More and more mainstream advertisers are cutting back on their advertising and PR budgets, not so much because marketing is deemed to have no value but because “these media make targeting specific buyers very difficult,” according to bestselling author and marketer David Meerman Scott.

Of 5000 corporations surveyed in a 2007 syndicated Persona study, 89.2% are “adjusting traditional advertising and PR budgets down due to lack of results and high cost.”

What is Traditional Advertising and PR?

Traditional public relations and advertising was defined in The Persona Principle book by Armstrong and Yu as “Everything you do that your audience sees,” a definition well ahead of its time. Code 52 in The Persona Principle, The Code of Advertising, emphasized the key phrase “that your audience sees.”

The classic mistake advertising agencies and traditional PR agencies make is to assume that the creative drives the success of advertising. This is only valid if “advertising awards” is the measure of success.

“That your audience sees” can be interpreted widely, but in its fluid sense it anchors the core value of advertising and PR in a simple concept: be seen.

“The medium is the message.”

Media planners at ad agencies have always practiced Marshall McLuhan’s important mantra, yet remain highly undervalued. Today, for the first time, media planners are more relevant than ever — but also less qualified for today’s media than they should be. Ad agencies make little to no income on “non-traditional” media, as it’s often derogatorily referred to.

Non Traditional is Now Traditional

Recent statistics from various surveys — including Persona’s own syndicated September 2007 survey of 10,800 consumers — indicates that online is now traditional media. Online has long ago eclipsed television, the movie theatre and print media by wide measures as the most “indispensable” media, the place where the majority of Americans and Canadians spend their time. Ad agencies and PR firms avoid the most popular media due to complexity of implementation and low return in terms of fees or commissions.

The 2007 Landmark Research Study

The syndicated Persona study indicated:
•  INTERNET — 36.4% "Can't live without internet" — 23.7% "LOVE Internet surfing" — 22.5% "regularly Internet surf": totaling 82.6%
• BOOKS — 30.6% "Can't live without books" — 23.4% "LOVE books" — 20.9% "Read regularly": totaling 74.9%
• TV — Only 18.4% "Can't live without TV" — 29% "LOVE TV" — 30.5% "Watch regularly totaling 77.9%

If we look at the topline indicators, the “can’t live without” ratings, internet is the most important with 36.4%:
• 36.4% “can’t live without internet”
• 18.4% “can’t live without TV”
• 16.3% “can’t live without newspapers”
• 16.1% “can’t live without magazines”
• 10.6% “can’t live without television sportscasts”

To see more detail,click on the image to the right or here. 

Advertising — The Money Pit

“For Millions of organizations… traditional advertising is generally so wide and broad that it is ineffective,” wrote David Meerman Scott in The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

“One-way advertising and PR media is quaint and antiquated,” I wrote in a recent article on Suite 101. “Savvy marketers focus on two-way relationships, social marketing, blogging strategically, and increasingly the more animated forms of online interaction such as podcasts, both audio and video.”

Media Fragmentation and the Cost of Traditional Media

Long before it became clear that online was statistically valid, accountable and effective, many brands and companies turned to online simply because of cost factors. Traditional media, especially television, has become highly fragmented and difficult to plan effectively. Print media is rapidly declining as a valid choice for advertising.

Online targeted reach comes in at pennies per thousand reached rather than dollars. Since larger advertising agencies and traditional PR companies, the realization has come slowly for some larger clients. Smaller companies have always worked with targeted online media due to the low cost.

Blogertizing — or Total Blog Marketing

“Content on the web is the best form of marketing there is,” David Meerman Scott wrote in Cashing in with Content. Blogertizing takes this concept to the next level. Two-way reponse-driven content is the actual goal. A response mechanism designed to build relationships with audiences — and as a secondary goal to measure response — makes online Blogertizing methods the most effective in terms of realizing marketing goals, growing brands and selling products.