Online, on target

Web advertising reaches customers searching for you

By: Mike Bruce

For more than 50 years, tire retailers have relied on mass media such as newspapers, Yellow Pages, radio and television to reach customers. And it has worked  — so well, in fact, that it managed to change media-user expectations.

However, despite that behavioral shift, mass media does not allow you to reach only tire buyers. When you see someone browsing the Sunday sports section, it’s possible that he is looking at tire prices, not box scores. But the primary reason most people read the sports page is to read about sports. A lot of eyeballs skip over tire ads.

The only exception was print Yellow Pages, because they do allow you to specifically target those people looking for tires. No wandering eyeballs there. But even that business is a shadow of its former self and very expensive.

It is much easier for consumers to go online to get the information they are seeking.

Less reach

The world of mass-media is changing. It’s reaching fewer people than ever before.
Newspaper circulations are declining at breakneck speed (see www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/business/media/28circ.html). Yellow Pages usage now comes in second to search engines, according to WebProNews (www.webpronews.com).

People carry their own radio stations in their pocket. (“Podcast audience up 22% since last year,” see www.podcastingnews.com).

And television watching is sporadic, fractured and TIVO-ed (abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WireStory?id=6317551&page=1). It’s becoming more and more difficult to reach consumers with mass media.

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