5 Tips for Improving Media Placement
You probably already know that the media environment is complex. It seems like every day there are new ways to reach out to clients. There are digital platforms, streaming channels, social media, television, radio, and print. There are also more reputable media sources—periodicals like Forbes or Business Week—that can lend your company credibility and national recognition.
Most businesses find that media placement takes some work to do right. Sure, there are a lot of places to spend your advertising money, but which of those is right for your business? How do you know you’ve chosen the best option?
Below are five tips you can use to improve your media placement:
1. There Is No One Size Fits All When it Comes to Media Strategy
Your company is unique, which is why it’s important to think about your goals before you choose where to place your ads. Make sure that your goals are clear, specific, and most importantly, measurable.
Sure, your goal is probably to increase sales, but how should you go about it? This question requires some deeper thought. Do you want to rank higher in a Google search for your product? Do you want to develop more leads? Is there one big client you’d love to snag? Answering these questions will make it easier to decide what to do and then track whether it works.
Choosing a reputable marketing team can make this a lot easier. A good marketing group will work with you and your individual needs to create a strategy that’s just right for your business. Even better: they’ll give you all the data you need to decide whether you want to adjust your strategy along the way.
Setting out your goals before meeting with any marketing professional will help you know whether you’re in good hands. Your team should work with you, your goals, and your specific needs. If they try to sell you a one-size-fits-all package, walk away and look for a new marketing partner.
2. Make Sure Your Budget is Realistic
You’ve just sorted out your goals, so now you have to decide if you can afford them. If you’re a brand-new startup or you’re a small company interested in growth, you’ll have to be careful with your budget. Ideally, your budget and your goals should be in alignment.
If your goal is primetime television advertising but your budget is fairly minimal—it’s better to readjust your goals than to spend money you don’t have yet. Once your goals and your budget are aligned, you can …
3. Decide Who You Want to Talk To
No matter how much new and cutting-edge technology proliferates, strategic advertising requires you to do the same, old-fashioned thing: identify your target audience. You’re sure to know what clients you already have. But what about new media expenditures? Who do you want this ad campaign to speak to? You may be looking for a younger clientele who can lock into your product and stick with it for the long haul. You may be looking to move away from a local identity into a larger geographic area, or even onto the national scene.
Whatever you decide, you’ll need to know more about your target group. You’ll want to know how much time they spend online, how likely they are to click through to another website, which messages resonate best with them, and so on.
A description of your target audience will help your team design a strategy that’s just right for your needs. Even better, your marketing team will be able to provide you with research on similar or competing products. This could help you open up untapped markets. The combination of your experience and your marketing team’s research should make for an unbeatable strategy.
4. Get the Most from Every Placement
Once you decide on a marketing strategy, you’ll start to see your ads popping up, but it’s important to know that you’ve purchased more than just the ad itself. You’ve purchased content. Showcase your placement on your website and social media channels. You can ask your employees and coworkers to do the same, and don’t be shy. Ask vendors, partners, and other supporters to share your ad as well.
The key is to use your placement as a boost. It can be a reason to reach out to potential clients over email. Or if you have a sales team, they can pass it along to their contacts. For a single placement, you can repeat this cycle about three times using different hashtags or social media hooks.
The upshot? The better the placement, the more bang you’ll get for your buck. A short video or article placement in a major outlet might be more work up front, but it’s the type of thing you, your employees, and your partners will be proud to share.
5. Make Your Pitch Personal
Customers of every kind are barraged with ads at all times of the day. The average person cuts out a lot of this noise by ignoring generic advertising, which is why it’s important to choose quality over quantity.
We’ve all seen those inescapable ads—whether it’s an earworm of a jingle on the radio or an auto-play video ad on your favorite website. You may remember those companies, but it’s probably not fondly.
Making the public aware of your brand while providing a personalized message is a difficult but necessary part of a good media strategy. You could survey your existing customers to find out what they love about your brand. A good marketing agency will do its research on your audience before moving forward with a plan. What websites do they frequent? What kind of humor do they like? Letting customers know you are responsive to their wants and needs is a crucial element of successful marketing.
Don’t forget that you can contact InnoVision at any time for an expert partner in strategic media placement. More information is always better, so don’t hesitate to ask.
