Tried & Tested Doesn’t Work Anymore – Marketing That Once Was

 

The once tried and tested media platforms for marketing your product/service just does’t work anymore.

The difference between the channels we once used and the channels we now have, is that the old channels were extremely expensive.

ABC figures highlight that nearly 50% of the UK’s daily newspapers have declining print sales at a rate of more than 10% on year for the first half of 2013.

The problem for businesses looking for the once ‘tried and tested’ route is that the advertising costs in the printed press become more costly with a declining readership.

It’s time for businesses to make their own stand and rather than thinking that an advertising message can reach many with the likely return of a small few, it’s time to look at things a bit differently.

Many small businesses rely on media companies to deliver their message to their targeted buyers/community. This could be from an email marketing company to send an email campaign to their database or the DM insert within the business magazine to their audience. Affordable technology has thrown the world completely on its head.

It’s a bit like the weekly food shop, where we are all used to the routine of the same food in the shopping trolley from the same supermarket provider. Everything is in exactly the same place and we know what to expect. Sometimes, if you change your approach in terms of shopping elsewhere or altering buying habits, you can make savings or have a healthier week.

This is the same with many small businesses; where the majority think they are too small to make a difference, so stick to the ready-made paths that have been formed over the years as opposed to making a change and altering ‘platform.’

The tried and tested marketing routes don’t work anymore. The radio ad or the newspaper advertorial/advert that once required a degree of investment (by the way, has anyone torn an advertorial out of a paper enthusiastically and said ‘wow…this is it’), has paved way for podcasts and company owned newspapers where the greatest investment is time and the power of the idea. Companies are now the media.

The next five years will see more businesses behaving and thinking this way, where control is well and truly with those who champion creativity and delivery of message.