The lines between traditional and digital marketing continue to blur.

This time the announcement of another newspaper making the transition from print to digital hits closer to home. The Oregonian will be cutting back on print distribution — making the smart (in my opinion) move to focus more on digital publishing.

As a firm that holds both “traditional” PR expertise and deep digital knowledge, we’ll continue to position our clients to leverage today’s media consumer. While some agencies will finally “take the plunge” into digital and scramble to catch up, we’ll keep honing our skills, deepening our relationships and delivering continuous results for our clients.

Of course, the writing has been on the walls for quite some time now. As Amy mentioned in a previous post, The Oregonian has already slowly been moving toward digital. Rob Smith, editor of the Portland Business Journal, also shared his publication’s digital evolution at last year’s PRSA Spotlight Awards. Smith stated the necessity for news mediums to report more rapidly online, essentially eliminating the wait time for print editions to break stories.

Many good reporters lost their jobs as a result of this decision. That is the part of the equation that doesn’t make sense as quality of content should be even more important now. We have to assume this means the media will increasingly rely on user generated content and “third party” sources for story development.

So, what does this mean for Rosenberg Marketing and our clients? We’ll continue to pitch websites and blogs — asking for the inclusion of the appropriate links in communications with reporters, producers and bloggers. Social media use will grow as a tool to engage, educate and communicate with our target audiences (clients, consumers and journalists alike). Paid amplification will be part of more campaigns to stand out from the crowd.

One of our firm’s greatest assets is our ability to understand what journalists need and how to make their jobs easier. Their job requirements have changed significantly and will continue to advance. That means we’ll have to work hard to stay ahead of the curve and serve as a valuable resource on their behalf.

This reinforces the need to always evolve as an agency; to strive to pull ahead as a leader; to never except the status quo; and to refuse to rely solely on past successes. Some will react that it’s about time for The Oregonian to make this move, while others will miss their daily newspaper routine. To quote a current pop song we say, “Welcome to the new age.”

Mike Rosenberg

CEO at Veracity

Mike Rosenberg is CEO at Veracity. He brings experience and passion from two distinct, yet similar, career paths in sports business marketing and online marketing. Mike shares his marketing expertise as an Advisory Board Member and Past President of SEMpdx, a professional business organization for the digital marketing industry.