Search will drive sales, but content can build branding

I have often felt that so-called "traditional" magazine publishers are being mistaken in chasing after online dollars by trying to compete with search advertising. This doesn't play to magazines' strengths. I found some reinforcement for this view in a posting about a speech made by David Churbuck, Vice President, Global Web Marketing, at Lenovo (what we used to call IBM). He said that search is their largest ad spend, but content publishers (which is what magazines are)probably shouldn't make the mistake of trying to compete with search directly.

His advice was for content publishers not try to compete with search but to develop their offerings in a different direction. He uses content based media, both online and print, to brand his company while using search to drive sales. He is more interested in doing business with content publishers who offer him media to help his branding efforts than just lead generating.