A big comeback for "Dead-Tree Medium"??

Ten years ago, we all thought that the print media was a dying breed.
Internet media made the acquisition of information so easy, accessible,
and FREE!!!  The newspaper or magazine consumption has continued to wane,
but this Wharton article argues that the print media is making a strong comeback.

With email spams invading our inbox on hourly basis, what was once thought
as a break-through medium for "personalized, one-on-one communication
platform" has now become a nightmare of sort in our everyday lives.
Yes, we've come a full-circle.

Now, when we receive in the mail a letter that
sounds like that the sender KNOWS something personal about me, it's a pleasant
surprise, not to mention a rarity.
If we receive an email that sounds like it knows something personal about me?
We get fearful!! "How the hell did this guy get access to my private information?
Does he/she have my Social Security Number too??  Holy crap, I'm screwed..."
THAT, IN A NUTSHELL, IS THE BASIS UPON WHICH THE COMEBACK OF PRINT MEDIA
IS MADE - the proliferation of irrelevant, impersonal, and irresponsible digital emails.

As a marketer, you have three tactical choices - (1) Keep pursuing the POSITIVE benefits
of digital communication, (2) Go back to the old "relational" print medium, or
(3)Combine little of both. Whatever you decide to do, the key is to ACQUIRE
as thorough and accurate DATA on your consumers as you possibly can.
That's where the power of marketing research comes in...

LISTEN, OBSERVE, and KNOW about your consumers...

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE... (Offers some great new marketing concepts such as "Variable Data Printing"  , "Cross Channel Marketing" or "Integrated Proximity Messaging")

Comments

[Jonathan Munz]

Don't know if you watch the television show, "The Wire" on HBO, but the final season of it was about how the newspaper in Baltimore struggles to tell the truth about what is actually happening in the city. The creator of the show, a former Baltimore Sun writer, has talked a lot about all the cutbacks in the newspaper industry and how the media is being forced to do more with less.

[Scott Simmons]

Isn’t this the exact truth? Growing up I loved receiving letters in the mail for any occasion. Over the past five years it has been an email blast or an E Card saying “Happy Birthday Valued Customer” which is the only sort of mail I’m receiving. Now I look forward to getting any sort of letter or magazine in the mail. Even clothing catalogs I know I’m going to get once a month bring a smile to my face. Getting back to sending actual letters and showing that you care is a great marketing strategy. Maybe a nice tailored gift when no one expects it…

[Rodney Truong]

Previous experience in the health care receivables (debt collections) industry has built within me a perceived idea of data collection and usage. It was indeed joy to my eyes when accurate information was found, and joy to my ears (I was responsible for running the dialer) when that information translated into another successful collections attempt. Now I see parallels in the sport database marketing world, especially the differences in the available information. It is one world of creativity, to get information that no one is required to provide unless for a purchase or contest. So, hats off to more and more contests and surveys!