I read an article today on a blog about The Future of Content in the Age of Information Overload. Although the article is mostly about news sources and information overload, it made me think of how offline publishing is moving more and more online. With newspapers and magazines now publishing both online and in print, where does this leave small business owners? Should you have to double your marketing spend to cover both mediums? If you had to choose, which medium should a you invest in: online publications or print?
It's important to continue your investment in local advertising, but the various publications has further fragmented readers into defined age groups who have adapted to technology at different rates. Your younger audience may be more apt to log on to view the local news for free, while older readers are more inclined to continue paying for their bundle of news delivered to their doorstep every morning. I must say there is satisfaction with si
pping on a cup of joe while reading the sports paper in the morning (although I can't stand getting ink on my hands), but free talks to me more. This is further reinforced by The Web Digest for Marketers who say, "people in their 20s are not picking up the newspaper habit the
way their parents did."
This just gives you one more thing to think about deciding how to
market your business. Knowing your customers and target audience is more
important than ever. Who buys your products and the age of your average
customer will help you determine where to invest.
Keep in mind that everything is trending towards online publishing. According to Jupiter Research (a Forrester Research company), "By 2012, one quarter of the worldwide population will access the Internet on a regular basis." This means even citizens of underdeveloped countries are getting online more often. They are doing everything from shopping, sending email, and yes reading local news.
I think if you aren't investing in online marketing, you should begin to do so while targeting a local niche audience of your prospective buyers. Granted, online marketing is only one component of your overall marketing mix, but many other mediums such as the newspaper can be perceived as "drying up."
If you have questions, comments, or know of quality articles on this subject, then I'd like to hear from you.
Update
October 28: The Christan Science Monitor is closing its press and will become a solely online news publication. The 100 year old paper is citing "Changes in the industry - changes in the concept of news and the economics underlying the industry - hit the Monitor first." The Monitor also says, "We plan to take advantage of the Internet in order to deliver the
Monitor's journalism more quickly, to improve the Monitor's timeliness
and relevance, and to increase revenue and reduce costs. We can do this
by changing the way the Monitor reaches its readers."