Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)

Choosing an Effective Mixed Media Marketing Strategy
June 8, 2007

Promoting, advertising, and marketing your products or services are the most basic ways to drum up new business. But it should come as no surprise that the vast proliferation of media we have seen since circa. 2000 has been wreaking havoc with traditional approaches to marketing and promotion. How best can you navigate these increasingly troubled waters—or, better yet, build a bridge over them?

A partial list of the media available to marketers includes, but is not limited to:

• print direct mail
• print catalogs
• print advertising (magazines, newspapers)
• Web sites
• Web advertising (banners and other ads)
• e-mail direct mail/e-letters
• search engine marketing (sponsored links on Google, e.g.)
• broadcast/satellite radio
• broadcast/cable/satellite TV
• billboards/posters/outdoor advertising
• point of sale/point of purchase displays
• word of mouth/so-called “viral” marketing
• computer desktop “wallpaper”
• advertising on mobile phones/other portable devices
• ringtones for mobile phones
• blogs
• podcasting
• social networking sites (like MySpace)
• online video (like YouTube)
• in-game advertising (for videogames)
• and on and on and on…

Part of the marketing problem is that, thanks to inexpensive electronics and display technologies, almost any surface can be a marketing vehicle. Been to a gas station lately? Gas pump displays promote soda, beer, and cigarettes to a captive audience. Wonder why your ATM is so slow to dispense your cash? It’s so you can read your bank’s ads while you’re waiting. And advances in printing technologies can imprint logos and other ad messages on nearly any surface. Been to a sporting event lately? In some parks or stadiums, it seems like if you sit still long enough you’ll end up with a logo printed on you. (Of course, clothing is an ad vehicle, lest we forget.) Companies have even experimented with printing their logos on eggs (but the yolk was on them).
Obviously, not every one of the items above is relevant to every company—but maybe they should be. After all, consumers are awash in advertising and marketing messages, which all intermingles to create a dense wall of background noise. There are so many ads that there may as well be none. How, then, do you stand out from the pack?

The Industry Measure has conducted extensive research into media channels and the ways in which those channels are changing. In a recent survey of ad agencies, for example, we found that:

• 70% of ad agencies currently use print direct mail (not variable) to market and promote their and their clients’ services or products;
• 52% currently use Web advertising (banners, rich media, etc.);
• 45% currently use outdoor/display advertising (signs, posters, fleet graphics); and
• 45% also currently use broadcast radio.

Looking ahead 12 months:

• 50% of ad agencies say that e-mail promotions/e-letters will become more important in the next 12 months;
• 45% say that search engine marketing (like sponsored links in Google) will become more important in the next 12 months; and
• 45% say that variably printed direct mail will become more important in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile:

• 29% of ad agencies say that print catalog mailings will become less important in the next 12 months;
• 18% say that broadcast radio will become less important in the next 12 months; and
• 14% say that print direct mail (not variable) will become less important in the next 12 months.

We note that “less important” shouldn’t be construed as meaning “unimportant.” In today’s media mix, “it’s all good.” At the same time, some advertisers and marketers are jumping onto whatever new medium comes down the pike, fearful perhaps of missing out on the “next big thing.” While new media are important to the overall media mix, older established media are often still the most effective. This is why a judicious combination of media is the best approach.

There are certain guidelines marketers can take to ensure that their media dollars are not spent in vain.
First, identify your target audience and think carefully about the best medium/media to reach them. Different demographic groups (age, gender, income, even geographical location) have different media habits. Print may not be the best way to reach certain groups, while the Internet may not be the best way to reach certain other groups.

Second, combine media. Relying on just a print direct mail campaign may garner some new business, but combining that with a direct e-mail blast, an outdoor advertising campaign, radio spots, or some other combination of media will help build brand awareness.

Third, be sure to keep your advertising message and design elements consistent across media. Use the same logo and logo colors, the same fonts, the same tagline phrasing, the same or similar text, etc., in all your media permutations. This helps with branding and reinforcing your message. At the same time, the adoption of “design-once-reuse-many” strategy helps save costs on design and lets you get more “bang for your buck.”
The Pew Internet & American Life Project conducts regular research on Internet and other related technology trends among the general population, and those results can be used to identify the best ways to reach certain targeted demographics. And of course The Industry Measure conducts regular research on the graphic arts industry and the media changes taking place.

Posted by Richard Romano on June 8, 2007 | Comments (0)