Comments on: Why Online Matters More Than Print

By: pgillin

pgillin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:44:04 +0000

The feed is still broken and driving me crazy. Still working on it. Thanks for letting me know.

By: Byron Woodson

Byron Woodson — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:38:42 +0000

BTW: i’ve been trying to subscribe to your blog for about a week now, and everytime i either click on the feed or manually paste it into google reader, it doesn’t pull. I get a “(title unknown)” entry for the blog and no posts show up. If i reload, it says “oops . . . and error occurred. please try back in a few minutes”. So consider your feed burner count plus one.

By: pgillin

pgillin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:18:54 +0000

Bryson: I don’t mean to imply that print “hits” don’t have value, just that in the current environment, a measurable hit is more important than an unmeasurable one. My intent was to point out an argument for PR to place greater value on online placements because they have a direct impact on customer actions.

By: Byron Woodson

Byron Woodson — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:16:20 +0000

I’m convinced, but skeptical. Comparing online to print media to me, and what do i know, is tenuous at best.

When you’re reading a paper or book, the intent isn’t to go get the interesting references and read the bibliography immediately. Mostly, you’ve put yourself in the mood to consume a few topics entirely (like as in reading a paper or magazine). The online world, however, differs in that everything tangential is two clicks or two searches away. The medium promotes the rapid attention shifting and promotes, to me at least, a sense of fleeting interest.

In some ways, I think comparing whether you receive direct online traffic from a mention on a print article is as wise as questioning how many people sent snail-mail to the editor or reporter about an online article in which you were mentioned.

You’re assuming the measurements of instant getification and heralding them as the new thing. Like Demming (?) said: whatever gets measured gets done. It’s just harder to quantify the impact of print, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important, or relevant.

But keep up the good work.

By: Caryn Webb

Caryn Webb — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:33:37 +0000

Paul:

I came to this post via Hubspot TV link. I have subscribed to your feed and newsletter – A real live example of “Inbound Marketing”and link love:)

I still run into the print vs. on-line scenario every day. I am a digital coach for primarily the Real Estate industry. I teach real estate agents and brokers how to use technology and “Inbound” Marketing effectively. With your permission, I am going to stick this post under the noses of every one of my clients who still insist that spending on an expensive ad in the newspaper or magizine makes their clients “happy” and send them all a link to Newspaper Death Watch! What does a “happy” client really mean? Does seeing your home all glossy and in print really make you happy?

By: Derek Slater

Derek Slater — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:25:33 +0000

And yet, and yet. I still run into this puzzling scenario re: book excerpts. Contact publisher, ask to excerpt book online, promise direct link to book on Amazon for potential purchasers. And the publisher says, sorry but we’re mostly interested in seeing it in the magazine. (Which is nearly impossible to promise, given the ever-contracting page count in print.) So they wind up not getting the link online either.

By: Frances Wheeler

Frances Wheeler — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:54:08 +0000

Paul, this is so true. As a PR person, I used to favor a tangible print hit over the more ephemeral-seeming web mention–although it was harder for me to get my hands on the copy, since my (primarily small) clients rarely hire clipping services. Eventually it dawned on me that, if I had a hard time finding the print hit, even though I was aware of it and looking for it, then it was unlikely that many of my clients’ potential targets would see it, either. Now I much prefer a solid web hit–especially for those clients who link to them from their web site.

Thanks for sharing your insights.

By: Mitch Goldstone - ScanMyPhotos.com

Mitch Goldstone - ScanMyPhotos.com — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:41:41 +0000

Paul – You can stop hte clock. The online display newspaper ads are over, from my prospective. I really, really wanted to advocate and support the print media. During the past few weeks, ScanMyPhotos.com invested $6500 in banner ads with more than a million impressions in Photo.net online and newsletter postings. The results were zero – no identifiable conversions to orders. Another $6300 went to the Orange County Register.

Conversely, our sales volume from other marketing campaigns is returning record results for ScanMyPhotos.com. We have great word-of-mouht ad many national reviews, even from David Pogue’s New York Times Personal Tech column – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/technology/personaltech/14pogue.html?scp=2&sq=scanmyphotos.com&st=cse

The problem with online banner ads is that merchants can now track every visit, from where the link originated from and the level of conversions. With traditional display ads, it was impossible to utilize these advanced analytical reports. Much of our SEO experience we learned from you, Paul [first met you at the Photo Marketing Assn convention last year].

Another crisis was the recent $6300 investment in banner ads in The Orange County Register. It was an equal disaster and the paper did make goods. That result so far is equally worrisome.

Today, we are hosting a Mom Blogger event which will bring many of the most influential female Mom Bloggers to our Irvine, CA retail photo center. Their narratives on their experience is invaluable and, along with Twitter, and our blog [Tales from the World of Photo Scanning - Blog.ScanMyPhotos.com], this is now the new way to market.

Paul, I agree that the newspaper’ death watch is now beyond the critical stage.

More info.

http://blog.scanmyphotos.com/2009/02/how-newspaper-banner-ads-generated-no.html

http://blog.scanmyphotos.com/2009/02/new-york-times-richard-perez-pena.html

Mitch Goldstone
President & CEO
ScanMyPhotos.com