The Writing Life

A recent report by Scarborough Research gave newspapers, which certainly have been taking their lumps lately - some positive news.

The independent research company - which measures the shopping patterns and media behaviors of American Consumers - released some interesting information.

It revealed:

• 75% of adults read a print newspaper or visited a newspaper web site in the past week.
• 65% of adults read a print newspaper in the past five weekdays.
• 53% of adults read a print newspaper on an average Sunday.
• 50% of adults read a newspaper or visit a newspaper web site on an average weekday.

It is my opinion that this information reveals newspapers, or the combination of newspaper and newspaper web site (an important part of any advertising plan) advertising reaches an enormous audience.

Additional digging into the report reveals that the demographics of newspaper readers are highly coveted.

• They are educated (83% of college graduates read a newspaper in the last week).
• They are successful (81% of professionals and management read a newspaper in the last week).
• They have income (79% of the income range $50,000 - $99,999 and 83% of people making over $100,000 read a newspaper in the last week).

It also revealed that the greater the value of the home, the larger the percentage of newspaper readership.

When considering a marketing plan, these figures must be considered. And it is important to keep in mind that they are the combination of newspaper print editions and newspaper web sites. However, it seems clear that a good combination of print and web advertising associated with a newspaper provides a business with substantial reach among desired consumers.

Posted by ecmorgan at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

A recent blog posting on another site discussed social media as a tactic that some companies engage in without benefit of an over-arching strategy.

There are a couple of problems.

It was Sun Tzu who stated that strategy without tactics is the slowest road to victory, but tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

Engaging in a social media effort, without knowledge of exactly what social media is and what it can - and cannot - do, is a set up for failure, as is engaging in social media without clear objectives of what you wish to accomplish.

This worries me because I fear that companies are rushing to Facebook, Twitter and other outlets because they are the "new hot thing." I also fear that these same companies will measure in a manner similar to how they measure traditional media - newspaper and radio ads, etc.

The end result being the development of an attitude that social media is "neat but that's about it."

Hopefully, this will not be the case, as social media has the ability to allow a business to engage directly in a conversation with customers and prospective customers, unlike any other method that has come before.

Posted by ecmorgan at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A thought hit me recently while going through the drive through at a local fast food restaurant.

The person I talked to had it together. She spoke clearly and at a normal speed, making it easy to understand her over the microphone. She repeated the order back, and gave me my total. I pulled up, she took my money, handed me change and food, and thanked me for my business.

Not too abnormal.

Except, there was a friendly and professional attitude that I rarely see among food service employees. She was polite and upbeat without being annoyingly giddy. Her professionalism left no doubt that my order was taken correctly.

It was a good experience.

We've all had those. And we've all had the opposite - experiences where for one reason or another, we decide "this is the last time I ever got to XXXXXXX."

Beyond any doubt, this type of professionalism is the very best public relations you can do, in terms of guaranteeing repeat business. We tend to forget about such things when marketing our businesses, but make no mistake - whether you are selling a $1 hamburger or trying to ink a multi-million dollar deal, professionalism matters.

Posted by ecmorgan at 07:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

These days, in my view, one of the most important aspects of marketing your products or services is deciding where to market.

There are so many options out there, which include newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, as well as the "newer" media of web advertising, e-mail marketing and social media.

At the end of the day, it requires simple study.

1. What is the audience, in terms of age, gender and location? Nashville Parent may not have the subscriber base as the Tennesseean, but it is highly targeted, geared toward parents and families, and may be ideal for a high-end daycare or pre-school to advertise.
2. What is the income of the audience? When I worked at a twice-weekly paper in Texas, we had advertisers such as the Jaguar dealer in the nearest big city. Why? Our county was the 20th highest in terms of personal income in the United States.
3. Where is your audience? Odds are, if you are targeting older teens to younger 20s, you don't want certain types of advertising. But the web and social media are ideal. I mean, every teenager on the planet is on Facebook, or so it seems.
4. What is the real audience? Recently, in one town where I sometimes deal with advertising, a new online-only media outlet started up. Nothing wrong with a new start up, but they have no numbers at all to sell. So what audience are you reaching? It's unkown.

It takes time, effort and energy, but studying the possible marketing venues carefully before investing will generate a much greater return on investment.

Posted by ecmorgan at 03:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)