I recently received this email from my friend, Geoff:
“As you know, I work in printing, which increasingly feels like being a travel agent when Travelocity and Priceline came on the scene. A lot of companies are really getting into Social Networking/New Media, even getting Facebook and Twitter printed on their business cards. They are cutting down on things like brochures, flyers and even mailers. This used to be their core marketing.
In business and printing you are told “Nothing comes for free,” essentially that everything has a price, even if not monetary. Is this true with the relative free factor of Facebook and Twitter? is the old adage “You get what you pay for” still true, or is it now moot with companies able to connect with their clients for free using social networking?”
He asked me to weigh in, and because I think it’s such a phenomenal question, I decided you all should know what I think, too.
I can relate, Geoff. I graduated from CU with a degree in Journalism. I worked on the college paper every semester of my college career. I watched the (then) Campus Press add an online element to their weekly-printed newspaper. Then I watched the Campus Press stop printing entirely and become an entirely online entity. I know what you’re saying. It’s nerve-wracking and scary and you wonder if in 5 years paper will still even exist. But (and that’s a big but), as I’ve written before, these industries aren’t dying; they’re changing.
And we have to adapt.
We have to embrace the Internet and see how we can work with it and not live in fear of it. It’s not going anywhere.
Now, your printing job is somewhat different than Journalism, and I am aware they are not entirely parallel. So, I will say this: I firmly believe, there will always be a need for printed marketing materials. Even Context Optional, a Social Marketing Company, prints brochures, stickers and fliers to pass out at tech conferences.
No matter how technologically savvy people are, they still appreciate the tangible.
They like to hold things in their hands. They like to know something is real and not just virtual, Internet bullshit.
Like you said, many people are focusing on Social Media and are cutting down on printed materials. That is true. Take that knowledge and learn to market your product in new and innovative ways to inspire that printed materials can act as a gateway to other campaigns they may be participating in online.
It’s also a common misconception that Social Media is free (or at least cheap. Social media done right isn’t free. It may not always involve spending copious amounts of cash, but it requires spending time. And for me, time is more valuable than money.
The “cheap” claim is everywhere. Many people embrace social media because it appears to be free. And, unfortunately, even more people don’t think it takes a lot of time. They say, “yeah, sure, I’ll spend fifteen minutes a day checking my Twitter and Facebook accounts. No problem.”
In order to develop a positive, strong presence on social media, it takes time.
So, yes. Everything has a price even if it’s not monetary. And, yes. You get what you pay for. If you spend 15 minutes a day on your Social Media campaigns, it is more than likely they will not be successful (or at least as successful as you could have been).
Think of it this way – I have a full-time job working with brands to just communicate with their fans and followers on these Social Media sites. That is a fraction of the amount of time my colleagues spend building and implementing full-blown strategies and applications for these brands on social networks.
Social Media is a new marketing tool, and everyone is still trying to figure out how to best use it. But don’t lose faith – just gain creativity.
Bob Dylan sung it best: “The times they are a’changin’.” And we all have to change with them.
