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SUMMARY:Chamber's Business Outlook Summit Features MP&F Partner as Speaker
DESCRIPTION:FRANKLIN\, Tenn. – MP&F’s David Fox was a featured speaker at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Business Outlook Summit\, held Wednesday\, Jan. 27\, at the Cool Springs Marriott. The event drew 350 attendees and business leaders from various sectors in Middle Tennessee\, sharing their forecasts for 2010. \nFox\, a former Nashville Banner reporter who recently celebrated his 20th anniversary at MP&F\, was one of three panelists in the “Industry Issues and Outlook” breakout session. He discussed communications in the digital age\, including social media\, next-wave technology and the current state of the media. For the full text of Fox’s remarks\, click here [#remarks].\nTo view The Tennessean&#39\;s story on the summit\, click here [http\://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101280327].\nRemarks by David Fox to the 2010 Business Outlook SummitJanuary 27\, 2010\nThank you. In looking ahead to 2010\, I think communications companies – PR\, advertising\, marketing companies – are cautiously optimistic that things are going to improve\, with an emphasis on cautious. We’re not out of the woods yet\, but there is some optimism that things will begin picking up steam again before the year is out. \nThis has been a tough stretch. Marketing spending nationally has fallen for nine straight quarters\, according to the Bellwether report\; however\, the rate of decline has eased. For example\, spending on the broad marketing category that includes PR was down 4 percent in the fourth quarter\, but it had been down 24 percent in the third quarter of 2009. And budgets have been set higher for 2010.\nThere was a national survey done of PR professionals in December which showed that 64 percent believe they will see increased revenues in 2010 over last year. Among advertising agencies\, 68 percent of respondents predicted a recovery for their industry this year.\nSo we’re optimistic\, and preparing for a year of dramatic change. And the companies who adapt to those changes are going to have a better chance of success than those who don’t.\nMedia\nThe traditional media business model has completely changed. Mass media is on the wane. Every media outlet is focused on understanding its niche audience demographic – the audience its advertisers want to reach – and tailoring its content to the interests of that audience. \nPrint media is basically targeting baby boomers. As boomers go\, so go traditional media. When my generation stops reading the paper\, there probably won’t be any more paper to read. It’ll be online. We’ll be reading the news on our Kindles. Apple is scheduled to launch its new tablet product today (they did – the iPad)\, and if that heats up the way the iPod did – and by that I mean if Boomers adapt to this method of receiving content – it will speed up the shift from paper to digital. And there’s a line of thinking that this will happen. ComScore reports that 45-54 year olds are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter\, making it the highest indexing age group. The new phrase is “Bring-it-on Boomers.” \nNo doubt\, 2009 was a bad year for most newspapers\, mainly because of the down economy\, fewer advertisers and a shrinking news hole. The good news for Nashville is that our daily newspaper\, The Tennessean\, has stabilized financially\, thanks to significant cost reductions and development of a host of new products and revenue streams. Plus their readership is up – both in print and online – so The Tennessean is on solid ground. \nThe Nashville Business Journal is also doing well\, reinforcing the trend toward targeted publications. And the other major print outlet in town – the merged City Paper\, Nashville Post\, Scene under the Southcomm banner –has dedicated financial backing willing to help in the search of a business model that works. Their latest move is the closing of Business Tennessee magazine\, and reintroduction of NashvillePost Magazine. \nThe digital play\nThe biggest challenge in 2010 for any traditional media outlet – and any communications company\, including ours – is figuring out the digital play. From a media standpoint\, the hottest question of the moment is whether to charge for content online\, which the biggest papers with the most unique content are moving toward. \nHere’s what Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. (WSJ\, Fox News) said\, “Quality journalism is not cheap and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting. We can be platform-neutral but never free.”  So the Wall Street Journal is unveiling its online “Professional Edition\,” which will cost $50/month. The New York Times announced last week plans to charge for on-line content in 2011. The Journal is so serious about this that they are considering blocking their content from Google. The Associated Press\, which you might say is the predecessor of content aggregators\, is in a war of words with Google right now\, and it could be that AP stories will be blocked from Google in the future. Their contract’s up at the end of January. \nNot every publication can charge for its entire content\, but every publication is going to be looking to identify unique content that it can charge for online. Would you pay to read more in-depth online coverage of Vandy basketball? You might have that opportunity in 2010. \nSocial media\nSocial media will become more and more mainstream in 2010. Consumer generated community platforms have become critical communications networks for of the online population. Your customers are on social media sites every day – should you be there too?\nStrong Mail is a company that analyzes marketing spending\, and their research shows that in 2010\, of the companies that are planning to increase their marketing spending\, 69 percent will increase e-mail marketing\; 42 percent will increase search marketing or SEO – search engine optimization\, and 59 percent will increase their spending on social media. We are seeing a migration of marketing dollars from traditional to digital media. \nAnother interesting prediction is that the biggest jump in online advertising will be in digital video. The typical U.S. web viewer watches 200 minutes of video per month.  Flip cameras allow an easy video application\, which can be posted on dedicated YouTube channels.  In our work with clients\, every plan has a video component. Multimedia will be a must-have. Companies with text only digital presence will struggle.\nFacebook is off the charts. 300 million people have Facebook accounts. Twitter is another tool that is becoming increasingly mainstream. The New York Times reporter who originally scoffed at Twitter as trivial now compares it to plumbing. It’s becoming that fundamental to online communication. In fact\, Google and Bing have added the ability to pull down live Twitter feeds into their search results as they are happening.\nSmart Phones\nAnd that’s using the current technology platforms. Probably the biggest news coming down the pike in 2010 is 4G technology. Briefly\, 3G allows the bandwidth capacity that took us from dial-up to cable modems. In 2010\, 4G technology will begin being deployed\, which will mean that handheld devices – smart phones – will suddenly have the ability to pull up content just as fast as your PC. Handhelds are already the hottest device out there. 40 percent of iPhone users already browse the web more from their phone than from their PC. And that’s going to accelerate dramatically in 2010. So content will have to be formatted to fit your phone.\nTakeaways\nThe bottom line online for companies in Nashville in 2010 is that Web sites will continue to be the primary communications vehicle online\, but companies will need to incorporate blogs and other products that are more easily downloaded on handheld devices. Everything will point back to the Web site\, but business will have to occupy all channels in some form or another. \nIn a broader sense\, companies must view their digital strategy as fundamental to their overall marketing strategy. It’s not enough to develop a plan and then tack on a Facebook page and Twitter feed. It all needs to be integrated. \n
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