Forms of Digital Media and Traditional Media - Essay Example

Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date: Essay topic: Demonstrate, Compare and contrast two forms of digital media with two forms of traditional media within the context of a topic encountered in Module 2 in study guide to explain how digital interactive media are changing advertising practice. Critically analyze and discuss this essay. Introduction Marketing and advertising are kinds of communication opted by an organization to ensure that their messages are sent through a medium that has the highest impact of reach effectiveness thus guaranteeing higher sales. This is because advertisers have realized that the highest impact is achieved through direct marketing. Thus most people choose the media that has been adopted mostly by the population and in this case traditional media like radio and Newspapers have no place since people have drifted to the digital way and are now embracing smart phones and the internet.(Lane,2005) The digital radio phenomenon is said to have started in 1982.But its internet transformation began in 1993 with the introduction of the World Wide Web. What is common in the two transformations is the word new media which has characterized major advancements in digital transformations. The radio industry in an attempt to reinvent its dwindling advertising revenues by branding radio as a single delivery option in the communication market. Such strategies are a departure from what many radio advertising analysts had thought earlier in the market to make radio advertising a one stop shop through increase of broadcast channels and the quality of sound reception through use of high quality CDs. Since the Radio commercial side that deals with advertising has had several hiccups in their attempt to move to digital advertsing.The internet and the smart phone remain the only option in this techno savvy world. In contrast other media channels have ebbed this change and are slowly moving to the digital format. Since radio and Newspapers have been traditionally committed to policies that would maintain the status quo while pushing out competition from other alternative media like the internet, their slow adoption to the changing world has seen their concerted efforts to manage the transition to digital communication pushed to the periphery by the smart phone and the internet which make the use of file sharing, social media, podcasting, audio streaming and web casting. A time has reached where due to the prevalence of mobile devices people have to be contacted whenever and wherever they are. Particularly mobile phones that are GPRS enabled. This hi-tech evolution enables advertisers to let their consumers reach their products depending on their location. This is the digital technology that has made advertising revenues reach a record high on e marketing rather than the traditional media. That is why the smart phone is of significance to this review for people will prefer it compared to bulky Newspapers and radio. Abstract The advances in media technology have had drastic changes in the way consumers perceive messages from being passive and inactive consumers of every advert to active recipients where they have a say on what is relayed to them or even come up with new information at their own convenience through the internet and Smart phones. Digital interactive media provide advertisers with new and exciting opportunities for communicating with their target audiences. However, new opportunities also present challenges. Digital media here include the smart phone and the internet while traditional media include the newspaper and radio. The UK for instance is blessed with five main stream Newspapers owned diversely and present quality of highest content in terms of news and adverts as well as three established sources of TV news in addition to various salient sources of news. Scope This review takes the Integrated Marketing Communication approach in its discussion of the key concepts of two digital forms of advertising i.e. Internet and smart phone verses two traditional means of advertising i.e. the Radio and Newspaper. Integrated Marketing Communication is the procedure of deliberately managing audience focused, result driven and channel focused communication programs over a specified period of time. An integral ingredient of the IMC approach as concerns the internet and smart phones is the focus it gives to the multiple audience who converge from across the globe and not just a nation as is with the traditional means of communication discussed in this paper the radio and Newspaper. Recent trends in the techno savvy world highlight a fear that most people who refused to accept it have had to come to terms with and live with it; the end of public media. This is because most content is drifting from being realistic and authentic to paying for desired content. Authoritative reporting has been thrown into the dustbin ever since many people particularly politicians started using it as a tool to advertise their selfish interests. With the inception of the internet and smart phones conventional measures of media effectiveness such as reach, viewership and frequency are redundant and new ways need to be invented to measure media effectiveness. Contrary to traditional media i.e. radio and Newspapers ways of measuring effectiveness through evaluating effects of messages transmitted the Integrated Marketing Communication approach (IMC) which basically embraces digital technology measures behavioral responses. This is because this methodology is concerned with accountability. The transformation of digital media in the 90s went ahead without radio and Newspapers since they were busy consolidating their place in the market. These audio appliances and computer innovations were rapid in this time frame and they include web browsers, the MPEG-3 Codec, Apples quick time amongst others.(Digital radio plus,2010) Strengths of the Internet and Smart Phones vs. the Radio and Newspapers In the modern trend the incoming of digital technology has had a tremendous impact on the traditional radio and Newspaper media through the recent phenomenon of participatory media. This has resulted in news being accessed worldwide at the touch of a button. As a result there have been enormous impacts in advertising trends where marketers as well as advertisers are now going where the masses are. The developments in digital media have raised the bar of advertising compared to the traditional way of doing things so that the audiences are no longer just spectators but participators as well. For they create their own media through text, videos, music and pictures. The audiences in this techno changing world have full control of what they want to receive and create. For this reason the internet and smart phones provide an avenue for the audience to fill this gap that has been wide open for so many years where the radio and Newspapers abdicated themselves the role of message creators while the audience were reduced to mere receivers of the messages. The new digital methodology not only gives the audience the teeth to bite but makes them creators of the messages therefore enriching the communication encounter so that advertisers can get feedback on how best they can do their adverts. The aftermath of user generated content has resulted in even more sophisticated digital innovations which include community and personal blogs,wikis,podcasts and various trade publications on Google, You tube and yahoo that have attracted millions of people globally shifting advertising trends from the traditional radio and Newspaper to the more sophisticated digital mechanisms of the internet and Smart phones. This paper concedes that the web cast of radio transmission provides an alternative channel to radio listeners. The public demand for webcasts has deteriorated and their place has been refilled with the demand for personal play back devices, music file sharing, and podcasts. Provision of bloggs alongside listenership forms an integral part of internet streaming of programs and this enables all and sundry to follow up on radio talk shows albeit with a lot of concentration thus increasing the listernership and thus the advertisements for advertisers only go where there are masses to advertise their products. Although ownership of newspapers is diverse some outlets enjoy more market power than others thus making advertising through Newspapers not that effective as compared to recent digital improvements in digital communication. As a result advertising income which was used to pay for production of programs in Radio is now being diverted to internet companies like Google and yahoo for they have curved a niche for themselves in online marketing techniques. The reason why many people are shifting from print and radio advertising to internet advertising is because internet advertising is timely and authoritative unlike radio and newspaper adverts which come in as stale news. On the other hand Newspapers have the tendency to jealously guard their independence from government regulation so that they have information that is less comprehensive. More over internet access is higher than Newspaper and Radio given the sudden trends in home acquisitions of the internet. This has led in falling of Newspaper revenues accrued from advertising. Since most News is now found on the internet at the clique of a button major Newspapers in the world have indicated that they are experiencing fall in circulation resulting in less enthusiasm from advertisers who would rather go with the wind of change since most people are now going the digital way to advertise on the smart phone and the internet. These falling circulations have called for desperate measures. Today the trend shows that the readership of online Newspapers has increased dramatically as compared to that of hard Newspapers which has fallen drastically. The declines in advertising radio and Television revenues have in a way compromised the capacity of public funded broadcasters to execute their mandate. In addition digital advertising has reduced the fee paid for advertising drastically leading to many people going for the internet and smart phones rather than pay exorbitantly in Newspapers and radio. The internet and Smart phones enables marketers and advertisers to audit their consumers’ preferences and decide on the best way to meet their needs. This also includes how best they want to communicate to the company as well as how they want the company to communicate to them. This is because a comprehension of how well to reach the target consumers results in the total conveyance of the message unlike in a situation where adverts are done without preplanning. How new media channels are impacting on media buying practices and advertising budget allocations The foundational principles of marketing are message creation and ultimate dissemination. With the influx of new media channels read the internet and smart phones there is need to plan on your communication technique before you decide on how and when to advertise. In the essence the new media channels ensures that reach effectiveness is 100% since everyone is now techno savvy and the old ways of doing things is becoming redundant with time. New media channels have resulted to media planning; a practice that involves choosing media channel, space and time in order to transmit messages that involve marketing and advertising to a targeted audience. Budget allocations are increasingly being lowered since Google and yahoo have joined the band wagon of advertising and are the largest advertising media so far with the highest reach effectiveness now that almost everyone in the world today is techno savvy with smart phones that have the internet thus getting online at the touch of a button. Media channels are now rebranding to change with the changing world since they have realized that people are way ahead of them and if they don’t change they would be declared redundant like the traditional radio and Newspapers who bring their news way behind schedule to find people have already read breaking news on their smart phones. People have now moved from concentrating on advertising through the traditional media to using the new media. Spending on new media is rising day by day as compared to traditional media read the newspaper and radio whose fortunes are dwindling day in day out. Mobile advertising which involves smart phones is liked by the advertising companies because it has direct reach effectiveness as compared to other traditional modes of advertising particularly radio and Newspapers. This is because the short messaging service enables consumers to forward such messages to their friends and within no time a whole population would be exploding with the news because of the viral effect of this mode of advertising. Weaknesses of the Internet and Smart Phones vs. the Radio and Newspapers While the internet and Smart phones have illustrated a lot of promise and as a result are steadfast in the provision of real time content due to response, interactivity and reaction amongst the targeted audience in the global market of users marketers and advertisers will have to contend with unresolved issues related to content creation in the internet and smart phones. Issues related to suitability, copyright, propriety, piracy, decency, consistency of consumer created content, strategic considerations and brand vision are concerns that Integrated Marketing Communication Administrators should resolve before they get out of control. This is because the IMC planning methodology usually takes at heart the needs of the audience before they decide on which channel should be used to transmit information. The main challenge in the new media advertising comes where the consumers may not like the gadget being used mainly because of its side effects this means that its manufacturers will have to ensure the gadget is safe and sound for use before it goes out of their manufacturing plants. After that they have to sell the idea to consumers. But if the gadget is already liked by consumers then there is no doubt about it since digital advertising is the way to go you can be sure to see great sales and great advertising revenues. Drawn Lessons In the 90s digital media asserted its place in the communication industry by ensuring the masses were moving in its direction. While this was happening the Radio and Newspaper industries focused on protecting their spectrum allocations and the investments of broadcasters while creating opportunities for operators within their system. While this was happening in the USA the congress ordered the internet and other computer channels to benefit every citizen with minimum government regulations. This is what is termed as the turning point in digital revolution for it saw a big gap being left between the traditional media and the digital media since people who were techno savvy started moving digital rather than embracing a traditional means that had refused to embrace change that was coming first and fast in the mind of everyone. It’s at this point in time that the commercial radio was marked by the sale, acquisition and merger of various privately owned firms to become one conglomerate in an effort to assert themselves. It’s while they were wasting time consolidating their efforts that the public got impatient, embraced and adapted to other alternative media offered by the digital world. As much as by 1991 many media outlets had not anticipated the social media to be revolutionized by digital technologies but it was clear that this technology had already had positive impacts to various networking of programs in a number of counties. Solutions to curb the trend Radio and broadcasters should start experimenting with and integrating new forms of digital content and ways of distribution into their communication paths. Radio outlets should take advantage of the emergence of the World Wide Web to distribute their content to a techno savvy population which is thirsty for first and fast information. For instance the killing of Osama bib laden was treated by people who saw it in the Newspapers as stale news since Google and yahoo had already broken the breaking news to the world. Radio and Newspapers need to transform themselves to digital forms to meet the challenges of the twenty first century or else they will always be treated as museum artifacts if they ignore this trend and insist on stone age modes of communication. In addition to these changes in the way music is consumed world wide requires the definition of its marketing techniques. As much as recording industries have been monetizing the music industry music fans in this generation have the tendency of consuming it like water from a tap through jumping the hurdles of regulation set up by the industry policy makers. It’s because of this concern that musicians who want to have a colorful career have sought the online marketing technique to break the jinx. (Kitchen, pp72, 2005) References Digital Radio Plus 2010, Digital radio industry report, retrieved 27 May 2011at ripeat.org/wp content/uploads/2010/03/Huntsberger.pdf Kitchen, PJ 2005, ‘New paradigm – IMC – under fire’, Competitiveness Review: CR, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 72–80, retrieved 22 July 2010, Emerald management xtra database. As found at: www.warc.com/JAREditions/...Full/.../searchtext.xml - United Kingdom on 27th May 2011 Lane, WR, King, KW & Russell, JT 2005, Advertising procedure, 16th edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.As found at; handbook.ecu.edu.au/unit_outline.asp?UCID=5641&V=3.02 on 28th May 2011 Read More