Case Study: Usa Today vs Digital Media Essay Example

USA Today and USAToday. com? Do you believe that USA Today is well positioned for the future? Explain. USA Today’s marketing strategy focused on providing a unique value add to traditional newspapers for their customers. They were on track to success by this strategy. USA Today’s products were different and attractive for the readers with the colorful, easy to read, and small sized stories.

Physically the format was easier to handle and easier to read in crowded and tight places. USA Today further added value by providing 1-900 & 1-800 hotlines for consumer assistance in financial planning, taxes, minority business, and other subjects showing a commitment to customer satisfaction along with its delayed print distribution strategy that gave them a competitive edge against other news papers. Its mobile applications for smart phones kept consumers up-to-date.

This feature poised USA Today for the future, recognizing that the direction of information consumption was headed for mobile. USA Today targeted middle age and middle class citizens. Being their primary news forwarder, it would remain successful in the long run. USA Today was geared for continuous improvement and innovation in media. The adaptation and transformation of news forwarding techniques coupled with rapid evolving of technology is the key to success of any news provider, providing a competitive edge for USA Today.

With constant improvement and competitive addition of high in demand features, USA Today was well positioned for the future with all its brands and products especially with USAtoday. com. 3. What are the SWOT implications for USA Today as it looks toward its future? What strengths and opportunities can USA Today leverage as it looks for a competitive advantage in the

distribution of news and information? SWOT: Strengths: Extensive customer base Customer feedback and interaction via blogs and social networking Adaptation to new technologies

The second most distributed newspaper in the U. S. Distribution in more than 60 countries Variety of products available for different segments Strong position among competitors Established presence of 30 years Weaknesses: Monthly subscription vs free news content Lack of local news Opportunities: Adapting to evolving technology Increasing numbers in worldwide business travelers Large number of local newspaper readers Threats: Internet news sources Increase in printing costs Decrease of hard copy buyers USA Today needs to continue to adapt and innovate to remain successful.

Carefully observing consumer feedback along with market research may enable a marketing team at USA Today to adjust their strategies. Targeting a younger generation through technology may be the answer, one way of turning a threat into an opportunity. Based on USA Today’s experiences with print and online news, evaluate the long-term potential of printed news and the newspaper publishing industry. Do you believe printed newspapers will continue to survive despite digital competition? Research and consumer action shows that demand for printed newspapers is declining.

Despite this decline and the shift towards online news sources, there will always be a demand for printed newspapers – mainly in other countries but also to older generations as well as people who may be trying to cut back on technology exposure. Newspaper has some advantages over online viewing such as being able to easily clip articles, highlighting areas of interest, or even to reuse the newspaper itself for some other purpose such as protective packing material. USA Today and the newspaper industry need to

utilize technology and market to a younger generation with something unique to offer.

One example would be to partner with a company like Facebook, or some other popular social network website, or even any other website that consumers use on a daily basis. Providing constant updated news feeds embedded as an “app” within a website or mobile application would provide many consumers an easy way to access USA Today’s content and to attract new customers. Printed news may continue to struggle, but they will not phase out completely so long as they continue to provide a valuable, unique service. I am confident that USA Today will still be around by the time I’m old and wish to read the paper!