Why Newspaper Ads Beat Social Media
I need to get the word out about my business. I want to effectively reach my target audience and drive sales.
Yesterday I was challenged by Todd Sattersten to justify why print ads beat social media for getting the word out. In this exercise, I have two venues to compare
- (a)newspaper ads
- (b)social media venue (we’ll make it Twitter).
Why A Newspaper Print Ad Beats Twitter
Print Is Targeted
I can choose to place an ad in the New York Times if my target is nationwide or in my town’s paper if it is locally relevant. I can direct (control) who sees my ad.
The folks following me on Twitter are from all over the world. As far as I know, there isn’t a simple way to reach only the those in a particular market. Nor do I currently have a strong enough local base of followers. I would need to find someone else local with a bunch of followers and hope they’d re-tweet for me.
I’d rather rely on the established newspaper with established reach.
Print Has Stability, Credibility
There is something final about putting and seeing something in print. Reading it in print. Ink on paper.
It is a miracle how much data can be stored on an iPad or laptop and what the internet can bring to you digitally. However, digital feels flimsy, fleeting, fly-by-night… Print feels established.
Because the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post have been around for ages – we know they are a trusted source. While we may not always agree with their approach to a story – we trust those mastheads. They’re establishments.
NYT online is popular because the foundation of trust behind the website is the newspaper.
BP has been taking full-page prints ads to let America and the world know they are working to fix the oil spill. I’m certain their media mix includes other medium, the Washington Post ad is the only place I’ve seen the ad so far. They reach me, via print.
Print Has Established Reach
I can count on the fact that the newspaper is delivered to the tens (or hundreds) of thousands that have asked for it. They subscribe. They buy it. They value it.
Social media, hypothetically, lets you fish where the fish are. The bait on my hook is the right bait my followers want. So, while I have a smaller audience they’re following me because they’re already interested in what I have to say. They’re pre-qualified.
However, the newspaper allows me to fish a huge area with a huge net. The majority of the fish will be thrown back – they’re not into my message. But, I’ll still be left greater exposure via the newspaper.
And, if only 1% may be interested in buying what I sell. I’d rather take 1% of larger newspaper audience than 1% of the Twitter followers.
Print Ads Are Clearly Pitches
When you open a newspaper and see a print ad – you know the game. A business has given money to the newspaper to print prepared information about that business for the purpose of getting the reader to learn or buy.
In social media the process is supposed to be organic. You’re not supposed to be overt in your ask for business. Direct sales pitches are a turn off. A faux pas. You’re supposed to ‘add value’ or ‘add knowledge’ and let people find you. Let word of mouse spread the story. When enough people in the social pyramid are buzzing about you – eventually some will find their way to your website and may contact you about your services.
However, in print, I can cut to the chase…
“Hi. I’m Paul Williams from Idea Sandbox. I help businesses create remarkable ideas to drive their sales. You want more sales? Hire me. Thank you.”
That message goes out to the 600k people who get the paper. A fraction of those readers see it. A fraction of those may act.
I don’t have 600k Twitter followers, and neither do you. The average number of followers on Twitter is 126. That means, I would need to have around 4,800 followers and rely on every one of them re-tweet my message to reach the circulation of the The Washington Post.
Print Is Faster
I need customers now!
I don’t have time to build and grow a social media base. I know I can place an ad in this week’s business section – and I will more than likely receive calls next week.
I do terrific work that provides an excellent ROI for my clients. And, I know I’m better than much of my competition. However, there is nothing freak-show about what I do that is going to get me to go viral this week and reach the Twittersphere in a meaningful way. (Nor am I convinced that a viral video about Idea Sandbox is going to make you want to be a client).
Social media is the shiny new trendy medium that we can all pull-up on our mobile phones and iPads. It is sexy, magical, and changes daily.
Newspapers are ancient. The same stuff our great, great grandparents read. We didn’t invent them, so we aren’t in love with them anymore.
Eureka!
Social media is a great way to keep the conversation going with your customers outside of your store. A way to listen. A way to learn.
Social media is our gold rush. With the zillions of tweets, Diggs, blog posts, and Facebook updates all panning for attention I’ve only heard of a few who have ‘struck it rich’ as a result.
With $10,000 to spend. I’m going to put it into a well designed ad, in a print medium, my target audience reads.
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One more thing…
Print Is Reliable
I tried to log onto Twitter to copy a link for this post, and Twitter wouldn’t load. Your tweets aren’t getting to me. Mine aren’t getting to you. However, my copy of the Washington Postwas outside my door when I woke up this morning.
Interesting. You’re passionate about your business and your clients.
Lets skip past the data, the consistent data, that over the past 3-4-5 years, we the readers of newspapers, print or digital, trust ads less and less, turn to ads less and less for buying decisions and instead turn to our friends for information and recommendations on products, services, etc.
Let’s also skip past the data that shows the spike in social media use across all demographics and that social media’s use here is more and more about our personal lives and what makes them better, easier, more meaningful which would include our personal recommendations or not of the products/services that play a role.
“Print is targeted.” Really? And every reader of a print media has said that YES, I want to see another ad for another product for which I know nothing about….and will A. see your ad; B. read your ad; C. would be interested in not only your ad but your client’s product.
But, Twitter is evil because it’s reach is global. So, in the global market we compete in, advertisers would want to limit the reach of their message on a free platform to just their local market. Now, if someone from overseas were to want their product would they then refuse the order?
And making it even worse is the fear that your followers, who want to hear your ideas/ads, may share your ideas of ads with their reader. But in their world these are friends and followers, partners and customers, who likely would share common interests…maybe even your ideas/ads. Icky. Yeah, I see your point.
“Print feels established”….(Some may say rigid.) Now, how easy is it to share an ad or a story of an idea when the idea/ad is established only in print? Clip and mail it? Scan it and send it as enclosure? That’s time-consuming and expensive for those who chose to read your ad. Not a great reward then for investing their time in reading your pitch.
” BP has been taking full-page prints ads to let America and the world know they are working to fix the oil spill. I’m certain their media mix includes other medium, the Washington Post ad is the only place I’ve seen the ad so far. They reach me, via print.”
To quote a successful “Priceless”. And you believe those ads and not the overwhelming amounts of news from an overwhelming number of sources that….contradict those claims by BP in their ads.
Ok. Well, the streaming video of the oil gushing into the gulf from all of their efforts has been seen by 1 billion people. And $50 million worth of google bombing by BP along with these banner ads hasn’t turned off that well, either.
” When you open a newspaper and see a print – you know the game. ” That’s the whole point. It’s a game. The data for trusting ads and buying print media shows we’re tired of the game.
“Newspapers are ancient”…and that’s a good thing? Their revenues point out that they are ancient. Horses and buggies are pretty old, too. And social media is the new and trendy thing…used by all those who no longer turn to print media. Because print media’s news is…ancient.
“Print is faster. ”
Faster than real-time that social media provides? Really. So stories of events reach social media outlets within moments of their happening. When does print media get around to it?
And when they do get around to it…. fewer people trust ads and fewer people read print media then…yeah, I’m not getting this.
” I need customers now!” Ok, so why does that matter to me your consumer. Ok, so now you need customers and you want me to hurry up, chop-chop, and buy your product because it’s important to you…because your need customers now. Wow. Let me find my credit card. I’ve been waiting for what I didn’t know until I saw your ad…?
Consumers recognize that attitude in advertisers. We realize the advertiser has no use for us until they want our money. And suddenly up pops an ad we did not choose to see, from an unknown company, offering an unknown product or service, and like I said we’re to stop what we’re doing and fulfill that company’s needs because…they need customers now. I don’t know if that assumption, that business model, plays so well anymore.
You’re smarter than I am. You run an ad agency that serves the print media. That’s cool and obvious. And you probably have data that offers proof for your conclusion and that only shows you do offer a great ROI for your customers. That being said…there are fewer and fewer people smart enough, like you, to overcome the overwhelming data that shows print is ancient, print is slow, and print is funded by a revenue source of declining levels of trust and results and unless they find a way to keep the conversation going about the interests of their readers…well, they’ll still exist like the horse and buggy, ancient and established and a novelty item.
While paper ads certainly beat out social media in all types of business and advertising needs, social media still tends to run the gammet in some genres. The time is coming when more people use social media than read the local paper, or search for something online before they ever pick up a print article or phone book.
Is the New York Times really that targeted? Here’s a link to their Audience Profile. While there may be some larger groups than others, it’s quite a diverse audience. If targeting is a decisive factor- and it can/should be, paid search ads will be far more on target.
Paul
There is a flaw in your immediate set up. You are comparing all newspaper advertising to one social media channel which you have chosen yourself.
Why not compare all social media and targeting techiques against all newspaper advertising? Or why choose Twitter? Why not choose Facebook with its powerful targeting and tracking? Why not choose LinkedIn with precise targeting and engagement of users.
On the plus side, your blog is going to get a lot of traffic over the next few days as people come on here to read what you’re saying.
In essence, you have decided to say something controversial on your blog in order to gain publicity, which means you are using social media to further your means, which is something you have argued doesn’t work.
Regards
Chris
Dear Paul,
As a writer and publisher I love what you have to say. There’s nothing that pleases me more then spreading out newsprint pages across a coffee shop table.
However I have sold advertising for newspapers before and it felt like drawing blood from a stone. It’s very difficult to convince advertisers to spend thousands of pounds on a one off ad that a reader is likely to overlook. Newspapers don’t have longevity and it can be very difficult to monitor and ad’s rate of success.
Moreover, most of these credible papers you refer to are directed at a professional business audience. As a result they attract more B2B clients not B2C, and often B2B services are targeted at a local or national audience rather then a global one.
I commented on your post on our blog, have a read http://adaptiveconsultancy.com/blog/social-media-killed-the-newspaper-star
Chris – Thanks for taking the time to leave your reaction.
No stunt here, Chris… honest. And… the better comparison would have been all forms of print media vs. all forms of social media. A bus transit stop would compete with say, a blog. For simplicity, I compared a single print venue with a single social media venue.
Thanks again for commenting! – Paul
Interesting, especially coming from a news paper advertising salesman & and the reason I know this is because I’ve been working in the industry for over 5 years and this Blog post was just an extended version of a sales pitch that I used.
My professional opinion working accross several marketing companies is that News Paper is very unrealiable and unless you know how to use it correctly it could be very damaging as well as very expensive.
With all said and done though, it can be very usefull if you know how to use it propertly and you have the right kind of business to use print.
Now Im not going to ramble on (because I don’t think this would be seen by many people) but I do just want to say this.
Lets use Canada as our example:
acebook users – 18 499 180
Newspapers Accross Canada – 5000+ x printed copies = 4 readers per house hold = ?
Risk:
Facebook – Pay per click (Paying for results, no time limit)
Newspaper – Upfront payment (with or without a result, One run in the paper)
Different Avenues:
Social Media – Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, Twitter, Youtube, Email & SMS
News Papers – 5000+ Accross Canada (Average 100 per Territory)
Messurable Results:
FACEBOOK – Tells you where the lead came from, who the lead was facebook name, how many clicked on the ad and how many clicked through from the add.
NEWSPAPER – DO NOT offer messurable results, they offer year old stats, demographics who are caculated from a third party & in results… thats your job as a business owner/marketer to figure out by sales and return coupons.
Any questions please ask, there are a lot more stats where that cam from