Print Advertising is Like Crack Cocaine

Last week I was part of a panel at the International Builders show with Myers Barnes, Mike Lyon, and Steve Shoemaker entitled “More Leads. More Sales. No Excuses.” It went great, and I hope we helped a lot of people begin to think differently about how they integrate the web into how they market and sell new homes. There was one point though, were I think I caught people completely off guard – when I compared newspaper advertising to crack cocaine. At that point Steve, my fellow panelist, quickly pointed out that he had no personal experience with the stuff (thanks for the backup buddy!).*

Cocaine use is an expensive and addictive habit that has a law of diminishing returns (you need more to get the same high).

Newspaper advertising is an expensive and addictive habit that has a law of diminishing returns.

Why is it so expensive?
Paper, ink, distribution, unions, large office buildings, large staffs of reporters, salespeople, and management – oh my! Newspapers in today’s economy are simply bloated and inefficient. Compounding the problem is that companies are spending less so prices for the advertisers left are actually still rising! Delivering thousands of copies creates some nice economies of scale, but the problem is that you are paying to deliver to thousands of people who are likely ignoring your interruption message.

Why is it so addictive?
It’s addictive because it’s so easy to re-run the same ad again and again. If you get a really big promotion, then you… just add a starburst or new headline to the same old ad. Right? In today’s fast paced world it’s all too tempting to call up your sales rep and say “pick up last week’s ad and run it again this Sunday.” You or your builder gets to open the paper and say “WOW – look at that gorgeous ad… I did it again!” Finally because print advertising is difficult to track (yes, you can use call tracking or personalized URLs – but those aren’t necessarily easy to do correctly) you are always wondering how effective the ad really was. When the pressure is on for more traffic to the model, that lack of data makes it easy to lie to yourself and tell your sales rep to “run it again.”

Trust me, it’s going to take a lot of guts and withdrawal symptoms to cut back severely… or go cold turkey.

Why are there diminishing returns?
The simple answer is that fewer people are reading traditional newspapers every day, so your reach continues to shrink. You also run the risk of losing touch with the influencers in today’s society or gaining mindshare with the next generation of consumers. You also aren’t investing in anything for the long term. Your ad will be delivered on Sunday morning, and be in the trash by Sunday evening – your website will still be there next year for the next prospective buyer to use.

Remember, newspaper advertising is like:
Can’t be easily tracked or finely segmented
Really expensive ROI
Always losing effectiveness
Customers can’t interact with it directly
Keeps you stuck in the past

*For the record, I’ve never been involved in any drug use. Heck, the university I went to didn’t even allow dancing! (but I loved it!)