those people who selected this book.

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