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During the past two years, I've watched from the front row as the Florida newspaper industry as continued to consolidate as I've worked with business reporters covering the Florida homeowners insurance crisis.

During this time frame, I've built great relationships with 8 business reporters who have all since lost their jobs or seen their status reduced from full to part time. It's been a real eye opener for me.

Both in Florida and nationwide, newspaper companies continue to struggle with debt, Chapter 11 filings, layoffs, and mergers. This multi-year downward trend has been blamed on everything from debt levels to liberal bias in the print media. As I've operated my own consumer organization and managed my own real estate portfolio I've had some surprising experiences with the newspaper print media.

In the fall of 2008, I lost a tenant that had been leasing a home that I own in Port St. Lucie Florida. In prior years I had taken out newspaper ads that ran about $150 for a two week period that had some limited success attracting prospective tenants. This time I didn't bother. Instead I purchased ads on multiple on-line websites that ran for about one month for about the same price as newspaper advertising. Those ads didn't work either. My tenant ultimately came from a free ad I placed on Craigslist. There is no doubt that newspapers have lost a massive amount of classified advertising to on-line websites - and to Craigslist in particular.

My consumer website for Florida home insurance is another case study that outlines both the circulation and readership declines that Florida newspapers have experienced. As my site was launched I was very pleased with the newspaper coverage I obtained and the relationship I built with the business reporters at each newspaper. But I have to admit there were times where even landing a full page story on the front of the business section of certain newspapers led to disappointing results in terms of traffic to the website.

While the stories were very well done by the reporters, my take was that in certain cases, the circulation numbers of these Florida newspapers was far below the published numbers. And the number of subscribers who actually read these newspapers was even lower. After these disappointing results I could only think of two things - first a sense of gratitude that I hadn't purchased a full page ad in this newspaper, and second a much more important question: What do I have to do to reach my customer base?

Each of the examples above highlight three major problems faced by Florida newspapers - competition from on-line advertising, dwindling circulation, and even lower readership. And these areas don't even begin to address the quality of the content in the newspapers.

As these Florida newspapers continue to consolidate, one of the things that I've noticed is less coverage of the Florida home insurance crisis. Many of the eight business reporters I'd worked with previously had spent years learning the ropes and were experts on the subject. Some of the newer reporters now covering this area were being asked to do this on a fill-in basis and it takes a lot of time to learn a complicated topic like Florida home insurance. Even when the new business reporters are fully ramped up, there are now fewer newspaper pages available to cover this topic. That will give public officials sort of a free pass because there won't be as much scrutiny of the policy decisions they are considering. The on-line news media still standing won't give state public officials the same scrutiny that these newspaper business reporters did.

Which leads me to the final question: "How do businesses reach their customers in a world where Florida newspaper circulation and readership continues to decline?" Newspapers have plenty of company as far as media companies are concerned. Unless you have a budget capable of reaching a national television and radio audience, getting the message out to your customer base is becoming increasingly difficult. Even local radio and television stations face challenging times. Part of that challenge comes back to a basic fact - our lives have become so busy that the only thing many consumers see during the course of an entire day is the home page on their web browser.

This ongoing trend of consolidating newspapers in Florida and the challenges faced by other media forms means only one thing to small and medium sized organizations. A new strategy for getting the message to your customer base that includes multiple delivery channels is essential for your success. Traditional media outlets just won't get the job done in today's rapidly changing business environment.

About the Author:

Michael Letcher is a corporate executive and a licensed CPA. His on-line buyers guide can help you find affordable options to State Farm Insurance Florida. Get his free newsletter at => http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org