Back in the day, taking out an ad in the newspaper was one of the cornerstones of advertising for small business, and for larger operations there was always the glitz and glam (not to mention the expense) of TV. Clearly, a shift has occurred.
According to the New York Times, newspaper circulation is down. Way down. Unquestionably, lower circulation means fewer eyes reading an ad, and hence less value for the money spent. Does that mean you should whisk your mug onto Facebook, start Tweeting away, and scrap coupons in favor of blog posts? Perhaps not.
To Boulder public relations guru Janet Braccio (www.bellavocecommunications.com), there is residual value in the traditional formats. She says, “My advice is to augment what you do in terms of publicizing using social media, but do not cancel or neglect traditional media–it’s too soon to do that, and you will miss important opportunities.” I would add that it is sensible for your target audience to dictate what mix works best.
To be fair, our law firm places high value on the oldest practice; face-to-face meetings, but it is important to embrace the new with the old. One thing is for certain; good information communicated clearly never loses appeal.