What’s the association between these three macro trends – the decline in newspaper revenue, the increase in journalism school enrollment, and the decline in ratings for mass market advertising channels like broadcast television?

We’re seeing a huge downturn in newspaper revenue and readership - and at the same time a big increase in journalism school enrollment.  Even given the expected increase in post-graduate school enrollment that comes with a recession, why choose journalism when the historic career path out of journalism programs is being decimated?

The answer is in the flow of advertising dollars, and, related, in shifting behavior by viewers and consumers.  It is getting more and more difficult for large advertisers to make big media buys and reach a mass audience with a single message – and segmenting buys and tailoring messages by demo, behavior, intent will be a competitive advantage going forward.

So twenty years ago, I could spend 5 million dollars for 100 thirty second spots on prime-time, and be confident that I was reaching ten to twenty million people.  Or I could buy a full page ad in the local metro paper and be confident that I was reaching a significant percentage of the local population.

Now, I still need to spend that marketing and advertising budget, and I still need to reach those people.  But even if people are watching prime-time network shows, they’re on their laptops, or they’re fast-forwarding through commercials.  Even if people are still getting the local paper, they’re spending less time with it.

The reality is that people are self-segmenting into smaller addressable groups.  They’re finding the news they want, the entertainment they want, and the information they want – and because of the explosion of content and sources, they’re finding the voices and presentation that they’re most comfortable with.

So how do I spend that 5 million dollars in this new media landscape?  Who will tailor my message and present it effectively to hundreds or thousands of addressable groups, all self-segmented by interest or voice?  Yes, automation has a place, but ultimately marketing and advertising are communication, and communication happens between people.

The market for people able to bridge that gap will be a growth industry for years to come.   It is certainly not traditional journalism, but it’s not traditional marketing either.

Advertisers will spend money here because they must.  And as in everything in life, quality matters – good content, consistent voice, engaged viewers/readers/consumers – these will be the markers that advertisers will look for.  So getting trained to provide this certainly makes sense.

Bottom line – brand advertisers still need to make large media buys to compete effectively, and as audiences fragment and self-segment, we will need many more media properties that serve both audiences and advertisers.  Going through a graduate journalism program is not a bad way to acquire some skills and contacts that will be required to manage and create content for these media properties.

Interesting times!

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Twitter has a  great opportunity here to further develop a system that adds true social and geographic relevance to search. There’s much more to say about that, and this discussion is meant to focus on some specific UI changes that uncover more of the value in Twitter search from a social and geo standpoint.  In the short term, it would be great to see an indication of social relevance: maybe a graphic bug that indicates how “close” the tweet is to me in my Twitter social network. Geographically, I like what they’ve done with the “near:” option in the search query, and for travelers or people that don’t read the manual, maybe a “show me results near me” checkbox could be a simpler solution.

As Twitter volume and usage grows, what are the opportunities in this area for local businesses?

Here’s an example I just took a look at. Lou On Vine is a local restaurant in Los Angeles that we really enjoy. The owner has an interesting and offbeat wine cellar, and their food is sourced from small farms locally and across the US.  The menu changes regularly. They’ve gotten some good press, and are a little off the beaten path in terms of location. If they were up on Twitter, I’d certainly follow them if they announced new wines, menu changes, weekday specials, and so on. I might even RT if I saw something I was particularly enthusiastic about.

For the local business owner, this is simple, quick, and effective. Local businesses do not always have the time and attention required to create a full-fledged email program – maintaining lists, designing emails, writing paragraphs of content, and so on. This small effort brings them into a huge mass of potential customers that are already grouped – very generally – by common interests and social ties. If I re-tweet a LouOnVine message, it’s going to my followers – a group that is likely at least a little more interested in this type of restaurant than the general population.

And when someone searches on Twitter for “Lou on Vine” they’ll see that menu change or new wine, or my re-tweet. When someone I follow is in LA and searches for “good restaurants” and checks the “select results near me,” maybe they’ll see a tweet of mine referencing Lou On Vine , and that I’m very close to them on the social graph.

If you run a local business, don’t wait: start a business account on Twitter. It literally takes 2 minutes. Then at least once a week post relevant messages that are useful to customers and potential customers. Follow people in the area that are passionate about, or at least interested in, the types of services or products you provide.  Twitter is a great way to get more out of your valuable relationships and content.

Other thoughts on Twitter and Local Search?

Ogilvy put up some interesting docs at their site discussing some of issues marketers face in a recession – and had a great nod to the situation that some marketers face:

“Although many marketers would argue that you should not cut marketing budgets in a recession, given the severity and unpredictability of the current economic crisis, the reality is that you may be forced to do so.”

Agreed, having been there.  Yes, if you have sufficient ‘dry powder’ and a long-term commitment, this could be a great time to do some brand-building – and maybe you’re in a niche or vertical that is less impacted by the macro downturn.

Many companies and marketing groups are in neither of these situations.  They (we) are managing significant internal and external pressures.  Internal pressures to justify their expenditures in the face of corporate layoffs and budget reductions – external pressure to present a compelling message and offer to current and potential customers who face their own financial issues, whether businesses or consumers.

The next post focuses more on potential opportunites in this type of environment, and these resources focus on dealing with the nuts and bolts issues:

The Ogilvy site – good content, and they require contact information:

http://www.ogilvyonrecession.com/

Response Magazine covers the trend towards measurable results

http://www.responsemagazine.com/responsemag//article/articleDetail.jsp?ts=013109031200&id=577182

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Your Customers are Out There - Image by Matthew Field via Flickr

There’s no question that a significant investment in Social Media makes sense for some companies in some industries – and every company whose customers are active online should have an awareness of the space. 

For those considering an investment in social media for their business, the return on investment question can be challenging to address.

Even if the complete ROI calculation is a little undefined, you’ll need some set of metrics and associated goals to structure the conversation. 

Ultimately, what gets measured gets done – and if it’s not measurable in some fashion it  can be difficult to sustain the effort and build support.

This is a short survey of some of the discussions and resources available online.

This Social Media ROI spreadsheet, by a non-profit, takes a very metrics-driven, granular approach.  Even if you disagree with the specifics, it’s a great reminder of the ultimate goal – the value you want to create for your business or company.

http://www.frogloop.com/social-network-calculator

Marketing Profs has links to video interviews with a number of people in the field.  They’re generally pretty promotional, but probably worth looking at.  A more emotional, ‘don’t get left behind’, approach.

http://www.marketingprofs.com/9/social-media-roi-whats-return-on-ignoring-alston.asp

And this survey of senior marketing executives covers a number of interesting insights:

“Social Media is first and foremost about gaining consumer insights.”

http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/study-marketing-execs-must-realize-and-learn-to-use-power-of-social-media-3657/tns-cymfony-social-media-potential-usesjpg/

The complete report is here:

http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/study-marketing-execs-must-realize-and-learn-to-use-power-of-social-media-3657

A significant investment in Social Media certainly makes sense for some companies in some industries – and every company whose customers are active online should certainly  have an awareness of the space.  The decision as to the right level of investment for your company today should be driven at least in part by a metrics and ROI analysis.

No big surprises – although CBS does better that I would have guessed.  This does exclude Yahoo! and others that serve significant video as a component of their online presence, but not as their primary channel.   And it’s a measure of site visitors, not videos streamed or downloaded.  That said, it is an interesting short list of some of the large players and up and comers.

(M)

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In % terms:

Worst Performers in absolute dollars:

Worst Performers in % terms:

The NY Times article money quote:

“national TV has proven that it works in helping them move product in good and bad economic times”

TV Retains Marketing Dollars in Hard Times

A followup to a post earlier this week – the descriptions and themes that were more common in the profiles of poorly performing companies as compared to the entire market.  Again, a very rough analysis of an unreliable data set, but interesting.

This Deloitte survey reports that Millennials watch 10.5 hours of television per week – wasn’t it 20hrs+/wk less than 10 years ago for the same age group?

Here’s a more detailed article:

http://thestandard.com/news/2008/12/17/deloitte-survey-shows-we-re-living-media-democracy

Words that appeared more frequently in the company descriptions of the 225 best performing public companies in 2008, as compared with the entire set of public companies.  Not an audited or particularly clean data set, but interesting.  A lot of small regional banks in the mix.

http://www.darrenherman.com/2008/12/14/agencies-sometimes-we-get-a-bad-wrap-but-here-are-some-tips-to-alleviate/

Favorite quote: “Be responsive…Ad sales does not stop once the Insertion Order has been signed.”

There’s some great content in the comments as well.