Few will dispute the importance of an organization staying up to date with market development. In fact, no analytical business tool can question the value of monitoring business trends and other relevant information. The internet can be a valuable tool in keeping up to date. Using the internet to get the latest marketing news can broadly be divided into three categories, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.
The most obvious way to get marketing news is to use an online search engine to search for relevant articles and press releases. While using a search engine is free, it can prove to be time-consuming, requiring several ones to find relevant information and can therefore be impractical for an organization to do on a day-to-day basis. Also, web pages that hold the most relevant information may not appear early in search results, either because the search engine deems that the popularity of other less relevant pages means they should appear first, or because the relevant website has not optimized its site for search engines.
As the name implies, media monitoring companies constantly monitor the news for their clients through various forms of media. Traditionally, this has been done by browsing newspapers and journals, listening to the radio, cutting out print articles, and sending them to the client. An organization may therefore prefer to use media monitoring companies to provide them with relevant marketing news.
However, since the turn of the millennium, more media has become available online, and several companies specialize in monitoring media that is digitally delivered. Most of these can provide clients with regular reports about what is being said about their companies and their competitors and industry trends, all, of course, depending on the client’s needs. While this is a good way to get information, media monitoring companies charge for their services and may not be financially feasible for all organizations.
A compromise could be to find a relevant site specializing in marketing news. These can offer relevant press releases and articles as well as industry reports. Some of the information, like press releases and articles, tend to be available at no cost, while industry reports may be available for a fee. The best marketing news website for an organization depends on the organization’s industry and the quality of the information available on the website. Indeed, using a search engine to find the appropriate marketing news site can be time better spent than using it to look for news articles themselves.
So ultimately, the optimal way for an organization to get marketing news depends on an organization’s needs, time constraints, and budget. Nevertheless, ensuring organization is receiving relevant marketing news is imperative to ensure the organization is making informed strategic decisions.
