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“LEVERAGING EMERGING MEDIA”
(from “Topics in Emerging Media” — CeCNC’s Spring 2007 Seminar. Elymedia presents an overview of emerging media and will facilitate Q&A, along with presentations on Blogging, RSS Feeds, Podcasts/Videocasts, Mobile Marketing, Wikis and Social Media)
Speaker: Elyse Tager - Principal, Elymedia
Recently a brilliant marketing strategist I know revealed his fear of recommending emerging media as a viable marketing strategy to his clients. His candor allowed me to make a strong case for why marketing online should be considered as a part of any smart campaign.
Technology can leverage efficiency and cost, both critical to reaching success while maintaining controls. Online, a marketing manager can attain broader reach at significantly lower costs than traditional media, can target specific audience segments with greater accuracy, and can get immediate reports of results based on clicks and purchases. It doesnÕt take long to realize the positive impact that this combo can have on fulfilling marketing goals.
As to branding — the good news is that, if you are clear about your positioning, and if your company has a strong brand identity, itÕs relatively easy to translate that to the online world. For example, by careful placement of your online ad dollars, you can maintain control of where your banner ads are placed so that your company is associated with firms which will reflect positively on yours.
More to the point, there are a lot of online opportunities that arenÕt obvious. Secondary pages, sponsorships, or sub-pages can be far more productive, and less expensive than the home page. Online media really is full of possibilities that are hidden treasures if you know what to look for and where to look for them.
JUST ASK ELYSE
Q. WeÕre well into 2007 Š yet despite fairly strong acceptance of technology, our mandate as Media Managers is still to be cautious with our resources. What can you suggest as a strategy that is both careful and leverages 21st Century possibilities?
A. YouÕre not alone with the dilemma of how best to allocate precious media dollars. In fact, the majority of marketing execs are counting on the Ņsafety netÓ of sticking with a big agency to make decisions for them, and leaning towards the tried and true standards for offers and media. But you might want to consider a couple of alternatives:
1. DonÕt make the deadly assumption, because you (or your media group) has always done something a certain way, that it is the best way. When you have seen an industry change as dynamically as Media has in just the last 12-18 months, itÕs smart to step back and question what seemed to be working before. This is hard to do when youÕre caught up in an established process, when youÕre really busy, when itÕs frankly easier to ŌmaintainÕ Š or when itÕs easier just to make only incremental revisions to your plan.
Instead, question all of your past strategies, whether for print, online, list, or broadcast. To take a new approach in periods of high risk and concern, first look at the experiences and returns not just of your own efforts but also study what others have done. Pick out patterns from their success and failures. Start applying these patterns to what you are currently doing. You will begin building a smart strategy, by blending innovation with what is appropriate.
If youÕre still feeling concerned, your intuition may be telling you that itÕs not a time to be testing new planning concepts broadly. In that case, as youÕre learning what others in your market did, pay particular attention to what the top three performers did, say, in print media. Now think of how you could apply that creatively to online media, always paying most focused attention to where youÕve seen success.
Examples of the kind of strategic approach described above are:
• One large, well-known manufacturer repurposed print campaigns that were extremely successful and evolved an online banner strategy around the same look and feel.
• Another company took white papers that were well received by their targets and published them in Wikipedia.
• A strictly online business furniture website has developed a well crafted, and well targeted mini-catalog Š to reach those people who they may not be getting to through their websites.
2. All that being said, consider that it might be a good time to bring in a new resource to support your media initiatives. Of course, youÕll want to look for a Media Planning agency that is experienced — but seek one that is nimble, efficient (and cost-efficient!), and takes a fresh approach.
(from “Topics in Emerging Media” — CeCNC’s Spring 2007 Seminar. Elymedia presents an overview of emerging media and will facilitate Q&A, along with presentations on Blogging, RSS Feeds, Podcasts/Videocasts, Mobile Marketing, Wikis and Social Media)
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Elyse Tager
Elymedia, LLC
1361 Park Street, Ste. 222
Alameda, CA 94501
p 510-769-7352 - f 510-337-9371
www.elymedia.com
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