Most Western countries are spending between 1.5 and 4 percent of revenues on marketing, much of it on circulation and an increasing amount on brand marketing. Newspapers in Australia tend to be in the higher end of this range. A little bit of effort and money is showing a little bit of result. We must slowly migrate non-salary marketing expenditures upward to reflect the challenges of the marketplace. According to a Newspaper Association of America study, only 49 percent of Sunday readers recall seeing newspaper promotions.
Similar studies abound.
First of all, the cultural acceptance of multi-media delivery of news and information by industry publishers has pushed marketers into somewhat of a corner. In no scenario does branding replace selling. Second, chief executives are squeamish about something they do not fully understand nor instinctively trust. In actuality, I believe CEOs understand the basics of branding. Branding does not replace selling it makes selling more productive.