05.06
In April American Business Media predicted U.S. trade publications would see and average 19% to 22% drop in business-to-business ad revenues in 2009, a much steeper decline than the 7.3% drop of 2008. And the reality is worse than the numbers make it sound. Nielsen Business Media will stop publishing Brandweek, but may roll it into one of its other B2B titles. Crain’s TelevisionWeek will be available online only beginning in June. And just yesterday we learned that business publisher Penton Publishing is going over to a four-day workweek to help cut overhead. Of course we all know of the demise of the Rocky Mountain News bankruptcies of Sun-Times Media, the owner of 58 newspapers including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Star Tribune Holdings Corporation, the Journal Register Company and Philadelphia Newspapers LLC.
So with all these publications consolidating or closing all together, why would anyone bother to hire a PR agency? Because readers, like all matter, can neither be created nor destroyed. It’s an indisputable law of thermodynamics. Not up on your thermodynamics? Read on.
If you haven’t recently brushed up on Karl Friedrich Mohr’s 1837 article “Über die Natur der Wärme,” its okay. The point here is that just because pages and revenue are down, doesn’t mean that there are fewer readers. It just means that there are fewer readers acquiring their information from print sources. The total number of readers for some publications may, in fact, be larger.
The print circulation of the weekday New York Times is one million. Between 14 and 22 million read nytimes.com every month, an average of 600,000 a day. Some of those online readers are also print subscribers, but you can bet that a large portion are not. So the Times may have gained a half million readers a day being online. On any given day, an estimated 32 million Americans read their news online.
The challenge for the publishers, however, is to monetize their digital offerings. The new report from Outsell, well explained here by Media News Daily, provides great clarity on the problem.
What does it all mean for B2B marketers? It means that in today’s media marketplace, there’s more reason than ever to employ public relations tactics.
Smaller budgets mean fewer sub-editors, so editorial leaders need all the help they can get. Good thing your PR agency is there to provide compelling content and story ideas.
Further, the digitization of trade media has created a gaping void that needs to be filled. Unencumbered by the limits of ad pages in print, editors need to fill more space than ever. If you and your agency can provide terrific content, you become an invaluable resource.
But there are fewer total outlets available and not every publication has increased readership online, so where have the readers gone? To other electronic sources of information, such as blogs, e-newsletters and content-rich specialty Web sites – to name but a few.
These are but a few of the cyber locations where PR pros are plying their trade for savvy B2B companies. They’re building personal relationships directly with customers and establishing brands through social outlets. They’re energizing constituents with personalized information and engaging influencers to impact public opinion. In a sentence, PR no longer mean press release.
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About the author:
Brian Courtney is a Sr. Social Media & PR executive, bringing Schubert more than 15 years of corporate PR and editorial experience. Brian enjoys traveling to exotic locations, creative writing and spending time with his family.
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