Marketers take note. Print is dead or dying. There are too
many
alternatives that are cheaper, more effective and easy to
track.
I receive several print trade mags. They usually go right
into the
recycling bin. Not only do I not have time to read them, by
the time the
publication gets to me, I've already read a blog, scanned an
RSS feed, or
read an online case study. That also means I ignore any and
all print
advertising. This includes direct mail, magazine
advertisements, and
newspaper ads. The phone book even goes directly into the
recycling bin.
The notion that print is dead is scary to a lot of marketers;
they know
print, are comfortable with it, and most importantly, they
usually don't
usually have accountability for getting results. Marketers
can't tell
their clients any more that it's hard to track the
effectiveness of print
campaigns because they are increasing brand awareness. The
advent of
online advertising and marketing techniques means that
campaigns are 100%
trackable.
Does this mean paper publications are going away? No. But
print
advertising should. When was the last time you paid
attention to a print
ad? This also goes for TV and radio advertising. With DVRs
and satellite
radio subscriptions, users are eliminating advertising from
their content.
The advent of Web 2.0 has dramatically changed the landscape
of online
advertising too. Online advertising spending continues to
rise but the
dollars aren't going to banner ads, they are going to
content creation
through blogs, email blasts, case studies, articles,
webinars and
optimized press releases. Smart marketers are also using
social networking
tools to get the word out. Whether it's a MySpace page,
tools like Digg
and Del.icio.us or forums, advertisers are flocking to these
free and
effective tools. Send out an email newsletter and you'll
know exactly who
opened, when, and whether or not they clicked-through,
printed the
newsletter, forwarded it on to a friend, or filled out a
contact form.
Smart marketers are embracing new techniques like blogs,
podcasts, vlogs,
email, RSS, and social media marketing to get the word out
on their
products and services. Get with the program, and you'll not
only reach
more users, you'll have the opportunity to prove ROI.
Ivy Hastings is a Project Manager at the Denver website
design company,
Fusionbox.
