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Media Marketing is comprised of many forms of advertising and is the process of creating desirable products or services and distributing them in such a way that increases their charisma. I will not be giving all the methods but have tried to cull the best media marketing for retail stores, publishers and product makers.

Media Marketing encompasses a wide range of activities. It includes media relations, identifying correct advertising and media platforms, content creation, media management, event coordination, campaign planning, analysis and measurement, and more.  You can hire people like an advertising agency, PR agent, social media marketers, SEO expert, videographer, graphic artist, etc., to do all of it or just certain pieces and parts. However, you certainly can do it yourself just make sure you research each option to optimize your time and money.

Types of Media Marketing

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is an overarching term for any kind of promotional activity that leverages the internet as the messaging channel. Accordingly, even two different marketing tactics, like SEM, SEO and PPC are considered digital marketing.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) divides messaging into two categories: organic and paid results. Organic results are pages that a search engine like Google finds, crawls, and indexes. This organic results position can’t be bought, but can be influenced through content marketing and SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves the quality of your website key words, pages, etc to increase website traffic from search engines.

Pay Per Click (PPC) are paid for results. Businesses pay search engine companies to take part in a bid competing for the best ad placement.

 

Online Marketing

Email, influencer marketing and even online newspapers and magazines are considered online marketing.

Email marketing is any kind of marketing messaging done through the channel of email. That said, email marketing is not just sending emails. It involves: Building a permission based email list. Creating and sending emails to your email list and monitoring the results.

Influencer marketing is the practice of working with influential people to promote brands, products, or services. Unless its a movie star or rock star don’t waste your time and money. Influencer marketing is no longer the ‘in’ thing since influencers can and most do buy their audiences for numbers who are not actually active with them or their sites.

Social media marketing is the use of social media like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to market a company’s products or services. The goal of social media is to grow an audience and engage with them. This leads to increased brand awareness, website traffic and, hopefully sales. Social media marketing involves a mix that includes publishing content, responding to comments and running social media ads.

Content Marketing is the process of creating content and distributing it to draw and retain customers. Content marketing is usually practiced as a form of inbound marketing, where the content offers a solution to a problem that a prospect is researching. Some popular types of content marketing are:

  • Blog articles
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Your own podcasts or radio shows

Interestingly enough Social Media advertising is touted as a ‘must have’ but that is mostly by social media marketing companies and social media sites. In fact, a Kantar Media 2023 survey found that Marketers DID LIKE online video ads, influencers, social media ads and social media content stories. But the actual global consumer DID NOT like, nor respond to, online mobile, social media ads, online display ads, video streaming ads, newspaper ads or music streaming ads. The consumers even consciously and actively avoided them.

 

Offline Marketing

Offline marketing is when an advertisement or article is published in a newspaper, magazine or sent by direct mail instead of email.

Newspapers – Many large and small businesses use newspaper advertising. It is particularly helpful to reach a particular geographic market. Especially since many stores generate most of their sales from consumers within a 10-mile radius. Ads can be inserted quickly and many supermarkets and service companies  use newspapers as a means of advertising.

Magazines  – Because most magazines are distributed nationally magazine advertising is great for products that are distributed nationwide. Consumer Magazine target the consumer. Industry magazines target are more for product companies who want to reach bigger quantity sales to retailers, wholesalers and distributors.

Direct Mail – Direct mail marketing is print advertising or content delivered physically to a person’s mailbox through the United States Postal Service, UPS or other delivery service. Direct mail letters, flyers, catalogs, and postcards are common examples.

Remember when trying to pitch an article (whether about you or written by you) building and nurturing relationships with journalists, editors, and influencers takes time and effort, sometimes hiring a reputable PR firm with contacts and relationships can help save you time and money.

 

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that aims to “pull customers in” with useful and relevant content. It hopes to create a situation where the potential customer who is looking to solve a problem finds your company is the solution. A company pushes a message about a product out by cold calls, direct mail and most forms of advertising. Outbound marketing tries to raise awareness of a product or inspire actions (e.g., buying, subscribing, visiting a shop) among the target audience regardless of their interest.

 

Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing tries to reach the customer with a message that “interrupts” (e.g., TV ads, radio,) their flow of thought to introduce new products, services that can help the consumer identify with and solve a problem. Outbound marketing is designed to reach masses of people, rather than a small direct group.

Radio – An advantage of radio advertising is that it is an emotional buy that talks directly to the audience. Most  radio stations serve a local audience, however, internet radio networks can reach local, national and global audiences. Remember the particular type of music or other content on each radio station attracts consumers with similar interests so can reach a particular target market. Usually radio stations and network create the actual ad, both copy and voice, for free.

Television – Television ads talk to the audience and provide a visual effect. Ads can be aired either local or national. Verizon or AT&T will usually run a commercial more than 20 times in a given week. Although television ads are expensive, they reach a large audience and can be highly effective. Some of the streaming networks such as Roku and Netflix can actually be affordable — but remember you have to pay for the creation of the video for the commercial.

It’s interesting to note that radio, podcasts and similar forms of audio content are a popular way to reach consumers, and we’re likely to see more businesses use audio channels. More in-depth information about affordable radio and TV advertising opportunities will be coming in your next Retailing Insight issue.

 

OUT of Home Ads (OOH)

Out of home ads (OOH) can be found outside of a consumer’s home. This includes billboards, benches, bus stop shelters, on cars, trucks, trains and everything in-between. If you see an ad that is not on your mobile and it’s outside of your home then you’re seeing an OOH which relies on static images like printed vinyl and posters that stay the same.

 

Digital Out of Home Ads (DOOH)

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is the tech-savvy counterpart of OOH outdoor media. Think changing Times Square billboards – hundreds of thousands of outdoor ad opportunities that can are made in real-time.  Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) has ushered in a new type of advertising channel.

Typical large-format screens include: highway billboards, On bus or train screens, Bus shelters and outdoor digital walls. Place-based locations include: Office buildings, Malls, Gas stations, Gyms, Restaurants, Bars and Universities. Point–of-purchase screens include: Large company retailers, Convenience stores, Grocery stores and Liquor stores.

DOOH is making waves in the advertising world. They have  an impressive 82% ad recall and has had a 24.2% growth in 2023.

 

Event or Experience Marketing

Event or Experience marketing is a way to use events to communicate with a target audience to promote products or services. The goal is to create a memorable experience by interacting with a brand, product or service. It could be as simple as trying a product or watching a demonstration. But it could also be watching a concert or attending a new product launch, seminar, conference or networking event.

 

Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Word-of-mouth marketing is when consumers talk about your service or product with  their friends, family or other close relationships. The best WOMM strategies include being credible, trustworthy, respectful, honest and repeatable. It helps by having a product or service that goes beyond a consumer’s expectations, having great customer service, being responsive to a customer’s needs and providing some form of exclusive offers for your product or service. It’s all about creating buzz.

In 2015 Nielsen study revealed that 83% of respondents from 60 countries trusted recommendations from friends and family. But when a recommendation came from an opinion posted online, the trust ratio went down to 66%.

 

FINAL INSIGHTS

It is interesting to note that just because the web, marketers and the marketing industry show or suggest something they think is relevant for you to gain consumer awareness and ultimately get a purchase, that actual consumers might not actually think the same way.

A Kantar Media study found last year that global consumers liked and ranked the following as what they want, like and buy the most from:

  1. Sponsored Events
  2. Cinema/TV/Radio Ads (not Podcast ads)
  3. Out Of Home Ads (OOH)
  4. Point Of Sale Ads
  5. Digital Out of Home Ads (DOOH)
  6. Industry/Consumer Specific Magazine Ads

As far as Social Media Consumer Preference: Amazon, Google, TikTok, and Instagram.

 

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