Media Spectrum

I’ve been working in the media department of a marketing firm since I first graduated from college in 19$$ (did you really think I was going to give away my age). Over the years I’ve seen quite a lot of changes in media… some good, some bad (some I could even categorize as “what were they thinking?”) But basically, media can be divided into two categories… traditional and non-traditional.

Traditional media includes television, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor advertising. Non-traditional media (also known as new media) includes Web/Internet, out of home, e-mail, promotions and guerilla advertising.

Television really hasn’t changed much in its lifetime, except to say that over time individual show audiences for the main networks have dropped. The basic cause for this has been the proliferation of cable channels. Even though any one cable show’s ratings really don’t even come close to a network TV program’s ratings, multiply it by the number of cable channels available, and you have your answer. In addition, the amount of time people are spending on computers at home in the evenings isn’t helping either. In fact, the largest network audience drop is in the teen and young adult categories… the people with the highest index of primetime computer usage. Once the home of glorious 25 to 35 household ratings when I started in this business, networks now get excited by anything over a 7, get downright giddy should one of their shows acclaim a 10 rating, and they nearly hurt themselves should the Nielsen gods show them to have a program that actually has a 12 household rating.

Radio isn’t doing much better. Although there has been no great gain in the number of radio stations in any market, the audience levels and the “time spent listening” numbers have dropped severely. Why listen to formats that constantly interrupt your listening with commercials, when you can listen to an iPod, MP3 player, or computer music with no commercials. An unlike radio, these venues guarantee that you will listen to 100% of what you want to hear.

I’m sure you have all heard of the death of newspapers. Well, maybe… maybe not. There definitely have been some newspapers that have gone out of business. Especially in markets that previously had two papers. Especially in the current economy where clients have pulled way back on the advertising budgets. Plus, middle-aged people are more inclined to get their news on their computer via the Internet. However, that being said, there are still many people who want the paper in their hand while they drink their morning coffee.

Magazines are going out of business at an alarming rate. Time and the economy are the two culprits behind their demise. 15 years ago people had enough time to read many magazines per week/month. However, now we are all running around like chickens without heads try to get everything accomplished. And well, something had to give. Plus, again the economy has caused marketers to seriously cut back their adverting budgets, so only the primary publications were able to survive.

Billboards are probably the only traditional media vehicle that has remained constant. In fact, with such a mobile society, viewership of billboards (posters and bulletins) has actually gone up over the years. Although a hard medium in terms of creative design, good messaging and location makes this an extremely efficient advertising medium.

Okay, let’s move on to the non-traditional media. If you’re under 80, you almost definitely have an e-mail account. In theory, it’s such a great medium for one-on-one and two-way marketing. However, direct marketing companies and freelancers have completely ruined this venue for serious marketers. Between the plethora of worthless junk e-mail, and virus-enclosed emails, people are hesitant to even give their e-mail addresses out to anyone other than their accepted friends. This advertising vehicle has become an almost worthless marketing vehicle except in the case of opt-in marketing e-mail. But in terms of acquiring new customers, opt-in email is after the fact. However it can certainly help in terms of new purchases from an already existing customer.

Over the years out-of-home advertising has expanded to more than just billboards. Today it includes such things as bus and subway ads and wraps, transit shelter advertising, bench ads, hot dog umbrella ads, mobile vehicles and projection media, where video ads are actually shown on sides of buildings after darkness has set in. The trick in out-of-home advertising is to catch the customer by surprise, when they are not expecting to see marketing messages.

Internet/Web advertising is relatively new, since the Internet has only been available since the 1980s. If nothing else, every company should be doing Google word search marketing. Since you only pay for actual click-throughs to your Web page, it’s the most efficient for of marketing, with the ROI of getting a client, or possible client to your Web page being 100%. Web site and Web page sponsorships have also become efficient if you’re dealing with a site that has the ability to geo-fence your marketing message. What this means is that your message would only be shown to site visitors that are situated in areas that you have previously set up with the site that you are advertising on. Now, not all sites have this ability, so make sure you ask about this feature when you discuss your advertising plans with them. Also, be careful in picking your Web ad size. Most people have trained themselves not to look at the top few inches of a Web page that usually contains a banner ad. You’re better off running tile, skyscraper and empire ads that are along the side of the site’s content. Or better yet, try to get “ads” that are embedded within the copy of the page. Many B2B companies now send out monthly, weekly or even daily newsletters that you can sponsor. But remember, seeing your ads too often can actually turn a prospective customer off toward your company.

The most exciting venue for non-traditional media (at least in my opinion) is promotions/guerilla marketing. This can range from a low key whisper marketing campaign all the way up to scooter squads and brand ambassadors. When a promotion is done correctly, it has a great chance of being covered by the local news. And if it’s truly great and out of the ordinary it possibly even land on a network newscast. It does have some drawbacks though. It takes a real left-brained person to organize and carry it through. Lots of Is to dot and Ts to cross for everything to run smoothly as planned. That’s why you really should be working with professionals who do these kinds of things for a living every day.

Guerilla marketing can also include another venue. I like to call it “whatever you can think of.” This can include everything from ads printed on deli cups, to graphics on the floor at supermarkets or department stores, to Post-It notes attached to a newspaper or magazine ad, to one of my favorites… ads on sailboat sails. You’re only limited by your imagination.

No matter what medium you are going to use, you need a media process to get the most out of your expenditure. At dio we use the following media process steps:

Media Compilation
Historical Dissection
Plan Evolution
Plan Dissemination
Plan Endorsement
Implementation
Post Determination
Future Plan Evolvement

If you have any questions, or even want to discuss any of the above thoughts, feel free to contact me, Lee Karon, Media Director at dio at (717)764-8288 x108 or at lkaron@diousa.com.