This was a reply to my recent thread about the value of social media vs print media. THis was such a great response that I wanted to share with everyone else here. From forum user Surge Calls: It is crucial for businesses of any size to utilize digital marketing and especially so for a small business or start up. Print media readership has been declining at a rapid rate over the years: -readership of print newspapers has fallen by a staggering 25% in just the last four years(2010-2014) -magazine readership fell by 19% in the same four-year period(2010-2014) -ZenithOptimedia says that it expects consumption of print newspapers will continue to drop by almost 5% per year over the next several years, and magazines almost as much. -The amount of time spent reading newspapers across the world averaged 16.3 minutes per reader a day last year, down 25.6% from the 21.9 minutes daily average in 2010. -By 2017 the global average will be just 14.1 minutes a day, a 35% fall from 2010 levels, according to a new report by on media consumption by ZenithOptimedia. Source: http://fortune.com/2015/06/01/print-readership-paywalls/ http://www.theguardian.com/media/20...-readership-zenithoptimedia-media-consumption http://yellowhammernews.com/blog/th...ed-us-newspaper-ad-sales-falling-off-a-cliff/ Also, print media is not scalable for businesses as there is no concise way to measure conversion rates, leads generated or the exact of exposure for that matter. You need performance based marketing to increase you ROI and know the exact amount of conversions and how to scale your business and marketing efforts.