he battle rages in earnest between
conventional media such as printed
newspapers and magazines, and electronic media. Worldwide the print media market is shrinking and major companies are stuck in between the online electronic world
of publishing and the print editions. No doubt there is still room for those glossy magazines and the daily newspaper, but as the information age transforms so does the preference of readers. Generation X may not even buy a paper or magazine, preferring to read their content of choice on a tablet, Smartphone or other digital device. In this world conventional advertisers are potentially missing the larger market that digital media can offer their product or service.
Print media is traditionally tied down
by high costs and a shotgun approach to marketing, that is less targeted, forcing advertisers to subsidize the enormous cost
of running publishing houses. Advertisers
have little to measure the success of their campaigns, the only information available is the reach of the publication nationally or regionally,and the print and distribution run figures. Another problem is the shelf life of the advert: for example - today’s paper lasts for the day before it is tossed in the bin, while a
glossy magazine may be lucky enough to land up in a waiting room or hotel lobby and have a longer shelf life. A bigger challenge for advertisers is advertising avoidance: on television people skip the adverts, and in
newspapers the target audience tends to ignore printed adverts, jumping to content
that interests them or catches their eye straight away. Even on social and web based media the audience has learnt to ignore adverts or simply set their browsers to
block them.
A possible solution to advertisers’ headaches is to focus on a small segment of the market and run more narrow campaigns, utilizing digital media to the full extent. The narrower focus afforded by a digital media campaign reaches a greater target audience reaching a specific market segment, a specific group or community. This narrow focus
The Battle Is On
Print vs. Digital Media
T
04 - JULY 2014
04 - JULY 2014
MEET OUR MD
Even on social and web based media the audience has learnt
to ignore adverts.