I recently came across two articles from the Denver Post related to ad spending. Newspapers Struggling.
While it isn’t a surprise that newspapers are struggling, the extent to which they’re struggling is quite shocking. The Denver Post is reporting that newspaper advertising revenue plunged 27% in 2009, to the lowest levels since 1986.
Global Ad Spend to Increase
At the same time newspaper advertising is tanking, global ad spending is expected to increase during 2010 - also in an article from the Denver Post. The expected ad spend increase in 2010 is supposed to be 2.2 percent higher than it was in 2009. The main reason is that advertisers are placing bets that the economy is turning around.
How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
I tell all Denver small businesses that I work with that they need to be spending their advertising dollars where they get the best return on their investment. Clearly, advertising is shifting away from traditional ad sources like yellow pages and newspapers to online advertising. You shouldn’t completely abandon advertising with more traditional channels if you’re still getting a return on your investment.
While Denver small business owners may not wish to completely abandon old school advertising methods, they should really consider looking into online advertising -regardless of their current return on investment with traditional media like newspapers. The ad spend is shifting, and you need to be able to take advantage of it.
Online advertising is far superior to traditional media advertising in a number of ways:
- It is measurable
- You get instant feedback on your advertising
- It is flexible – you can frequently change your advertising message to find what works
- It is highly targeted – you can pick the exact demographic of website user that you want to see your ad
- It is much less expensive – online advertising cost per leads are up to 30 times less expensive than traditional media advertising