Why the Internet is A-Buzz with UFO and Ancient Aliens and Why Marketers should Care?

Courtesy of Pixabay

By Hector Cisneros

As a Marketing professional, I am always intrigued by emerging trends. A trend that seems to be reaching a crescendo is the interest in UFOs and the search for the beginning of the human race. While studying astronomy and biology in college, I noticed how the frontiers of those sciences were constantly being expanded by new discoveries. I also noticed how bogged down science had become in its own dogma. Today, it seems that new scientific discoveries happen every day and the antiquity of human civilization has jumped from 5000 BC to 12000 BC in the wake of these discoveries. So what does this have to do with marketing? These trends are exciting and are drawing massive attention to the TV, radio and especially the Internet viewing public! Millions of people are following these trends and these are golden opportunities for specific businesses to take advantages of this global phenomena. In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will explore these trends and why they are golden marketing opportunities for many industries and professions looking to find a loyal and fervent audience to share their marketing message. So get ready for a marketing trend that's out of this world as we explore the alien craze, a true worldwide phenomenon.


 
If you asked the average person in the 60's if they believed in UFOs, ancient civilizations or other so-called myths, maybe one in a 1000 people would have said yes. In 1968, Erich von Däniken published Chariots of the Gods in the United States, which questioned many of our deeply held scientific and religious beliefs. At that time, Erich von Däniken theories were lambasted from every possible authoritative institution. Academics, scientists, and religious leaders all attacked his ideas. 

Courtesy of Wikipedia Common

Yet the public was buying his books so fast that its sales set records. The public couldn't get enough of  Erich von Däniken. The reason I bring this up is that the current unstoppable trend of people believing in UFOs and ancient aliens grew directly out of von Däniken's ideas. Today, the most-watched History Channel series is "Ancient Aliens". It also boasts a huge loyal audience and some of the longest commercial breaks (in some instances up to 5 minutes) for any History Channel show.

Whether you believe in UFOs, Ancient Aliens, Atlantis or think that the whole genre is a hoax is not the point. There are literally billions of people worldwide tuning into this genre every day and the trend is growing. In case you think that I have lost my mind, here are some amazing facts:

In a June 2017 article discussing cable TV rating's on;Friday cable ratings: ‘Ancient Aliens’ ticks up, ‘Bill Maher’ takes a hit. It stated that; "It was a relatively quiet night in the Friday cable ratings once again last week. A&E’s “Live PD” landed on top of the night with a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 1.59 million viewers. Meanwhile, “Real Time with Bill Maher” followed closely behind, despite suffering a minor hit with another controversial episode, scoring a 0.4 on HBO. This was one-tenth less than the 0.5 its previous episode had scored.

On VH1, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” maintained a 0.3 yet again, while The History Channel’s also “Ancient Aliens” held steady with a 0.3 for the second week in a row. In addition, ESPN performed well throughout the night landing 0.3 – 0.2 ratings with several special late-night “SportsCenter” episodes, and the usual “Pardon the Interruption” coverage."

Visit the History Channel here.

Today this History Channel show is in its 14th season and is showing its age. Ratings are down somewhat but many of History channels spin-offs like "Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation", has surpassed its viewership. These shows are widely distributed on NetFlix, Amazon Prime, and many other third-party networks. It has also given rise to dozens of "copycat" and other similar genre shows, movies, magazines, YouTube Channels, website, blogs, podcast, and social media pages. Many of these media channels and web properties offer marketing space via commercials, banners, in-article hot links and more. 

 

Watch the ABC News Video

The best marketing deals for advertisers are direct buy banners and tile ads on high traffic websites, blogs, and social media sites. Also, Net banner/tile ads via pay per click in ad networks and on social media pay per click. Another option is on the new Internet TV networks. these include; Vudu, Hulu, Sling, Crackle.com, YouTube TV, Roku Channel and the online network players that offer FREE online TV with commercials.

Courtesy of iSpot TV Commercials

So why is this trend growing so fast, despite the fervent portrayal of this genre as a hoax by the established scientific and religious community? I personally have never seen a UFO, but I have read dozens of books and seen hundreds of TV shows and movies in this genre and I remain open to the possibility that there is life beyond the Earth. 

Today I am hardly alone. There are hundreds of scientist who openly state that they believe we will find extraterrestrial life in the next 20 years!  On top of that, the top astronomer for the Vatican has also said that there is a high likely hood of finding alien life in the universe. This came after the recent discovery of an Earth-like planet by the  Kepler space telescope, (about 30 have been found so far), with more being discovered all the time by this and other planet-seeking satellites.

Check out this video about the Earthlike planet discovered.

Don't misunderstand the point of this article! I don't want you to think that I am telling you should believe in Space Aliens, UFOs or undiscovered ancient civilizations. I want you to start thinking in terms of current marketing trends and how you can take advantage of these trends as advertisers. Today, the largest segment of our population is the baby boomer generation. This demographic has money, specific wellness needs, viewing habits and they have an influence on most other demographic's. Along the same lines of thinking, you have Generation X and Y, Millennial, Female and Male demographics, racial, ethnic and gender identity, and then these groups are subdivided by age, income, education, and location. To be successful in marketing today you have to start by focusing in on your ideal demographic audience. You can also use the psychographics available via social media pay per click advertising as well.

Courtesy of Flickr

What are your target markets and ideal audience? This is one of the most fundamental questions every advertiser needs to understand before buying any advertising or launching a marketing campaign. Yet this question is rarely asked by most small businesses before they engage in their marketing efforts. At Working the Web to Win our process starts with a questionnaire designed to find answers to many fundamental marketing questions. We do this because it is the answers to these questions that will determine if your marketing efforts get off on the right foot, or if they are doomed to fail from the get-go. Research and marketing analysis are fundamental to our approach. This is why we are so successful at reaching our client's goals. Shirking your due diligence when it comes to marketing research usually leads to advertising failures and loss of revenue. Our methods (and our guarantees) take a lot of the guesswork and risk out of marketing and we feel that is what all businesses should be doing. I hope your efforts that this approach.

That's my opinion; I look forward to reading yours.

Get your FREE eBook copy on the Right Sidebar above!

This article discusses why marketers should be paying attention to the huge media trend following UFOs and Ancient Civilizations. It goes on to explain how businesses can take advantage of these trends with low-cost targeted marketing and advertising on Internet TV and other web media channels. This article also provides a link to our BlogTalkRadio show that goes with this article.

If you feel your business hasn’t found the profits it expected on the Internet, we can help with guaranteed services that produce positive results, or you don’t pay. We also make sure that your websites are secure. If you would like to see your websites rank higher, you can contact us by dialing 904-410-2091. We are very good at cost-effectively creating tangible online results for our clients. We also provide 27 different digital products to help businesses get their message out. If you’re ready to take your web results to the next level, simply call me at 904-712-9355. I will email you the Free Web presence anlisys worksheet for you to fill out. It only take a few days for us to create the Free 4 page report for business. No hard sell, just useful information. An informed prospect is more likely to make wise choices which is why we don't sell, we help businesses find solutions. Our claim to fame is that we are one of a few companies that actually provide real guarantees at a fair price.

If you found this article useful, please share it with friends, family, and co-workers. I recommend checking out the links on the blog, along with checking out other related articles on our Show Notes Page.  Also, don’t forget to listen to the BlogTalkRadio show on this subject. If you have a related useful comment or opinion about this article, leave it in the comment section of this blog. Also, don’t forget to plus us, on Google+ and share us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as well.

Hector Cisneros is COO and Director of Social Media Marketing at Working the Web to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in Jacksonville, Florida.  He is also the co-host of the weekly Internet radio show, "Working the Web to Win" on BlogTalkRadio.com, which airs every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. Hector is a syndicated writer and published author of “60 Seconds to Success” and the co-author along with his business partner Carl Weiss of their hit book also called “Working the Web to Win.”