Which works, Print or Digital?

Our generation bears witness to the new comer that is vastly different from traditional print media.  Joining fly fishing books and magazines is a brave new world of digitally-published blogs and ezines.  In the past few years, many businesses have retooled their sales and marketing expenditures by reducing print advertising.  In many circles, print is perceived as costly with no ROI while digital has gained favor because of it’s perception as “free.”  In January, 2012, Business Insider reported that CEO Robert McDonald of powerhouse Proctor and Gamble laid off 1600 marketing personnel and staff after finding out that Facebook and Google were either free or relatively free.  There is a tremendous cost savings to the $10 billion annual ad budget, but are customers  turning to social media for information on Old Spice or Tide laundry detergent?  Mark Twain once said “common sense ain’t that common,” and with marketing budget-cuts occurring in such an expedient fashion, I beg the question: has digital replaced print in the fly fishing and sporting sectors?

For more information, continue reading our feature piece on pages 36-41  in the fly fishing trade publication, Angling Trade.  http://www.anglingtrade.com/2012/06/06/angling-trade-june-2012-issue/