Jun
10
Marketing in a Recession and the Death of Newspapers
How’s that for a bleeding lead?
Yesterday and today I attended two luncheons from the Indianapolis chapters of the American Marketing Assocation (AMA) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Sounds boring, but I geek on marketing, media and how everyone else is reacting to the supposedly doomsday circumstances of now.
Marketing in a Recession
AMA’s focus for the day was ‘Marketing in a Recession’ – a back to basics course in Marketing from Charlie Larson, long time PR and Agency “grizzled veteran.” In a nutshell, Larson said that marketing strategy is still relevant above and beyond any tactical media that can be employed (traditional, internet, social, viral).
“If you don’t want find yourself obsolete in your career, focus on strategy,” said Larson.
The presentation didn’t give a whole a whole lot of new information that you didn’t hear in Marketing 101, but it did debunk the theory that today’s recession is the worst since the 1930s. We may have more ready access to the knowledge of it, but statistically, employment rates and overall GDP decline was worse in the ‘80-’82 recession. I wasn’t around for it, but the numbers speak for themselves.
That says a lot about the psychology of our current recession on how it might have a more lasting impression, not because it’s actually worse, but more so because we’re aware if it more than ever before due to easy access of information.
Death of Newspaprs
Ruth Holladay presented an insightful look at the world of newspapers and why it’s on the rocks. Her opinion seemed especially valid having come from a long career in journalism (some of it at the Indianapolis Star), while presenting hard facts supporting the idea that “the newspaper business model is broken.” Her realistic tone, given her background, was unexpected.
Holladay is a traditional journalist who seems to have embraced the blogosphere on her own at age 62, which is impressive to me. She did not pretend to have any answers for what might replace newspapers in their role of watchdog and information filter, but offered that something would, and soon.
So what is killing newspapers? According to Holladay, the Internet and greedy news corps like Gannett are presenting a scenario where ad-revenue focused content producers (newspapers) are having difficulty transitioning media online.
Personally, I think the 28% downturn in ad dollars in Q1 of this year has more to do with a growing lack of trust in newspapers to deliver bias-free, relevant information, but that conclusion is based on a case study of one, and as Ruth put it, “Opinions are cheap.”
So why do you think newspapers are dying breed?