In the latest installment in a series, a healthcare editor responds to the question – is print media dying? To view earlier installments please click here.
Pam Moore, Vice President, Content and Strategy, UBM Medica: Who cares? To my mind, there’s probably a role for print for most audiences. It’s just so darned expensive to produce and mail, it’s hard to get print to pay for itself. Especially when advertisers want to be able to measure click-thrus and sales leads and ROI, not wonder who saw their print ad. But I say “who cares” because what a good communicator needs to worry about is what the audience needs and the best way to meet those needs, not waste time worrying about paper pulp. There is SO much information that is better communicated through video or an interactive iPad app, or just plain getting involved in an online community, than through an article or brochure. The goal is use whatever is available to serve the audience the best way possible.
I’m in journalism, but I’d have to add that for PR folk, your world just got easier. I might serve up a twitter feed on a given hashtag-denoted topic on a web page if I think my audience cares about it. That’s direct access for you. You tweet; it appears right to my audience. And it costs me and you nothing. But I’d never “waste” incredibly expensive print space on your slant. I’m limited to using print pages for only the most valuable and compelling info. It’s a much harder sell for the PR person.
