Business 2.0 has an article focusing on how Google can be both friend and foe to small business. But this passage jumped out at me as more anecdotal proof that things have changed drastically for print publishers:
“More established businesses have been able to slash their marketing budgets by switching to search-term advertising. Ray Allen, 64, quit the cutthroat New York City advertising industry to start American Meadows (americanmeadows.com), a wildflower-seed company based in Williston, Vt.”
“Ten years ago Allen was spending $300,000 a year on magazine ads and print catalogs to generate about $1 million in annual revenues. Today he spends just $120,000 a year (mostly with Google, but also with Yahoo’s (Charts) competing pay-per-click ad service) to generate more than $2 million in revenues. “This is a total revolution,” crows Allen.”
If you work for a publisher or media company that serves a niche market, this takes your primary selling point, your direct link to a small market, and turns it on its head. Which is fine, as long as you have a strong multi-media strategy…