Blend

Combine all four media, ensuring each reinforces the others

Spend

Use paid media to fortify the message of the other three

Send

Propel brand awareness higher through media synergies

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Fitting Together All Pieces of the Media Jigsaw Puzzle Can Yield Beautiful Results

Last month, we defined each of four media – earned, owned, shared and paid – and noted melding them reaps a total greater than the sum of the parts. This month, we pinpoint each media’s greatest strengths, explaining how they can reinforce one another when used together. Smartly mixing channels can bolster your brand’s impact and boost the cost-effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Read on for more details.

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708-246-4211

WHEN MIXING MEDIA, CONSIDER WHAT EACH BRINGS TO THE TABLE

The best solution is to combine all four media. Let’s examine the strong points of each and how they work in harmony. Messages in earned media are viewed by prospective customers as most convincing, because they typically derive from PR efforts that result in editorial content, or 3rd party endorsements in established media sites. Next, add owned media like branded websites and apps to forge long-term rapport with customers. Bring in shared media, such as Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and other social sites, to enable your brands and customers to share ideas. You can also monitor their reaction to your content. To heighten awareness and intensify belief in your messages from the first 3 media elements, draw on paid media to increase reach and frequency.

We define the strong points of each media channel before explaining why all four media types must be integrated in marketers’ campaigns.

Embracing a unified approach with all four media not only drives effectiveness, but spurs creativity, breeds authenticity, cuts through clutter and nourishes influencer relationships.

Read Converged Media: Using Multiple Channels to Deliver a Consistent Message, from the Digital Marketing Resource Center.

Today’s customers are less and less likely to distinguish between media types as buying influences. So why do many marketers still focus on one at the expense of others?

Email or call us at 708-246-4211 to learn how to leverage a unified media strategy to effectively reach customers during their circuitous buying journeys.

USING ALL MEDIA CHANNELS DRAMATICALY INCREASES ROI

Each media channel has its virtue. But using them separately, or even in pairs, delivers a fraction of the benefit of mixing all four. Just as with the players on a team, each plays an equally important role in producing a winning campaign.

We have argued using media types collectively rather than individually can send your marketing ROI into hyperdrive. Here are three added points to buttress this position.

• Work in concert. Like a symphony orchestra’s many instruments, the blended media channels must perform in concert to reach prospects in the way they want to be reached, no matter the medium, device and whether online or offline.
  
  
• Aim for cross fertilization. When media are integrated, one exposure seeds another. After viewing a paid ad, a prospect may read an online review, visit the brand website to read content and check out Facebook comments before purchasing.
  
  
• Prioritize customer journey. The journeys customers take from awareness to purchase have always been dynamic and non-linear, as well as cross channel. Digital marketing’s arrival and social media’s advent have only made them more so.