In the media business, the period of time between Labor Day and Christmas is our busiest time of the year. It is our planning season for next year.
Each year at this time, our advertising clients are putting together their budgets and plans for the following year, so 2009 is being planned now in the media business. The exact nature of that planning has changed a lot in the past few years because there are so many more advertising options available to companies involved in promoting their products.
Most of those options involve e-media, or digital media. I personally recommend digital media to every one of my advertising clients, not to replace print advertising but to work together with it. Digital media will work to promote your company brand and image. It will also generate traffic to your website.
Unfortunately for us, this form of lead generation has replaced the traditional bingo card sales leads that were prominent in the print advertising business for decades. Unfortunate because these print leads used to work as a source of feedback on a company's advertising effectiveness. It never really did measure advertising effectiveness but it always served as a tangible response.
At any rate, the planning that takes place at this the busiest time of the year has become more complicated because of the digital media options now available to advertisers. To maximize the effectiveness of your advertising campaign, plan to use both print and digital in 2009.
