Should I Invest in Local Media to Tell My Company's Story?

Rikki Broussard • March 2, 2018

Every business has a story. Whether it is rich in family tradition or a tale of blood, sweat, and tears, everyone likes to tell their company's story.


Recently, one of our clients, who was celebrating their ten year business anniversary, was approached by a local media outlet with an opportunity to feature their story. The sales rep from the local publication wisely leveraged the ten-year anniversary as a revenue opportunity for the magazine and proceeded to educate the business owner on the importance of putting their story in front of a loyal and engaged audience --their readers. Just as the sales representative built up the excitement level, she delicately mentioned the price tag associated with the story would be $3,000. Let this investment level sit with you for a second, and then ask yourself, "Do I really need traditional media to tell my company's story?".


Should I Invest Dollars in Telling My Company's Story?

Investing dollars in amplifying the story of your company is not a poor decision. It is particularly wise and understandable when centered around a monumental event like a ten-year business anniversary. Telling your company's story and exposing your brand to new people creates far too many positive waves for this to be a debatable topic. Supporting the company story with advertising dollars is also a logical approach.


How and where a company invests its resources in telling their story is the highly-debatable part. Fifteen years ago, this topic was a non-issue because of the limited options in the marketplace. If a local business wanted to tell its story, it was utterly dependent upon local media outlets. Local companies just did not have the means, the tools, or the platforms to magnify the story of their company on their own merit.


The rapid transformation of media consumption habits by the audience over the last decade has created a more competitive advertising environment for the local market. Companies that did not exist in the late nineties, like Google, Facebook, and Bing, are now significant competitors for local advertising dollars. As Terry Heaton mentions in his book, "Local Media in a Postmodern World," these companies are primarily not taking away the viewers, listeners, or readers away from local media. They are taking away something far more critical – advertising dollars.


These new advertising options have also provided local businesses with the most potent weapon of all -- a voice. The sooner local companies understand this fact, the more successful they will be. With the tools and technology in place today, every single business is a media company. As companies break free from the proverbial chains of traditional media and embrace the opportunities awaiting them in newer platforms, the quicker they will understand why investing $3,000 in a local publication to tell their company's story is a careless decision.


What Are the Alternatives to Using Traditional Media to Tell Our Business Story?

Technology provides many valuable and efficient options to tell your company's story today. While the list below is not a complete one, it does provide alternative insight into how to tell your company's story without being dependent upon local media.


  1. Publish Your Story on Your Website - Craft your story in your own words and optimize it around relevant terms searchers would use to find businesses like yours. This content can be created in a blog format or on an "About Us" page on your website. One of the many advantages of creating your story on your site is you earn the search equity for the traffic generated to your site. This equity will provide residual value to your company forever as opposed to a paid print piece.
  2. Use Google AdWords - Consider investing $300-$500 in promoting your story via Google AdWords. At $300, it is ten percent the investment of the local magazine. Plus, Google AdWords is flexible in spending parameters, can be adjusted in real-time, and is measurable.
  3. Facebook - Consider investing 300 dollars for the month in telling your company's story on Facebook. The native ad option places your company's story in the timeline of your current and prospective customers. Since the local magazine rep persisted on the power of their magazine's audience, you can target those who follow the respective publication on Facebook. In other words, reach her engaged and loyal audience for ten percent of the investment. Once again, the cherry on top is all of the Facebook efforts are measurable.


Local business owners must reformulate how they think about local media today because their current and prospective customers have already changed how they consume media. This disruption in the landscape of marketing and advertising has changed how businesses should approach marketing their businesses. In "Reinventing Local Media," Terry Heaton says, “The online world is almost entirely counter-intuitive to traditional media thinking, and nowhere is this reflected more than in the business practices of Google.” Traditional media outlets, like the local magazine example in this blog, still approach local media as a one to many, mass media model which results in plenty of waste in audience delivery and advertising dollars. On the flip side, companies like Google and Facebook, look at local media as a one to one connectivity medium; not a one to many. This horizontal one-to-one model favors quality over quantity which creates an ideal ad platform for effective audience targeting and eliminates wasteful advertising dollars. 


Business owners must ask themselves, "Is spending $3,000 in a local publication the best way to tell my company's story?". Businesses are media companies today, and the sooner business owners start to think of themselves as media outlets, the clearer the answer to this question will become. 


The majority of the team members at BlinkJar have a background in traditional media. We still place ads in traditional media when it makes sense for our clients, so we are not completely against advertising in these platforms. However, we are against wasteful spend when it comes to local advertising options, and with this particular client case, we are confident our client could create a stronger impact at a far lower cost by investing in content creation, Google Adwords, and Facebook advertising.


Making marketing easier is BlinkJar's slogan, so we hope this blog helps at least one local business owner decide how to tell their company's story.


Let us know if you have thoughts on this topic. We'd love to hear from you.

Why Personal Connections Matter More Than Ever in an AI-Driven Marketing World?

By Caroline Thaxton • July 10, 2026
Artificial intelligence is changing the way businesses approach content marketing , social media marketing , and digital communications. AI can generate ideas, streamline workflows, and help marketers create content faster than ever before. At Blinkjar, we embrace AI as a powerful tool, but we also know the most impactful marketing still begins with something technology can't replicate: a genuine human connection. As a Creative Content Specialist at Blinkjar , some of my most valuable work happens away from my desk. Meeting with clients, visiting their businesses, and building real relationships gives me a deeper understanding of who they are and what makes their brands unique. Those face-to-face interactions help me create authentic content that reflects each client's personality , values, and story. Can AI Really Tell Your Brand's Story? Every business has a story worth telling . While AI can help organize information, brainstorm ideas, and improve efficiency, it can't experience a company's culture, observe customer interactions, or hear the passion behind why a business was started. That’s why every interaction matters. Whether we’re on a call, exchanging emails, meeting in person, capturing photos and videos, or simply talking through new ideas, each touchpoint helps us better understand the businesses we support. These conversations allow us to see how a brand operates, hear the stories behind the work, and uncover the details that make it unique. Those real insights often become the foundation for stronger content because they reveal perspectives that AI simply can’t generate. How Do Client Conversations Lead to Better Content Marketing? The more time I spend with the businesses we support, the better I can represent their brand. Photoshoots are one way those connections happen, but many of my strongest content ideas come from everyday conversations, planning calls, emails, meetings, and moments when a client shares something we would not have known otherwise. Those small details often become the difference between content that feels generic and content that feels true to the brand. Whether we're discussing a new project, talking through their day-to-day operations, or simply catching up, those conversations give me the context I need to write content that's accurate, authentic, and true to their voice. Instead of relying on assumptions, I can pull directly from their experiences, expertise, and personality . That's what transforms content from informative to meaningful. How Can AI and Human Creativity Work Together? The future of digital marketing isn't about choosing between AI and people. It's about using both together. AI helps streamline repetitive tasks, organize information, and spark ideas, giving creative professionals more time to focus on strategy, collaboration, and storytelling. At Blinkjar, we use AI to enhance our process, not replace it. Technology helps us work more efficiently, but the relationships we build with our clients remain at the center of everything we create. AI can help us work faster, but it can't replace sitting across the table from a client, hearing their vision, or witnessing firsthand what makes their business special. What Makes Authentic Marketing Stand Out in the Age of AI? As AI becomes more common , authenticity becomes even more valuable. Consumers want to connect with real people, real businesses, and real stories. Because anyone and everyone can now create content at the click of a button, trust is the new signal that shines through in this noisy world. In a recent episode of the Zero Click Marketing podcast , guest Kevin Indig stated that trust is the most important ingredient in this new AI world. Because content is easier and faster to create than ever before, we are no longer just competing with other creators. We are competing with a flood of synthetic content. In this environment, trust is the ultimate differentiator, and you simply cannot build trust without authenticity. Indig goes on to say that trust is the only factor more powerful than traditional search rankings. When people search for information today and get a short list of brands in an LLM response, a Google results page, or an AI Overview, they will always select the brand they trust the most. In essence, trust acts as a conversion booster in this new digital landscape. That's why personal interactions, thoughtful conversations, and hands-on collaboration continue to shape the content we create every day. Technology will continue to evolve, but meaningful relationships will always be the foundation of successful marketing. The best content doesn't just attract attention. It builds trust, creates lasting connections, and helps brands tell stories people remember. At Blinkjar Media , we believe the best marketing happens when innovative technology meets authentic human connection. AI may help us create content more efficiently, but it's the relationships we build with our clients that allow us to tell their stories in a way that feels genuine, memorable, and uniquely theirs. That human connection is the foundation of every successful marketing effort, regardless of the era or the technology shaping it.
your brand is your seo

YBYS: Is “Your Brand = Your SEO” Becoming the Next Evolution of Search?

By Rikki Broussard • June 9, 2026
There is a growing misconception online that AI is replacing SEO. That is not really what is happening. AI still relies heavily on websites and traditional SEO fundamentals. What is changing is how authority is measured. Technical SEO, content structure, local optimization, and keyword relevance still matter deeply.
Keyword Planner Tool in Google Ads

Should You Use Google Ads Auto-Apply Recommendations?

By Ashton Mouton • May 18, 2026
Should you use Google Ads Auto-Apply Recommendations? Learn how automated campaign changes can impact targeting, keywords, lead quality, and overall Google Ads performance over time.