I have worked in marketing and advertising for the past 16 years and I am constantly amazed at how fast the markets change and how often educated business people just leap before thinking.

Take the prescribed death of traditional media.

• Newspapers are dead! (Can’t tell you how often I heard that over the past 16 years.)
• Cable TV will eliminate local channels… Heard that one also.
• XM Radio will make Radio advertising useless. (well maybe)
• SEO is far more effective than billboard or big box advertising online.. (that was not a very long road)
• Now Social media will eliminate all of them.

Hold on just a minute and think.

Fact: Newspapers today are still read by twice as many people than any other media in the marketplace. They are still the huge elephant in the room.How can that be? Well think about how they are measured.

1. Newspapers are measured by market and typically only have one or two print competitors, so they get 100% of all print readers.
2. TV they get a share of all TV viewers in an average 15 minutes, not the share of everyone who owns a TV.
3. Same with Radio.
4. And the Internet they count eyeballs on a particular channel. (How many channels are there on the web?)

Now I tend to look at things as a marketer of my own product, so humor me here with my thoughts.

If I had a pair of shoes to sell and this pair of shoes would only interest a very select group of people (Thin Market Concept) and I knew exactly where that consumer shopped online everyday, I know that I can sell that pair of shoes. So I definitely understand the power of the web. The most trackable results oriented media that has ever existed.

However If I was a shoe store and want to be in business for the next 50 years can I trust the web to always supply? Maybe the better question is are you prepared to spend entire days planning your marketing online so that you stay ahead of the trends and fads online?This is not a bash the internet message. It is a be careful advertiser message.

I have seen over a dozen businesses this last year drop traditional media 100% in response to the fads of the internet. They get great results up front because their marketplace is fresh and they happen to find the right trend for the month. However each of them is about to close their business because they could not keep in front of this huge wave. They abandoned the concept of developing your brand and developing the need for your product by mass branding. They abandoned traditional medias because they could not measure growth of brand awareness and the economy was killing them.

When Marketing your business you must be clear of your short and long-term goals. Your business does need to create sales now, and I know that this cost money. However your business is also trying to break the averages and has plans of being around for another 5, 10 or 20 years, so make sure you are using both strategies.

Over the next week I will bring you a few ideas on how to use multiple media to create results for your business.