The demise of print? Should I find another career?

The demise of print?
Answered by Suzanne Morgan

Question:
With all the new marketing opportunities available via the Internet and other media, should I be worried that print media will be decreasing substantially? As a print buyer, will my job be at risk within the next few years?

Answer:
In my opinion, there has been an incredible amount of hype and poor predictions about the "death of print." Though this started years ago, it seems to be enjoying a brief resurgence of late. Despite the doomsayers' predictions that print media would drastically decrease by now, print is alive and well.

I continually see the evidence that print is still a healthy commodity when I talk to marketers. Recently I conducted a focus group with print buyers and marketers that purchase large volumes of print. When asked if their companies were planning to produce more, less, or the same amount of print in the upcoming years, the buyers unanimously agreed that print will increase. There are a number of reasons why. Companies that have relied on telemarketing to generate revenue, for example, are moving those marketing dollars into print because so many people have caller-ID and consider phone solicitations intrusive. Also, we are not seeing Internet or Web marketing take away from print dollars. Although many buyers and marketers agree that Internet marketing is increasing, their businesses are relying heavily on print to create the "pull" to the net.

Of course you can find certain situations or specific uses where print is decreasing, but that is the exception, not the rule.

And by the way, from what I've observed, when people make extreme predictions, they almost always turn out to be wrong.
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