Choosing the Best Media Outlets for You

In today’s world of marketing, you have many media outlets to choose from.

I always suggest choosing two forms of marketing: one traditional method

and one interactive (or online) method. (You can read all about the many

methods in the earlier section “Perusing Your Options for Marketing Message

Placement.”) Mix it up and find what works for you in reaching your target

market. If you drafted your message and know where to find your target

market, you’ll see success. Benefit from trial and error, and then stick with

what works for you.

Before you try an outlet, you need to determine which of your options meet

your objectives. To know which outlets meet your objectives, you obviously

have to know what your objectives are. For example, do you want to create

awareness, gain new customers, or promote an event? You first need to

determine your objective and then make a decision as to whether the market-

ing option you’re considering can achieve that objective. Choose only the

marketing outlets that can meet your objectives. Doing so helps you narrow

down your best marketing options. (Refer to Chapter 3 for more information

on determining your marketing objectives.)

When selecting a marketing outlet, you want to evaluate how easy it will be

for you to measure the results from that option. After all, it’s your return on

investment that will be crucial when determining and spending your market-

ing budget. You never want to select a marketing outlet that doesn’t provide

you with the capabilities to precisely track and calculate your results.

 After you’ve rolled out your marketing campaign, you’ll know whether the

outlet you have chosen is successful by the response that you receive from

consumers. If consumers aren’t responding to your chosen media outlet, it

may be time to revise your strategy or try a different outlet. Evaluate your

message and make sure that the consumers you’ve targeted can relate to the

message you’re sending them. Tweak the message if necessary to see whether

you can get an increase in responses; if that doesn’t work, it may just be the

wrong outlet. In that case, it may be time to try a new one.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  The factors you can differentiate with Differentiate yourself by identifying what your product does that others can’t or don’t. You’re looking for the most persuasive, meaningful, and unique dif- ference that your competitors can’t claim. You can differentiate yourself by using these four factors:  ✓ Price: You want to evaluate what your price is compared to your com- petitors. Is it higher or lower? One risk you take when differentiating due to price is that price isn’t difficult to change. Plus, while some con- sumers will purchase based on price, most spend more time evaluating other differentiating factors such as benefits or service.  ✓ Focus: You can differentiate yourself by using your focus. For example, are you specialized in a particular area? Are you viewed as one of the experts in an industry? Consumers often purchase from companies that they feel are experts or specialized in an industry rather than companies that are more generalized.  ✓ Produ...
Read more
Image
 Establishing a relationship: The basics Building relationships with your customers isn’t as difficult as you may think. You simply have to treat your customers as if they truly are your strategic partners. You also need to show them that you truly care about them. You can do both of these things by focusing your efforts on developing and exem- plifying the following qualities:  ✓ Expertise: Be able to answer the questions that your customers have. Consumers don’t want to buy from just anyone — they want to know that they can count on you to give them good solid advice and feedback.  ✓ Attention: Pay attention to your customers; listen to what they want and what they have to say. By listening to what they say, you can identify their needs and hopefully provide a solution for those needs.  ✓ Friendliness: Reflect a great attitude. Customers are attracted to busi- nesses that contain happy and helpful people. Be sure to hire those staff members who can exude fr...
Read more
Image
  Considering trends in gift giving It’s important to consider rituals within a family structure. Consider, for example, gift giving. Gift giving occurs through family traditions, rituals, and celebrations. When you’re familiar with the gift-giving seasons, you can gear up and market your products heavily during that time to increase sales. Take, for example, Christmas. Many people purchase gifts around this time. If your product isn’t out there or you aren’t mar- keting during that time, you could lose out on a great deal of market share. Gift giving and the celebration of holidays within families are increasing in importance. You can tell this by the number of holiday employees that stores hire to accommodate consumers as well as the increased rate of travel during the holidays. In fact, traditional holiday spending and promotions have shifted to other holidays throughout the year, and more retailers are marketing on other holidays throughout the year rather tha...
Read more