The Yellow Pages are on life support.  Newspaper and magazine ad revenue is a fraction of what it used to be.  Nobody opens and reads direct mail anymore.  Advertising itself is a dying art.  All the various forms of "old media" are dead or dying, aren't they?  Yes, they are.

So let us flock to the altar of the "new" media, i.e. online everything.  Google is where it's at.  Social media is where we need to focus.  If it ain't digital, it ain't worth even thinking about!

It's pretty easy to get sucked into this line of thinking, that the web is all there is.  Remember the old adage "use the right tool for the job"?  That applies to marketing, and I think it means "use whatever tools get the job done".

There are few absolutes in business and marketing, so let us not get into the mindset that digital is EVERYTHING and non-digital is NOTHING.  Direct mail still works, if it's used as a follow-up to some other form of initial contact.  It should mostly be used to keep a prospect's attention, not as a way to get their attention.  Radio and TV still work, though certainly not at well as they used to.  Newspapers are rapidly diminishing in effectiveness, and will no doubt some day disappear as a physical medium.  But that has not happened yet.

I'm just saying, don't completely disregard the so-called "old" media.

One specific area that seems to command everyone's attention these days is search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).  It's a very important subject, but remember this: not everyone who wants or needs your product or service is actively looking for it on Google.  SEO is important, but let's not overstate its importance.  You need to analyze who your market is, what they want and need, and whether they're actually aware of that want or need.  If they're not, then they're certainly not searching for it on Google, and you may need to use other means to connect with them.  There may be many people who don't even know that your product or service exists, but would want it if they did.

Summary: you need a thoughtful analysis of your market.  No doubt you'll be best served by a combination of marketing tools, some "new" and some "old".  Have you spent enough time lately thinking about this?