Digital and offline marketing, in recession

The other day for an afternoon coffee, I went to a bookshop and bought a big bunch of magazines – fashion, travels, news, design, games and photography. It seems that most of the stories and articles inside can be found somewhere in their websites. Similar information are given even more in depth in different blogs and forums. But they are nicely printed, full of big images, and the ads are fun to flip through. Apparently I just spent some 50 euros without much thinking.

Many have claimed that print advertisement is ineffective (or even dead). Or then, more and more people stop watching TV these days. People are all getting so accustomed to following news and trends in blogs, forums, widgets and social networks. That everything has become dominantly digital.

In the meantime, book sales in Finland have increased in the past years. Print newspaper and TV news broadcast are apparently still the most important sources of news in Finland (a country swimming in technology and geeks?).

Certainly, it does not necessarily mean all these people who watch TV news and buy books would also faithfully subscribe to print ads and TV commercials. Also, the demography of these people is an a very important factor.

However, it is obvious that offline marketing is not dead and digital is not all mighty. They are just different medium. And the fact is, different medium have their edge in different time and space targeting different people: morning coffee, afternoon coffee, evening couch-potate time, or private time in toilet; for females, people in their middle age, or teenagers. Careful planning and timing is crucial.

Timing apparently also has it that while I am still browsing through my magazine pile, Captain Blackbeak has made a bunch of excellent points concerning recession and marketing.
Instead of following the herd blindly, or going digital full speed as if there is no tomorrow, the key question for both agencies and clients at the moment, as Captain Blackbeak also stated, should be “Where is my advertising effective and why?”

It is true that in the current recession digital marketing is very likely going to grow significantly. It is not because there has been lots of hypes and optimism spinning within the marketing scene. It is just that tough time forces people to look for alternatives, challenge accepted status quo, and be more effective in achieving results. It is just that both agencies and clients have to get smarter.