"Traditional media is dead."

We heard that a lot last year. Especially, with regard to newspapers.

While it's true that total ad spending at newspapers has declined in recent years, there's evidence that the channel is far from dead. In fact, when used as part of a broader, strategic marketing mix, newspapers can help reach a desirable audience and drive research and purchase behaviors throughout the buying life cycle.

Consider the following:

Newspapers provide significant local reach.

In a study published earlier this year, PR agency Ketchum noted that consumers tend to rely more heavily on traditional channels like their local newspapers (69% of respondents) as opposed to newer media like blogs (13%) when looking for local information. Local media was also near the top of the list of media that consumers found most credible, joined by national newspapers and broadcast news, demonstrating that consumers’ trust in traditional media runs high. 

Newspapers reach an attractive demographic. 

According to a 2006 Scarborough Research study, newspaper readers tend to be highly educated and affluent, have higher Internet penetration and tend to shop online more frequently. What's more, there is significant crossover between the print and online newspaper audiences: 81% of online newspaper readers also read the print version. These online newspaper readers tend to be early adopters of new products and technologies, and are more likely to be "influencers" - people who spread buzz and shape the opinions of others about products and services.

Newspapers help drive commerce - both online and off.

With the recent rollout of Google Print Ads, the search giant commissioned an indenpedent research study on how print and search marketing can work together. Some of their findings:

• On an average day, over 50% of US adults read a newspaper
• Newspapers reach people at many points in the buying cycle, both early (inspiring Web research) and late (prompting in-store or Web purchase)
• 67% of people researching products after seeing newspaper ads did research on the Web
• 31% of those people started by going to a search engine (even though newspaper ads typically include a URL)
  

In this case, old media (print) is driving response via new media (the Web), meaning it's increasingly important to synchronize your contact strategy across media - both old and new. Google has published case studies from its Print Ads advertisers that further illustrate the synergy between newspaper and online.

So here's a New Year's Resolution for all of us: don't be so quick to dismiss "old" media. Customize your contact plan based on your target audience, and be sure to take into account how the channels can work together.