Blame Weak Marketers Not Economy

October 28, 2008 on 7:38 am | In Advertising, Customer Retention, Customer Service, Journalism, Marketing, Media, Newspapers | 4 Comments

OK, we have yet another story about an abysmal showing for newspapers. Circulation, according to USA Today, is down 4.6 percent for US newspapers overall. Says the national newspaper,

Circulation and advertising have been dropping at newspapers as readers continue to migrate to the Internet. Ad revenue began to decline more steeply this summer as the weak economy prompted advertisers to pull back on spending.

In this case, it is not the economy. Newspapers have failed in their marketing efforts for too long. For so many years they had a stranglehold on the news consumer. They believed their own news clippings; they drank the Kool-Aid. They served up what they thought news consumers wanted. But because journalists tend to have a high opinion of their own intellect, they thought they knew better than the reader what the reader wanted. How’s that working out for you major daily newspapers? Not too good.

As the media have become more partisan, they have lost readers from both sides of the aisle. The media have an agenda now and have moved beyond the original mission of a free press. What’s that mission? The Pagosa Free Press (Pagosa Springs, CO) has one of the best explanations I’ve seen:

We remain committed to the original mission of the free press in a free society — as a light, exposing corruption, fraud, waste and abuse of power wherever and whenever it is found.

Too bad there aren’t more major newspapers delivering on a similar mission.

Poor marketers look for an excuse like the economy, like the internet, like…well you get the picture. If you have a good product that meets the needs and wishes of your customer, you will retain your customers in good times and bad.

More on the newspaper circulation decline. And a post that agrees with me.

UPDATE: LA Times cuts more staff 

Other Posts Of Interest

  • Anna M

    Maybe if newspapers gave us a broader perspective on the world it’d be a good start. But the focus on sensational events, popular gossip and obviously biased reports moves people to find more alternative sources for news like huffingtonpost.com and alternet.org

  • http://www.my-creativeteam.com Harry Hoover

    UPDATE: Christian Science Monitor shuttering print product.

  • http://trainingtime.wordpress.com/ Marie Adams

    Times are changing. Marketers must adjust to the changing market or fail. In the case of newspapers, too many ignored the changing market for too long and now they’re in trouble. I agree that marketers need to stop looking for excuses and instead do something about it.

  • Pingback: THINKing » MSM Ain’t What It Used To Be

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