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Print vs. Electronic - the tradeoffs

Posted by Katherine Brozek on June 18, 2010 at June 18, 2010 5:23 AM

Five years ago, a contributor to The Lead said in their post, "news is news, and increasingly, communicated in multiple ways through multiple venues and technologies." As prophetic the author was, many of our clients still place a high value on seeing their message in a print publication, despite the many technology and social media advances.

There is, no doubt, something truly genuine about reading the printed word and holding it in your hands. Even as a "younger person," I love holding a newspaper or turning the page of a book. Yet, my conversations with media last week while staffing BASF's Ag Solutions Media Summit lead me point out some of the value of the electronic word. I was surprised and delighted by how enthusiastic many of the agriculture trade editors were about their electronic content: websites, blogs, twitter feeds and facebook pages. A few highlights of our conversation:

1. Editors are given more flexibility to expand their content and link to additional resources through their web content and electronic newsletters. They feel this is a great service to their readers.
2. Editors enjoy the ability to create and participate in a conversation, receive feedback and interact with their electronic readers.
3. Client's messages are delivered real-time on the Web versus dealing with a 6-month lead-time for some printed publications.
4. Client's products and messages can be found by their audience through a simple Google search versus searching page-by-page through a print publication.

What do you think? What are the values you place on the electronic word--or printed word? Where is your highest value?

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