Sad thing happened Monday morning. My husband handed me the local paper and said, “Today’s newsletter has arrived.” He was right. The Oregonian in its day was legend, breaking big stories and winning major awards. Monday it weighed little more than the leaflets that housecleaners, painters and dog sitters routinely leave on our front porch. Most of what was on the front page, I’d already read on my Smartphone.
Traditional media is emaciated and isn’t coming back. News outlets are not ignoring your excellent story pitches because they’re too busy. They’re ignoring them because there are no longer enough editors to really consider the ideas, and when those editors look around the room, empty cubicles are staring back at them. Their laid off colleagues have moved on. There are too few people left to write that story.
The situation is similar in TV newsrooms. Many are so thinly-staffed, they can afford only to chase a couple of “lead” stories. They fill the rest of their air time with surveillance video of convenience store robberies and criminal mug shots handed out by police. Any wonder that audience is declining?
Those of us who might be your target customer no longer need to find the remote or subscribe to a paper to find news. News finds us. We are no longer “readers” or “viewers” for the most part; we are crowdsourcing in two other places: online and on mobile. Most of the news, entertainment and other information we need is on our tablet or cell phone, we bookmark favorite sites and our Tweet decks light up with new headlines faster than a TV anchor can make it to the set to break news.
If you’re trying to attract customers, you might not need to pay thousands for a spot airing in television prime. In fact for niche businesses, that’s a waste of money. Use social media to target the customers you want.
Facebook is a good place to build your Positive Image. It has over 500 million users. People love it because it’s so emotionally connective. Logging on all day or for only minutes a day, users can get support, show off great ideas, celebrate, post family photos. What better place is there to sell a product or service you are passionate about?
There are excellent resources to help you grow your skills. I am reading Facebook Marketing An Hour a day. This 20-dollar investment is good for helping you to find out who is using Facebook, what motivates them and how to target some of them to use your services or product. An excellent multi-week on line course is being offered in March. It’s “spendy” at about 400 bucks, but could grow your social media marketing skills to expert level if you’re savvy and committed.
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