Finding anchors in the chaos
By Leo Valiquette
Print is dead.
That was the sentiment floating around when I returned to school to study journalism in 1997. The internet will be king, was the thought of the day, and that was still years before the pervasive, bandwidth-sucking web services we take for granted today.
But here we are and print still lives, though it is taking a back seat to the avenues for “citizen journalism” presented by the blogosphere and Youtube, as well as RSS feeds and other means of getting the latest news anywhere at anytime in the palm of your hand.
Nontheless, a media executive in a prime position to sing print’s funeral dirge still believes it has a future, even if it is likely to be somewhat diminished compared to the past. That man is Paul Miller (pictured), CEO of Tech Insights – a division of United Business Media that operates the prestigious tech journal EE Times. His team was in town recently to meet with local marcomm professionals and, among other things, explain how their company is incorporating the operations of local reverse-engineering firm Semiconductor Insights into its range of services.
Miller discussed the premature claims about the death of print in the broader context of the death of traditional media as the prime source of news and information. We live in a chaotic time, he said, in which companies with marketing dollars to spend don’t know what to do. Should they focus their spending on Google AdWords? Should they try to stimulate interest in their company’s technology and their own subject matter expertise in the blogosphere? Is there still value to be had through traditional media, be it in print, online, or both?
His take was that, despite all the sound and fury surrounding the funnels of community discourse now available online, there will always be a need for trusted sources of information with a track record of accuracy and impartiality. And for a company to adequately generate the right kind of buzz about itself, it can’t depend on any one avenue.
As we agreed in a chat after the event, it’s difficult to vet much of the content and the sources of that content in the blogosphere, never mind ensure what kind of audience is being reached through that avenue. As for Google AdWords, well, it can be a powerful tool. In the past week I’ve heard two different CEOs say how most of their new business now comes from Google hits. But once you have drawn that traffic to your website, what will visitors find? Are they greeted with concise and impactful information? Can they easily find what they need to have a clear understanding of your value proposition?
In other words, have you generated the right content to sell yourself with what visitors find on your website? And that brings me back to the start of this piece – the often exaggerated death of print. Print may diminish in importance, but the need to generate clean, accurate and compelling content will not, no matter which side of the PR-journalism fence you’re on. In this age of internet chaos, the need for expert storytellers as part of a well-rounded public relations and marketing strategy is greater than ever.
