How many times have you seen businesses attempt to do marketing and advertising activities on their own?

Managers are downloading creative software and business owners are attempting to write marketing plans with Marketing for Dummies books. It is easy to see why creativity and talent in the advertising world has faded; businesspeople in today's world think they can do it themselves. And because out of the many, a few succeed (and write about it), the value of true creativity and advertising has decreased dramatically.

Even worse, the AdPeople are falling into this black hole by using "crowdsourcing" for ideas! Really? What makes you think that using ideas from consumers mandates a budget with high return? The truth is that it doesn't.

The advertising industry is under attack by do-it-yourselfers. We need to show the world the value of good advertising. Let's snap out of it.

What do we need to do? Here's a list:

1. Restore the reputation of advertising.
Businesses seem to have a bad taste for ad agencies due to a few bad apples. Adhering to a tighter code of ethics will ensure that the creeps stay out of the business.

2. Stop being afraid to offend anyone.
The one thing that kills creativity is political correctness. If we force our creatives to curb their enthusiasm and thinking because the Dog-Catapult idea for Animal Control might be considered offensive, we have immediately shut the door for thinking freely.

3. Recruit, reward, and use the talent you have.
Crowdsourcing came about because agencies and marketing departments had no idea what consumers wanted or needed, so they decided to just let them create what they wanted to see. The lack of talent in those rooms is the cause of such activities. With solid research, an awesome message, and kick-ass creative, consumers and businesses will follow our lead. But we must be able to lure those smart and artsy minds to the table.

Easier said than done, right? True, but at least it's a start.