Join The Conversation - November 21, 2006
The advent of each new communication medium has brought overly exuberant predictions of doom for its predecessors. We find ourselves confronted with constant reports of the decline of newspapers, network television and local radio. Unfortunately for those of us faced with divining the most effective vehicle to carry our clients’ message, the “old media” have proved to be amazingly resilient. I admit I find myself wishing a few of these would just go away.
Instead of satellite radio leading us to the open grave of local stations, we are confronted with yet another variable (actually many more variables) in the constantly and rapidly expanding universe of media choices.
The upside for marketers is the ability to micro-target their consumer … with much more accuracy than was possible just a few years ago. The typical radio listener in 1998 had a choice of maybe a dozen formats, including “talk radio.” Media consumption was as much a matter of aversion as it was inclination. Now, however, with over 130 channels of programming, there is true appeal for all but the most vapid among us.
Now multiply that expansion by, say, a couple of hundred million, and you have the web (and lest you think I exaggerate I refer you to Technorati.com which alone monitors over 50 million blogs). We are now capable of engaging customers one on one. Obviously, a new paradigm.
Look at what is important now: cost of message rather than cost of media; individual relevance (including time and place) versus market relevance; creditability of the medium becomes at least as important as the message (hear that, Marshall?) and the biggest big deal is the ability of the consumer to react in real time.
Does any of this mean newspapers and traditional broadcast media are going the way of Pat Sajak’s talk show? No, not in this lifetime. In fact I think they will find ways to leverage their impact on “mass” audiences. But that’s another conversation.
“Join the Conversation”