The Never Ending Debate Over the Death of Print

I just got off the phone with a B2B CEO who wanted to shout from the rooftops that he still thinks print can grow.  I tend to believe him, especially for certain industries and certain sections of those industries.  His words will be in min’s b2b this week.  For now, I’d like to make a related point:

You might hear publishers complaining that they have a hard time getting their sales staff to focus on selling a $500 piece of online inventory when they are used to getting commissions from a $5,000 ad page.  Well, as Eric Shanfelt has suggested, maybe the price of the online ad inventory is artificially low…maybe it should be $5,000?

I think this cuts to the heart of the matter.  The measuring the efficacy of advertising in a meaningful way has evolved significantly, but convincing marketers, advertisers, and agencies of the value of your inventory is still largely a sales-talent and marketing issue.  Right now, online advertising has all the momentum, and maybe rightfully so, but this momentum is not based on a rock-solid foundation of immutable fact.  Neither was the efficacy of print before it.  I hope this idea becomes more clear as you read min’s b2b this week.