This morning while waiting for a test, I started reading a Nov/Dec 2008 issue of Douglas Magazine (yes I was in a medical waiting room!) One article was about online classified sites taking a large chunk of business from the local paper. The local paper charges for ads, whereas the free sites (Craigslist, UsedVictoria, Kijiji, etc) were 24/7, easy to post, and free. How did the local paper retaliate? They pointed out the negative aspects of the online sites rather than touting what additional benefit one purchases with their paid advertisements. The article asked users of both services what benefit advertisers gain by paying to sell their items vs using a more global free site!? Some service companies noted they are saving their advertising dollars and posting onto these frees sites, and according to the article, are getting better responses that turn into paying clients.
This has me wondering about advertising bid opportunities - I have a very small select group of clients that still want to advertise bid opportunities in newspapers. However, based on this article, if classified ads in papers are losing readers to online sites, is anyone actually reading the classifieds for bid opportunities? Are you missing groups by not advertising online? I know many public sector opportunities are posted online, but provincial trade policies still dictate advertising in national papers if not using an "approved" website. Is there benefit to advertising in newspapers still? Do we get more 'serious' bidders from a newspaper ad than an online posting?
What do you think?
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