Don't Dismiss Print Just Yet

Yesterday, a former client pointed me to a blog about where PR is headed. It basically suggested that chasing down coverage in mainstream media is an outdated practice and one that will never yield a "viral" result.

I agree. Online coverage increases the chances that the reader will click through to a Website; it bumps the client and their brand up in the search engine findings; it creates buzz. And, lucky for us PR pros, there are plenty of new media sources to pitch, creating more opportunity for our news to be blogged, Tweeted or Dugg.

That said, I don't think we can turn our noses up at print media coverage just yet.

Yesterday, my experience proved that readers of print media are quite capable of taking their new found offline knowledge online without a link.

A Kids Eat Free page on a Website I run for Des Moines-area parents was discussed in a front-section article on family budgeting in the the Des Moines Register. As a result, my site saw a 500 percent increase in traffic as compared to all previous Wednesdays in the month of February.

The article also appeared in the online version of the Des Moines Register, but it did not provide a direct link to DesMoinesFamilies.com — evidence that my new visitors had to either Google the site or punch it into their address bars.

So, while a click-through is definitely aces, print coverage is nothing to scoff at… at least not yet.