Let’s Talk About The Magnificent er… Mediocre Seven
If you’re a media planner, it’s easy to spend advertising dollars on “stuff” and get meh-to-measly results. But, where’s the media strategy in that? To get the performance and return that’s going to impress your bosses and clients, you need to step it up. Sometimes it’s easy to throw a dart at a digital tactic and see if it sticks, but we all know that every tactic has its place, and media mix has got to be well understood if we’re going to meet and exceed marketing campaign objectives. To get enthusiastic buy-in on your media strategy, you’ll have to get off the PPC crack and try other media.
On that note, let’s get crackin’ on the Seven things you should NOT be doing…
Read ‘em, Learn ‘em: The Top 7 Media Worst Practices
1. Don’t Mass Market
Those days are over. Get the performance you want when you segment to create 1:1 marketing messaging – in all channels. I repeat. In. All. Channels. Segment. Segment. Segment!
2. Don’t keep doing the same thing.
Getting a good ROI? Great (but, meh). There’s more out there for you with good research, campaign planning and testing. Test media mix, segmentation, market tightening/expansion, landing pages…there’s better performance out there, but you have to be willing to take a calculated risk. Be innovative. Push the envelope. Then, do it again.
3. Don’t disregard display advertising, especially programmatic advertising.
Programmatic = Proactive You! Find users before they know that they need you! Programmatic lets you reach them at the right place at the right time, build brand awareness (or product/service awareness), and aid in recall to generate your own demand.
4. Don’t undervalue your brand.
Brand is the crux upon which you fill the funnel (the “who are you and why should I care?”). You have an ongoing need to increase brand awareness and recall through owned and paid media. Your brand should make people think and feel something that evokes an action because they can relate to the message in the time and place that you’re serving it. That’s media mix magic. And, gets you a great ROI.
5. Don’t stop running your branded PPC campaigns. Ever. You’re not Samsung (or have their share of voice).
More importantly, you’ve spent more than enough money filling the funnel with display, IPTV, etc. – now be sure that you’re present, any way your users want to interact with you. Protect your brand.
6. Don’t work in a silo.
Talk to the SEO peeps. And the product peeps. Talk to your partners. And the analysts. There are insights and ideas to be had. Find them. I promise a conversation will yield a campaign test, idea, etc.
7.Stop bottom-feeding and using PPC as your only paid media tactic.
Do you want to be a catfish or a shark? You’ll get a better ROI when you have the proper media mix working for you. Use those media teeth to bite into more market share – and keep moving!
Bottom Line: Cultivate the journey and keep moving
As long you’re focused on a media strategy that’s constantly filling the funnel, and enabling your other tactics to convert folks along the way with the right message at the right place at the right time (whew!) you’ll be cultivating their journey and doing the right thing. Just keep pushing and pulling those levers to get the performance you desire.
