Categories

Archive

The Marketing Eye Blog << Blog Home

The future of print advertising

Posted Saturday, August 15th, 2009 by Neil Edwards

I have often complained about the dearth of business news in our area. Our local weekly paper, the Courier, can only manage a double page spread and the resources of one freelance journalist. The Argus, which is daily, has business news once a week and tends to be centred on Brighton. Across the border in Kent, The weekly Kent Messenger produces an 8-page supplement once a month.

In magazine form, we have South East Business, which is increasingly beholden to thinly disguised advertorials. Kent Director is run out of Cambridge, Sussex Business Times has disappeared and I haven’t seen a copy of Business First for several months either.

The issue, of course, is advertising, or rather, a lack of it. With advertising revenues having plummeted and so much content being available for free on-line, there is no money to pay the journalists. This is not a healthy situation for any of us. We need quality journalism in a democratic society, whether it is reporting on local news or international conflicts.

The dilemma for media owners is well documented, and, whatever the answer to their conundrum is, it is hard to see how it lies in advertising. A recent survey showed that most marketers now find print advertising the least effective form of promotion when measured in ROI terms.

This is hardly surprising. The Internet in general and Twitter in particular has allowed us all to become our own editors. We can pick out the content we want from a vast array of sources and easily filter out anything we don’t want most commonly, the advertising. There is no shortage of readers; it is just that they have gone to other sources, such as blogs, e-newsletters and social media.

I had these thoughts in mind when The Courier came to see me this week to talk about its new approach to business news. The paper, like the Kent Messenger before it, has decided to consolidate the business news into a monthly 8-page supplement. I like the idea. In fact, I’d like to see it go further and set up an on-line forum to allow two-way dialogue with the business community on business news.

Naturally, the representative didn’t come to see me for my insight: it was to sell advertising and what struck me this time was, rather than give me the usual spiel about stellar circulations and perfectly aligned audience demographics, the approach was to say if local businesses want a business paper, they will have to support it with advertising.

I don’t know if I find this resigned or refreshingly honest. Either way, it does raise the question about how media owners will be selling their advertising in future: as a means of raising awareness of products and services, or as a form of corporate social responsibility?

But isn’t this the way that newspapers started in the first place as a way for business people to promote their political persuasion and points of view? Perhaps it’s true. Everything does come full circle in the end.

What do you think? Do businesses have a responsibility to support their local media with advertising?


Posted Saturday, August 15th, 2009 by Neil Edwards

Other Articles In This Category

  • What price a relationship?

    Business life is rarely without its ups and downs and there are occasions when we all have to call in the odd favour.Such was the case this week, when an issue... read more
    23rd of May 2009 by Neil Edwards

  • Advertising: rumours of my demise are exaggerated

    There is a huge debate raging online about the future of advertising. Started by Eric Clemons, a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, on Techcrunch last... read more
    28th of March 2009 by Neil Edwards

  • The future's bright, the future's...

    Yellow?The representative from Yell came to see me on Friday to talk about the clients who we look after the Yell advertising for.I had my speech prepared on how... read more
    4th of March 2009 by Neil Edwards

  • Gorilla marketing (sic!)

    This post is by Bryony Saunders, Marketing Executive with The Marketing Eye.Advertising is not about simply promoting a product. We are no longer satisfied with... read more
    12th of February 2009 by Neil Edwards

  • Mobile marketing a no-no

    A survey in New Media Age reveals that people aged 16 to 30 do not want to receive marketing messages via their mobiles, as they are too intrusive. The research... read more
    4th of December 2008 by Neil Edwards

 

 

On this site

Help And Faqs

Communications

Design And Imaging

Events

Online Marketing

Strategy And Planning