EDWARD S. SUCHERMAN & ASSOCIATES LTD.

With all the readership problems that magazines and newspapers are having these days, you may wonder if print advertising is dead? The answer is that print, including direct mail, is not dead and will not die in our lifetimes – but it is changing.

With the advent of e-marketing, direct mail has become far less efficient yet, amazingly, even more effective. E-marketing eliminates the costs of printing, handling, and postage (the cost of postage is the great enemy of direct mail and magazines). Even though e-lists are quite expensive, and art/writing costs have not changed, e-marketing is less than a third the cost of direct mail.

But, as fewer companies choose to advertise through the mail, the ones that do are finding that their mailers pull better. It’s a simple matter of less competition.

Of course, the key to direct mail and print advertising – and any marketing communications, for that matter – is the creative message. I have my own theory about why there is so much less newspaper advertising these days: it doesn’t work as well. And that’s NOT because there are fewer readers. There are still plenty of avid readers. Just ask Barnes and Noble or Borders or Amazon. And remember, when people do research or get their news on the Internet, they are still reading.

I believe newspaper ads do not work as well today because of the creative content. Go through most any daily newspaper. Almost every ad features a sale. It’s all price, price, and price. It makes store products into commodities. If you need a pair of jeans, you buy wherever there is a sale today. Sears, Penny’s Macy’s, the Gap, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart…what’s the difference? A pair of jeans is a pair of jeans. We have trained the customer to have no brand loyalty. The ad is effective one day and gone the next.

The great ad campaigns were not about price. You deserve a break today. Think Small (Volkswagen). Where’s the beef? Is it real, or is it Memorex? When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Tony the Tiger – Grrrreat! The friendly skies of United. The man in the Hathaway Shirt. And on and on.

The way to best use the newspaper and make retail ads more effective – and FAR more efficient – is to run brand-building print ads that drive customers to the company web site, and list all the price discounts and sales on the web site. People should even be able to sign up there and have sales text-messaged to them on a daily basis. The newspapers would look better, read better, and most important, the ads would pull better.

But if I were a marketing director of a retail chain, I probably wouldn’t have the guts to make that change. The first time a sale failed, heads would roll. So, it will take courage and commitment from the CEO/President to stand behind the advertising department while the changes take place.

And what about public relations? Certainly, a good blog is far more effective and efficient than a good article. More key people read it, and you don’t have to go through an editor to reach those few readers who are seriously interested in your company. Blogs also make the editors more honest and objective.

What about magazines? I live and work in the Chicago area, and I would like to recommend that readers of this blog check out Luxe Magazine, Quintessential Barrington, and North Shore Magazine to see how a  publication can still be wildly successful. First, Luxe: This is a niche publication – it is only about luxury living (custom homes, high-end landscaping, interior design, etc.). Luxe comes out quarterly and only sells full page, full color ads on a 4-time basis – you cannot buy an ad unless you buy into a year’s advertising. And they stick to this. Thus, all advertisers become “partners” with the magazine. And, Luxe does not change prices for anyone. They play fair, no matter how tough you try to negotiate. Because of all these, they have been able to create a true art magazine that really does wind up on coffee tables all over Chicago’s wealthiest suburbs.

Quintessential Barrington is all about its publisher, Lisa Stamos, and her clear thinking.  She has focused on the Barrington area and today, she owns it.  To not be in Quintessential Barrington is to not be a Barrington fixture — to lose your top of mind position in the local market. 

North Shore is all about the editorial focus.  Sherry Thomas has demonstrated how great writing on topics that are meaningful to her public can keep a publication going and growing, while others have failed.

My next blog will be about the Internet and how to best use it.

Ed Sucherman

The Marketing Machine

www.edsucherman.com

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