Will Print Become Obsolete?

There are talks and there are talks. But personally I don't think print or any of the other traditional media will become obsolete. Not for a hundred years perhaps? Think of it this way, would you logically and practically accept the fact that every single person on this planet will have a gadget to read the news electronically? In the first place, literacy has never reached the 100% mark and that's the biggest hurdle.

New media complements traditional media. A few weeks ago I was speaking to the president of an advertising agency. He said that they're looking for new ways to advertise their clients. He has accepted the fact that doing traditional media is very expensive and advertisers are looking for new means to promote their products and services.

Fact is, media has transformed in so many ways in the last decade. Mass marketing is no longer the way. Marketing your products and services has to be more personal, direct. Why? Because consumers now have more power. They have more ways to get information. They can easily turn off the TV and find better entertainment on the net. New media bridges the gap.

I was telling the president of the advertising agency that new media is not something that would make traditional media obsolete. It in fact complements it because it reaches a different segment of the market. It's no longer just targetting the "16 to 34 year olds" because these consumers have different profiles. One would be a techie, another would go for traditional print, another would be into music. So profiling your target market accurately is very, very important.

So where do we go? As I said new media bridges the gap. Businesses have to make themselves searchable online and provide content for their consumers. Websites/blogs is the online form of print. Podcasting, online form of the radio. Videos, online form of TV.

Methinks, advertising agencies should take new media more seriously. That's where we all are going.

For more info, catch me at the 38th National Marketing Conference (NMC), organized by the Philippine Marketing Association on May 23-24, 2007 (I'll post more details soon).