So why is traditional broadcast media important to the success to your overall marketing and advertising strategy? Let’s set it up this way. Currently, there is no question how the internet has influenced our society in the few decades it has been available to the larger population. It’s convenient: often only as far away as your pocket. It’s instant: as information becomes available there is little need for production time, or budgets to have that information published. And, it’s diverse: there is no shortage of sources, and the ease of finding those sources is just a few key strokes away.
Marketers today have realized the importance of digital marketing, and have placed a heavy emphasis on it; in many cases, allocating entire marketing budgets to their digital marketing efforts. It’s not hard to realize why. On top of all the reasons we, as a society, consume digital media, marketers like it because it is immensely measurable. Businesses have the ability to dive deep into the analytics of their customers, and can gather some amazing insights into who they are and how they behave. However, digital marketing applications don’t do one very important thing: tell consumers that you exist. Traditional broadcast media may seem old, clunky and un-sexy, but it still is very relevant. Here are some of the reasons why.
How they know you exist.
One of the amazing things about digital marketing is that when a potential customer is in need of your products and services, they can enter a couple of key words into their favorite search engine (usually Google), and on the screen appear what the search engine determines are the best resources for you to browse. Every business worth its sand knows that getting into that first page of search results is important to their success; however, getting there has become extremely competitive, and small businesses often don’t have a fighting chance of getting there. Utilizing a broadcast media channel can give your business a leg up on your competition. When a consumer sees an ad on TV, or hears about you during a radio commercial, they retain that impression for a later date. How much they retain it depends on how good the creative of the ad is, and whether you placed that ad in the appropriate media channel and at an adequate frequency; however, if you have done a great job with these things, and your business pops up with your competitors in those search engine results, they are most likely going to choose your link over the others. It’s either that, or they go directly to you without using a search engine at all. Many times, consumers don’t know they needed your product or service until they saw, or listened to your ad; furthermore, your ad may remind them that they have a need that they may have put on the back burner.
People still watch TV, and listen to radio.
Nielsen determined that in 2016 the demographic that watched the least amount of TV was the 18-24 year olds. They watched 12 hours and 56 minutes on average per week. And then it goes up from there with the 25-34 year olds watching an average of 20 hours and 4 minutes, 35-49 watching an average of 28 hours and 24 minutes, 50-64 year olds an average of 39 hours and 54 minutes, and 65+ watching a whopping average of 48 hours and 32 minutes. Many of those demographic ranges saw an increase in their viewing for the year prior and Nielsen projects that the increasing trend of television viewing is likely to rise in the next several years. In any event, that’s a lot of TV, and establishes that TV is still the king of advertising media. In terms of radio, Pew research found that 91% of people surveyed had listened to terrestrial radio in the week they were surveyed. This all calumniates to this: your customer is consuming a lot of traditional broadcast media, and it is a valuable place to get your message seen and heard.
The biggest marketers still use it…A LOT.
If you still had doubts of the validity to traditional media channels, you need to look no further than your own TV. Chances are you own one, and if you turn it on, you will find the largest, most successful brands advertising there. Of course, they most certainly have larger advertising budgets than you; but, still the same, every year, the largest brands pour millions upon millions of advertising dollars into traditional media to market their products and services.
In conclusion, the new emphasis in digital media and marketing principles is with a lot of merit, and is an absolutely valuable, and necessary component of a business’s total marketing and advertising efforts; but, it shouldn’t mean abandoning the old way of doing things. If digital marketing and media are the new infotainment, and hi-tech computer components to a new, sleekly designed car, then traditional media and marketing methods are the same old internal combustion engine technology that we still use in the lion’s share of vehicles today. And, without it, you aren’t going to go very far.
You may accept that your business can benefit from being involved in traditional broadcast media, but how do you know where, when and how to do it. Click here to learn how you can make sure traditional media works for you.