Build your own Media
Most advertising works as follows in larger organisations, right?
- Identify requirements re target market, product etc.
- Develop campaign to meet requirements
- Pitch to client
- Plan media
- Buy media
- Run campaign through proposed media
- Measure success
- Celebrate
- Ad agency wins award
Traditionally, Media = television, radio, magazines, newspapers and more recently banner advertising, paid search maybe given budgets in certain sectors SEO (Search engine optimisation) or social media such as Facebook or Youtube.
Everything is generally measurable for the campaign, everything is short term, switch on and switched off and budget driven. Run the campaign, get the exposure, drive sales. Unfortunately its not always that simple. Social media requires ongoing genuine conversations to be of value, natural search rankings require changes to the website which may need to be planned and take time, taking longer to get results than the campaign itself. So we have some ongoing or longer term solutions interacting with shorter term, campaign driven ideas.
So, why not build your own media instead of buying it? As a large organisations with advertising and marketing budgets why invest all of this into shorter term campaigns? You no doubt have a website with vast information on your products, their benefits and features? Why not extend this and build your own media, including information, tools, communities? In the past many news organisations have morphed into this area, they have a newspaper, add a baby site, dating site, car site etc etc. Guess what, more media for you to buy.
Theoretical case study in point
Theoretical case study and I labour the point, theoretical. Any relationship to actual events, individuals or organisations are purely coincidental. I promise. But consider this. I am say a CEO of a large food company with numerous brands. One of my brands makes breakfast cereals and snack bars for the health conscious professional females aged 25-35 years old, single or married with no children. I know she generally does the household shopping, goes to gym and cares how she looks, feels and takes care of herself.
My website is all about product, how great they are, low GI, good to eat after exercise, handy for snacking and so on. My site ranks well for product names and the brand which delivers some but not a lot of monthly traffic, my last campaign increased traffic to the site but with a lesser increase in sales.
My issue is that I am in a highly competitive market, competitors are doing deals with supermarkets for better shelf space. Supermarkets are 80% of my channel. When customers come in, they are often overwhelmed, time poor and will make a decision based on brand recollection and association or convenience and perception. Great!
Firstly I decide to get rid of focus groups, they are small, not representative of anything in many cases and the results are often influenced by the questions asked and the facilitator. People are naturally polite, especially when being paid and also generally relate to the what is known rather than what could be.
I get detailed keyword research done, understanding what the masses want and are looking for. I realise there are few searches in search engines for my products and some are on brand but that bounce rate is high, unles I have promotions, free give-aways or competitions. Fickle bunch…
I start to understand more about search terms my target market are looking for and then what relates directly to my product. I realize young woman trying to be healthy, also look for information about diet, exercise, training programs, day spa’s, beauty treatments, personal care and so on. I realise and recognise they also looking for fashion tips, horoscopes, relationship advice but that at present Im not an expert in these areas and they are not related to what my brand stands for and what I’m selling.
I start to build themes or ideas around needs and wants, design a keyword aligned website, filled with needs, wants and solutions for my target market, integrating my brand. As a result I start to get relevant traffic and also begin exposing my brand and the packaging of my brand to a key target market looking for information, not being interrupted by marketing message. I build community, brand loyalty and most of all recognition for brand and even packaging, making that stop in the supermarket simple. My customers recognize my product, look for it on the shelf and select it. Easy. I wish…
Ultimately, if you can build your own media, expose people to related needs through search and even campaigns and provide an unbiased trusted message, you will build brand and sales. You will own your own media…..
Critical success factors for this strategy
- Commitment (Budget and time)
- Clear strategy
- Search engine optimisation (SEO) in the design
- Social Media strategy
There is a gold rush out there. In many industries the opportunity to build a community in a specific area still exists. Building a popular web site also builds an asset, in that site creating more value. Think about it.
Business online, Internet, Online marketing, Search Marketing
