Print Ad Marketing and Communications.

Are conventional marketing methods, loosing their luster? We are constantly learning about closing newspapers, bankrupt or troubled publications like The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and The Baltimore Sun.

In the last few months, two thirds of the twenty five national publications we work with are slashing prices because diminishing requests for ad placement. In fact, The Rocky Mountain News (Denver) was added to the list and from the looks of things it must be sold or else… Will cutbacks and low advertising sales affect local newspapers or communication companies in Fargo? Can newspapers and magazines survive the online trends of modern marketing? This is a question that remains to be seen.

Is Fargo behind the times when it comes to modern marketing techniques, as compared to national trends, and new marketing models? Our geographical location and general demographics limit our exposure to viral, buzz or social media marketing like YouTube™, free advertising sites like Craigslist, and social media network sites like LinkedIn. The uses of these websites are on the rise, but do we understand the full potential? Some businesses are taking advantage of new marketing ideas, and with a little education even revamping old brochure ware websites to modern marketing vehicles that get results.

How is it possible to get new business form a website or email marketing?

In our experience, we redesigned a business website for national placement. In one month the new website’s exposure was increased ten-fold, and the leads increased from two per day to an average of eight. With the new design and search engine placement the website went from page fifty to page one in all major search engines for the keyword areas and locations targeted.

E-mail blasts are similar to mailing a flyer; it’s just a different technique, and costs less. The differences between a flyer and an e-mail blast is that in an email blast you can track who viewed it, the number of responses, how many people viewed it, when, where, and how often.

Example: Just this last week, we sent an email for one client out at about 4:30 PM and the next morning they had about twenty people inquiring about their products. In fact, I was on the phone with this client at about 10:00 AM that next morning, and they were closing a sale for over $10,000.

How do we know if any marketing campaign works? We can evaluate any marketing campaign or website by answering a few questions.

- Were you able to track the results from your efforts and did it perform according to your goals and standards?

- Did you get calls or new leads, how many and how often?

- What was your return on investment?

- Bottom line – did you get results?

Sometimes it’s difficult to explain old methods vs. new marketing methods but there are two things every business owner understands, and that’s money, and return on investment (ROI). The best advice we can give is don’t just throw money at a problem and expect a solution or results. Here are some important factors before you start any marketing campaign.

1. What does it cost to develop, design, and deploy? This includes concept to delivery i.e. creative work, media buying, and placement.

2. How will you know if it works? What methods are in place to track the performance of your campaign?

3. What is your return on investment (ROI)?

It’s not all doom and gloom for the future of marketing and advertising. The answer may not lie in traditional methods but in reaching more people on the internet.

This website is one example of how content primarily published by users (user generated content) can reach more people. It’s also a tool for people to communicate and share video, commercials or almost anything. Invite people to read, interact, and contribute. Social media website… Send us an article or video.

Give it a try.

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