I’ve long been a believer that the days of advertising as ‘the’ prized and dominant marketing tactic are numbered… and not just because my background is in PR.  It is actually a long held belief born out of the simple fact that I know that I myself am far more likely to engage with a brand (or buy a product or service) based on what a respected third party says about it as opposed to an advert. In fact, I am pretty sure I am ‘advert apathetic’.

As such I was not at all surprised to read this morning that “as many as 73% of web users have left a favourite website because of intrusive or annoying ads” and also that Yahoo’s financial results, announced today, revealed international brand-focused display ad revenues down 8%.  Then there was the timesonline piece reporting that advertising revenues at Associated Newspapers, excluding sales from the Daily Mail and Evening Standard websites, have fallen by five per cent in the three months to June 30.  And it is not alone of course… earlier this month, Trinity Mirror also admitted that advertising at the Daily Mirror and its sister titles had collapsed by between 12 per cent and 14 per cent in May and June.

Admittedly this is not surprising in the UK market given the current economic downturn.  Indeed a new Mintel survey has revealed that UK consumers are increasingly feeling the effects of the credit crunch with fewer people feeling as well off as in previous years – clearly bad news for the advertising industry.  However, it is interesting to note that Associated Newspapers online versions of the Daily Mail and Evening Standard actually reported increases in ad sales.

What really caught my interest from all of this were two key things:

1.)     That we are seeing yet more evidence of a migration from paper to online media consumption
2.)     And that this move represents a clear opportunity for PR to supersede advertising as ‘the’ lead marketing tactic 

Taking my first point, the migration of media consumption from paper to online, this has clearly rung in massive changes for advertisers already. The main change is the ability to target very specific niche audience groups which will increase as MSM (mainstream media) and CGM (consumer generated or social media) continue to flourish in the digital environment. As a result, online adverts will need to be ever more carefully positioned as behavioural targeting of audiences becomes more prominent. In a nut shell what advertising will lose, as we are already seeing, is its BIG numbers – in terms of audience reach figures and ball busting budgets.

This brings me onto my second point regarding the opportunity for PR to become ‘the’ dominant marketing tactic. The nature of digital media means that audience participation and engagement is higher than with traditional paper and broadcast media types. This is clearly more suited to PR (which communicates in a mutually beneficial way with stakeholders) than advertising (which directly informs an audience).

There is a ton of evidence to support this (which I plan to revisit) but I’ll close for now with this thought: as we move towards a totally online media culture, PR (the art of managing conversations) will become the most vital component of the marketing mix.  As a consequence, measuring and understanding the effectiveness of PR and its outcomes will become more important than exhaustive monitoring of all media output and a bursting book of clippings. 

The real value and insight will be ascertained by measurement that is as carefully crafted as the PR it is assessing.