2009 projections take us closer to digital, FINALLY

MarketingProfs has released the results of a study of 600+ of its members in which they asked a series of questions about spending for 2009. No surprise that the economy has stymied spending even in 4th quarter and into 2009.
I’m extremely pleased to see that their prediction is that the economic situation will expedite the shift from traditional media to digital media. It’s certainly an element that will be a much larger part of our 2009 plans. The primary argument of which we need to convince our clients is that digital marketing delivers the same thing television, radio or outdoor can – eyeballs. The difference is the qualification of those eyeballs. We can narrow TV to a demographic group and even index programs against certain behavioral tendencies. There is, however, no way to place a spot within a program that will ONLY hit people who are, for example, interested in switching banking services. Online marketing, however, allows us to reach only people who are searching for a new banking partner. So, it still delivers eyeballs, but only the eyeballs who are specifically looking for our product.
So, I ask myself (and by virtue of the blog’s interactive nature, you)….why does it take an economic downturn to convince our clients that this marketing strategy is more advanced in targeting than traditional media?