As a customer, you would appreciate the number of different ways that you absorb and receive messages. As technology has evolved, so has marketing and media selection with now an ever growing list of channels available for a single business to select from. You will even find that there are variations within channels.
As a small business, you don’t have the resources or time to go out and assess every option available to you and, as we explored in an earlier blog, every media sales rep has “the right option for you”. So, with an ever expanding list of options, a growing to do list and there appearing to be less minutes in a day, how do you know what is the right media for you to use.
The best place to start is your foundations – your brand, business model and, of course, your customer.
Your business model is a great way to understand what channels will add value to your business. Start by asking a few simple questions:
- Where are most of my transactions going to occur?
Depending on the type of business that you are running, your transactions may occur online, through a shop, party plan etc. Understanding where your sales are most likely to occur will assist in understanding what channels will help to drive people to you and reach those who would be more likely to purchase. For example, an online business would be best choosing online channels but only those within areas that they ship to. A local plumber would be best using channels that cover their local area such as local newspaper, online community groups, letterbox drop.
- What channels are my customers comfortable with?
Consumers will all have an individual preference to media channels that they prefer. This will be based on their own experience and also how they prefer to receive messages. Within media, we will group channels by demographic preference. This information is obtained through research and generally involves people filling in surveys on behalf of independent media companies. This information can be used to help assess which customer segment is more often using that particular media channel. This is the best gauge that you are going to get when it comes to media and, if your customers are within the group of people who are fond of that channel, then this would be a good indication that it should be included as part of your media mix. - Budget
I’m sure that we would all like to think that there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow or that money is growing on the maple tree in your front yard but, unfortunately, reality is that money and your budget needs to control which media channels you can access. As a small business, you can’t afford to over spend. Even if your customers are using a particular channel, if you can’t afford to invest in that media adequately, then it’s not going to work. Running a press ad once or a 15 second TVC at 1.00am in the morning isn’t likely to drive the return that you require. You need to assess every media option for it’s viability to you as a small business owner, in addition to the thoughts outlined above. - Seasonality
There are a number of different media options available out there that can tie you up to a monthly or weekly investment for a reduced fee. On paper, these look great, however you need to understand the seasonality impacts of your business and whether running regular marketing is going to suit. You might be better off investing only at times when you can offer your particular product or service, or when customers have a need for it. There is no point throwing money into media when you are not going to receive a response due to the seasonal nature of your product. You might also have a mixed consumer appeal which simply means that you need to shift your media spend into different channels throughout the year in order to get the reach that you require. Driving customers to you at the time when they are going to need it, in comparison to driving customers when it’s convenient to you, will create vastly different responses.
These considerations are just ones that can help you to understand the media channels that are going to work best for your business through out a 12 month period. It’s not to say that you can’t diversify and try different things, but will help you to narrow down your selection into channels that will help to support your business better than others.
As a small business, you don’t have the luxury of large media budgets and, you don’t have the chance to work with media companies to do the analysis for you. The success of your media buy is going to come down to your research and individual assessment of your business and business goals.
Media is a key support of any marketing plan and you need to make sure that you are comfortable and well planned with your approach to make it work for you. Make sure that, before you invest in any media, you do your own research on the individual channels and suppliers. Speak with other small businesses in your area that are currently using the channels, ask for references from the media sales rep. Try and ascertain as much information as you can on how you can utilise the channel as part of your marketing mix. With most things, a small amount of time spent on research up front may reduce the time required to recover from damage of poor decisions at the end.
Good Luck!
The Marketing Elf
October 2017
The Marketing Elf 