Survivors turn to high-end Web, mobile, social media
Print was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the advertiser, the publisher, the editor, and the reader … Old Print was as dead as a door-nail.
—With apologies to Charles Dickens
By Tim Coco
President and chief executive officer
The Boston Phoenix closed its doors last month.
If print—especially ink-laden newspapers—isn’t declared dead by the end of 2013, it will at least remain bedridden for the remainder of its days. Commerce won’t die with print, but those who adapt will own success.
The days—if they ever really existed—of a business placing an advertisement and considering marketing chores done are long gone. I saw this trend more than 20 years ago when I launched COCO+CO. to provide emerging solutions. I was correct. I don’t say this boastfully or with satisfaction or sales in mind. In fact, although I worked as both a broadcast and print journalist, I mourn the loss of print.
“You’re surrounded by loved ones, doing the best you can to bring her back to life and finally at some point you realize it is not going to happen and you do what you have to do. And pull the plug. And it’s sad. And heartfelt. And tearful. But you do it without guilt,” Publisher Stephen Mindich told the Boston Globe last month about his decision to shutter the Boston Phoenix
Print: By the numbers
Newspapers: Print advertising fell for a sixth consecutive year in 2012 by $1.5 billion, or 7.3%, according to the Pew Research Center. The American Society of News Editors and the Center for Advanced Social Research at the Missouri School of Journalism also reported total newsroom employment at daily newspapers also declined by 2.4 percent in 2011.
Magazines: The same Pew study found advertising in magazines dropped 8.2 percent in 2012. News magazines fare worse, with the collection of Time, Newsweek, The Economist, The Atlantic, The Week and The New Yorker falling an average of 10.4 percent. Newsweek threw in the towel and ended its print edition in December after 80 years. The number of ad pages in magazines has further dropped for three quarters in a row, according to the Publishers’ Information Bureau. Unlike newspapers, magazines subscriptions are associated with the affluent and are expected to rise if household incomes recover.
Direct Mail: Direct mail response rates have dropped 25 percent in a decade, but the medium still holds its own with an overall response rate of 4.4 percent compared to email’s average of 0.12 percent, according to Yory Wurmser, director of marketing and media insights at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Declining response rates aside, direct mail’s problem is its lower return on investment (ROI) than email marketing. Email has the highest ROI, at $28.50, compared the $7 for direct mail, according to DMA’s own study.
All other: Much of what remains of print—program books, brochures, posters, etc.—isn’t formally measured. Anecdotal data suggests most program books don’t leave the venue (churches, theaters, shows, dinners, etc.) where they are distributed. Most businesses correctly consider advertising expenditures in these booklets as charitable giving and not advertising per se. Brochures and posters work best at the point of sale—mostly to clinch a deal already in the works.
What happened?
The blame—and, in some cases, credit—goes to the Web, where it largely belongs, but there are other factors. The same phenomena that killed our downtowns, merged our banks and gave rise to the big box stores are mostly at fault. As Dan Kennedy wrote in MediaShift, “Rather, what did in the Phoenix was the decline of community. That is, of a certain kind of community—local businesses—that had supported it financially for many years, but that by the end had almost entirely ceased to exist.”
It is no coincidence average wages, adjusted for inflation, are plummeting and the middle class is shrinking. A side effect on households is working multiple jobs or just working longer hours. This time crunch is sealing print’s fate.
I have said publicly, if downtowns recover so will the media. Instead of holding my breath, let me tell you how marketers can still survive and prosper.
Where to go from here
The World Wide Web has been a trade-off for businesses and organizations. It saves money in terms of information sharing, personnel, printing costs, distribution and postage and—to some extent—bricks and mortar. Like double entry accounting, however, companies have to accept corresponding expenses. With customers and prospects no longer receiving information from just one or two sources, marketers must spread investments across:
* Websites (their own and others, including smartphone- and tablet-formatted pages)
* Email marketing
* Search engine marketing
* Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, YouTube—even Wikipedia)
* Digital newswires
* Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
COCO+CO. adopted a digital workflow at its inception in 1991 even as others still relied on mechanical photographic negatives and couriers to move them around. I remember serving on a college advisory board and being pooh-poohed when I said Adobe Acrobat PDFs and the Internet would scrap all that they taught. It came to be. In the mid-1990s, COCO+CO. began building websites in-house, while other advertising agencies were sure the Web would go the way of the Citizens Band (CB) radio.
If you were one of those, then consider the following.
What has NOT changed
People are still reading—in fact, more than ever—on the Web, via email and on smartphones and tablets. They just don’t have to run to the newsstand to do it. They have come to expect and demand a certain quality—whether it’s the writing, layout, photographs or the expectation of privacy and security.
The CEO or purchasing agent you’re trying to attract is used to the quality and features displayed on giant corporate websites and email newsletters. This same person is also looking at pictures of grandchildren on Facebook, joining a Google Plus Circle or looking at resumes on LinkedIn. He or she knows right away how your offerings are presented and compare.
This is no time for amateurs or do-it-yourselfers. More importantly, today’s regulatory compliance environment and intellectual property laws make it just too risky to hire uninsured contractors or delegate the job to that “creative dude” you just hired for another job.
There’s no harm though in seeking reliability and value. That’s why COCO+CO. has assembled the most effective, useful and popular techniques and technologies in its new Blue Chip Tool Suite. It is a value package consisting of Custom Content Web/Mobile, Email Marketing Essentials, Business Bulletin Newswire, Secure Social Media Management and more. For more information, call (978) 374-1900 or (800) 374-4103 or see the information below.
Professor Peter Fader, of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, sums it all up neatly.
“It used to be up to the firm to decide when and how to contact each customer and so on. But when you flip it all around, thanks to Web 2.0 and all of that, it just makes it a lot tougher. And so we need to change our practices to allow, not only all of the old monitoring and measuring and projecting that we did before, but to do it on the customer’s terms. Whatever platform they want to use, whatever mode of communication and transactions that make them most comfortable; we need to change our business to meet their needs.”
For more ideas or learn how COCO+CO.’s blue chip Connections Process can help your business grow, call 800.374.4103 or 978.374-1900 or use the contact form.
Blue Chip Tool Suite
Exclusively for clients of COCO+CO.
Email Marketing Essentials
The industry’s best-looking and most well read email newsletters. Back-end features report who opened and shared them, when and how many times; integrate content automatically with social media; manage subscribers; and more.
Custom Content Web/Mobile
Custom Content always offer a professional presence, integration with social media, advanced navigation, intuitive user tools, multimedia abilities and search engine optimization. Available in Managed-Basic, Managed-Advanced and Self-Service Advanced.
Secure Social Media Management
Secure Social Media Management offers a professional ‘look and feel,’ consistent branding, regulatory compliance and affordability. Complete online reputation management with full moderation control ensures maturity, no embarrassing posts and enhanced security.
Business Bulletin Newswire
Your press releases garner prominent attention by broadcast, print or online media. Compliant with AP Style and other journalism conventions, press releases are distributed to up to 250,000 contacts and posted on the Business Bulletin Newswire. Further, the Red Phone 24-hour Media Hotline ensure responses to media inquiries 24-hours-a-day.
About COCO+CO.
Organizations looking for expert marketing assistance turn to COCO+CO., a full-service advertising agency with a depth of experience spanning more than 21 years. These companies seek—and receive— expertise, commitment and reliability.
Bricks & mortar, literally, ensure reliability & quality
COCO+CO. operates from dedicated, modern and fully equipped facilities located in an easily accessible office park. Experienced and talented staff quickly deliver blue-chip materials using industry standard, high-end and state-of-the-art hardware and software.
In-house creative & strategic delivery; no outsourcing
Clients long ago realized that, while it seems less costly to turn to contractors or home-based businesses, there is too much risk. They know deep levels of vendor outsourcing sacrifices quality, accountability and timeliness. They require the peace of mind associated with appropriately insured vendors, data security, regulatory compliance and proper licensing of intellectual property.
Zealously ethical
COCO+CO. not only meets these necessarily stringent requirements, but also uniquely offers the defined and proprietary Connections Process; a mix of creative and strategic disciplines under one roof; important contacts; and a zealously ethical reputation backed by a binding Resolution of Principles.
Client Spotlight
Baker-Katz Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center recently selected COCO+CO. to builds its new website. Unlike nursing homes that are one in a chain of facilities held by a corporation or group of investors, the Grimes and Guarino family that owns Baker-Katz keeps a local focus. See the site at www.bakerkatznh.com.