It's still a hard sell for soft media.

I help six industries with their annual media plans. This can be a challenge, because the bottom line is key, and quantifying advertising ROI in a largely commodity-based industry isn't always straightforward. I can offer plenty of soft data, but my directors live and die on hard numbers.

The media plans are still centered around traditional media, mostly insertions in trade horizontals and industry verticals. Right now, we don't work through an agency (I'm our agency!) so that the quoted prices in the media guides are always 10% more than we actually pay. Which is good.

I am well-treated by the publications -- they do a great job of developing personal relationships, which is crucial to maintaining their business. One pub will always place us opposite their table of contents, and many are willing to work within our budget, crafting custom deals at a better rate than what's advertised in the media guide.

There is just the slightest tint of anxiety (I wanted to say desperation, but that's much too strong a word) around our interactions lately, though. As electronic media begin to vie for our advertising dollar, the print media are feeling the heat of competition.

A curious note about electronic adverts: I sometimes place banners and skyscrapers on websites and electronic industry directories, and those have been an even harder sell to my internal customers. There's just something about holding a shiny magazine in your hands, a magazine that you know lands on the desks of all your customers, prospects and colleagues, and has been around for 50 years. There's a concreteness about your message and logo in print that makes it seem more valuable than a dynamic electronic ad, even if that e-ad will reach 1,000x the viewers, and be viewed repeatedly over a period of several months.