The day media died and the death of newspapers

I’ve been saying it for years. Old media is on the way out. It’s not a bad thing! Call it survival of the fittest, natural selection, or any other evolutionary meme you want. The bottom line is that media/advertising consumption in the form of print, TV, and radio is dying faster than we think. But don’t take it from me….

There’s no reason to fear the transition to digitial media.  For the most part, as a media consuming nation, we’ve already learned to tune out the ads….and to be perfectly honest, when was the last time you actually went and bought a product directly after seeing or reading an advertisement? Hard to recall right? That’s because you’re like most people who use the internet for research…you choose which products and services you want based on judgment…not marketing messages.

In essence, search is ushering in a new era of product research….one that isn’t influenced by advertising or brand marketing.  The user is now able to consult with a limitless network of trust for product reviews, critiques, and experiences.

I was explaining the importance of asking for customer reviews to a potential client the other week.  We were discussing tangible strategies to improve presence in the search engines without investing heavily in SEO, local search optimization, wed development or PPC.  In this particular instance, the prospect ran a local business which cranked out some of the most delicious health food i’ve ever had.  While we were sitting and discussing how to attract new business via the web, customers were talking about how great the food was, thanking the owner, and mentioning how they couldn’t wait to come back. I couldn’t help but ask…”why aren’t you asking some of your best customer to write reviews on google, yelp, and citysearch?”

Needless to say, it was a no brainer for my friend…it was just something which hadn’t come to mind.  The beauty of  local search, and SEO in general, is that a little can go a long way if endorsement is coming from the right places.