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Within Five Years Where Are You Going to Place Your Advertising In the next five years where are you going to advertise? Within the next five years, newspapers in print may cease to exist What is your forward planning for this eventuality? Before you dismiss the notion, it cannot, will not happen, that newspapers (news on paper) will always there, ask why are the newspapers placing the news on line and why is the public increasingly reading the news online. The newspaper business model is broken: The business model went like this, the public wants to know what is going on, so we will put the information on paper and tell the business people or those who wish to advertise, they can place advertising next to the news. This business model worked fine when the public did not have an alternative source of information but now the public has the Internet, the Web and the Social Media. They don't have to read the news on paper, so where does this leave the business who wishes to advertise, did they plan for this eventuality? Newspapers are expensive to run, they rely on advertising revenue to support the journalism and as advertisers are migrating to online, the newspaper industry cannot survive without this revenue stream. In the UK sixty newspapers have closed, in the USA, the Wall Street Journal lists many newspapers with circulations over two hundred and fifty thousand who are struggling financially. The industry in Australia and New Zealand faces the same problems. Now there will be those among us who will say this cannot happen, we will not let this happen, it is another industry lost, we must encourage, insist that business people advertise in print, but if the customer is increasingly online, what is the point. Does the public buy a newspaper, read a newspaper for the advertisements? And if they do search for the advertisement where is the guarantee that it exists. They may as well go online. In this day and age the public expects the business to provide the information online. The newspaper industry has known for some time that they must face this reality and would willingly pay millions of dollars for a way or an idea of how they can survive in this changing world. They have already paid millions of dollars in research and testing to no avail, the newspaper business model is broken. The public is online and businesses must follow to survive The above statement requires a fundamental shift in how people in business perceive and undertake advertising. The idea that the advertising of their business and products is best left to others who know what they are doing (in the advertising field) is a myth and is being blown out of the water. The person who knows best about the business is the owner. A 140 character message delivered via the Social Media, (Twitter) from a person in business saying we have this product for sale, has as much chance (and more) of being seen by the purchasing public as has a thousand dollar advertisement in the mass media. The idea that once a year a small business places an advertisement in Yellow Pages and sets aside a budgeted amount for advertising in the mass media and this attracts customers is a woeful misuse of money. The idea that a larger business farms out their advertising requirements to an advertising agency is also an exercise in wastefulness. The advertising agency came into being to handle the advertising in the Industrial Age not the Internet Age. This business model is also broken. The Internet, the Web, the Social Media enables any business to become their own advertising agency. The tools exist and to survive a business must use them correctly. The signs, the warnings were signaled as far back as 1945, with the publication of the paper "As We May Think", Email followed, then the Internet, then the Web, the Social Networking Sites, the Social Media. All signaling the change Now in 2009 Google has introduced the "Wave" a prototype, a change that will have far reaching effects on how a business will reach the customer. Are you ready or will your business die with the newspaper model Notes to Wanganui businesses Why do you send a million dollars out of town each year? Million dollars Is your website search engine friendly? A friendly website Brochures put in an iSite building will not attract the tourist, the tourist is online. People looking for accommodation are more and more seeking a motel or hotel with Internet access; they are not going to book a room so they can look up the back of a telephone book to find a restaurant. They go online, so restaurants do you have a findable website with menus Do you want to get ahead (sorry Christchurch is already doing it) Use the Social Media to advise what, where, who, when and how in Wanganui, and grow your business in the Internet Age. We are looking for businesses to participate in a Social Media Experiment Wanted Your survival, the town's survival depends on you Contact Firstsearch

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