I was sitting waiting in St. Pierre’s Barber Shop on Spring Street in Williamstown waiting to have my heretofore magnificent mane reduced substantially. Now that my band’s big gig is past, the whole, “I’m a musician, I need long hair,” is lost on my wife. BTW, she laughed at me when I got home from the barber yesterday. Laughed. Out loud. She even pointed. She said my mom will be pleased. Lovely.
Anyhow, there I sat reading ESPN: The Magazine and Sports Illustrated which I never do anymore. I have zero zip zilch nada magazine subscriptions at home and at work. The internet, television, and radio are my information sources in that order. We haven’t gotten a daily newspaper at home since we moved away from Minnesota in 1999. Just don’t need it anymore. 24 hour news on TV, instant access on the web … and there is literally a laptop with wireless at arm’s reach at home ALL OF THE TIME. How did we ever live without this stuff? As I sat there, I was struck by how effectively I could avoid the advertising as I read the magazine. I’m guessing most of us have conditioned ourselves to do the same. The only ad that I saw was the ad for the DVD of the photoshoot from SI’s annual Swimsuit Issue – for obvious reasons. Since when did paint applied directly to the skin constitute a swimsuit?
Let’s see here … fewer and fewer people are buying print media and those who do have become experts at filtering out the ads. So, why are people still buying magazine and newspaper advertising? Good question.
If you still are, it better be because you have measured its effectiveness and have determined that it is creating prospects, leads, and sales in a cost-effective manner. If not, you need to start measuring today.