Integrating Emerging Media with Your Marketing Plan

The marketing and media landscape is changing at an exponential rate and marketers are working overtime to stay ahead so they can include all the latest tools and techniques to optimize their marketing mix. This has become increasingly complex with the advent of new media. Five years ago,the major challenge was to integrate basic interactive media with traditional media to create an optimal plan. Interestingly enough, some marketers today are shifting their entire budget to digital-based campaigns (Southern Comfort for example). However, traditional media still makes sense for many brands and the need to integrate it with interactive channels is stronger than ever. Now one of the bigger challenges perplexing marketers is how to integrate emerging media into the mix in a relevant way.

Let’s first take a look at the emerging media landscape. Below is a quick list of channels that can fall under the emerging media moniker:

• Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• Text Messaging
• Podcasting
• Online Video
• Rich Internet Applications
• Mobile Applications
• Gaming

So how do we take these channels and create an immersive brand experience for our customers? I feel the best way is to not focus on using these channels individually but rather create an experience that involves various forms of media around specific communications. Let’s look at a few possible scenarios:

1. Utilizing indoor signage and point-of-sale material in a retail establishment, display messages that ask shoppers to text the word “specials” and their email address to a designated “short code”, e.g. 55555. Once the customer performs that action, they receive a text message announcing what is on sale and they are also added to the store’s opt-in email list. An email is also delivered at the same time containing a 10 percent discount coupon which is good for one week. This simple example combines print, text and email into an engaging and valuable experience.
2. Utilizing traditional PR, a news story is released to various media outlets for broadcast television. That same video is repurposed for online distribution through various online PR channels as well as social media video channels such as YouTube. The news story mentions you can find “ABC Company” on Facebook. The online versions also are linked to the Facebook brand page. Once the user views their Facebook page, they are prompted to engage with the brand through different channels–Twitter, their main website, email and traditional literature sent through the mail.
3. A company is running a promotional “free sample” campaign and they include the offer on their monthly email newsletter. Within the email, a link to various social media sites such as Facebook or MySpace is placed next to the offer prompting the user to share this offer with friends. They click on the social media site icon and the offer is then posted to their “wall” where all their friends can see it. The posting also contains a link for friends to click and take advantage of the offer. Here we have email working with social media to deliver a sample kit which would of course contain traditional print material acting as sales aids to move the consumer through the sales cycle.

These are simple examples but the possibilities are endless. With some strategic planning, you can create an innovative campaign that produces real results. Try it out, go back to the email of this newsletter (if you are a lucky subscriber!) and click on the “Share This” icon. We’ll greatly appreciate your willingness to share this article with friends!