238New Marketing Reality 4New Marketing Reality 4
Traditional Advertising and Marketing No Longer Work
The reality of our marketplace is that what might have worked in the past
is no longer effective. Costs are rising and results are constantly going down.
The result is a shrinking profitability and return on investment for anyone using
traditional methods for reaching their market.
Traditional advertising costs have risen at staggering rates, yet what used to bring
in 200 or 300 customers to a retail establishment would be lucky to pull in 10
today. Yellow Page advertising has doubled in price in the past decade, yet with all
the clutter and plethora of options, the results continue to decline. Still, so many
industries continue to advertise there unabated.
The same is true for direct mail advertising. What used to produce a 3%-5%
response rate would be lucky to pull in .05% today. That fact surely isn’t reflected
in how much it costs to produce and distribute that same mail piece. Still,
marketers continue to shovel paper marketing pieces to the marketplace, many
times without even thinking.