The Web is better suited for News

Newspaper readership has been on the wane since the 1970's when about 75% of adults received a daily paper. Less than 47% of adults get newspapers now, according to Scarborough Research.

Newspapers used to enjoy a virtual news monopoly in their communities. But in the world of 24 hour news, the Internet and wireless computing, people can get extensive news and opinion any time, anywhere - and for free. They are increasingly turning to 'user generated online content' and trusting it. The news of the US Airways plane which ditched safely in the Hudson River broke as fast if not faster on Twitter than in any traditional news source.

More papers are likely to cut back or suspend print editions and stake their futures on the Web. Expect new writing styles, design and subject matter (less costly national reporting, more opinion and local news) in print and on the Web, as well as more blogs, reader forums and content partnerships online.

Better ROI

Is PR going to lose significant ground to an apparently more dynamic and imaginative profession - search marketing? Will this new discipline take a bigger slice of the marketing budget at the expense of PR and will search marketing agencies start to take on communication roles which were previously part of the PR function?

Search marketing has one major advantage over PR - it can demonstrate return on investment (ROI) fairly easily and objectively. This is a very compelling issue, particularly for small to medium sized companies which must make their marketing cash go as far as possible.

At the moment there is a perception amongst clients that offline coverage is more valuable than online though in time this will inevitably switch. If the PR industry displays lethargy towards online its influence will gradually slip away.

Traditional PR skills - effective writing and good people skills are as useful in an online world as they are offline but PR professionals should be aiming for more and more of their activity to be targeted at online media.

Many PR techniques will be effective not only for communicating with social media they will work with traditional media too. Providing the links - pulling traffic to websites, search engine optimisation, text links, landing pages, press releases online are all ways of tying online and offline together.

This does provide a challenge to media monitoring and analysis.
Branded moving image footage, particularly produced for online media outlets is becoming more important especially when communicating with a youth target audience. Similarly, branded TV programming and online TV programming or features are commissioned as 30-60min one offs and illustrate brand values in a dynamically visual way which gets the message across.

But how does an evaluation system fairly measure the effectiveness of digital and moving image formats - particularly on the internet against other more traditional media?

At Media Proof we can compare output across all forms of media. We can effectively measure and evaluate consumer generated content/blogs/forums and rank this against traditional forms of media. Also this messaging can be compared with client originated content.

We have been working with online media longer and in more depth than anyone. Why not give us a call to discuss your challenges? We don't know all the answers but we can work with you to come up with the answers that suit your changing environment.