Marketing and Media: Two Peas in a Pod?
It used to be a big one. Nowadays, not so much. If your business still sees them as separate fields, you’re about to be left behind. Since marketing’s step into the digital and social media ring, its convergence with media has taken the way we consume information about companies by storm.
As a business operating before the Internet took over the planet, you used television, radio and direct mail to advertise. Maybe throw in a few print pieces in publications. Now, things have gotten way more complicated. What was once a simple standard has proliferated into a whirlwind of outlets on which to market your business.
Some of you have attempted to go into battle. Others have turned a blind eye and continued to buy space in the phonebook. Wherever you are in the race meant for the brain and attention span of a machine (not a human’s), there’s a way you can win. And it all starts with media.
How They’re Colliding
Forbes predicted 2016 as the year marketers will begin to see social media as more of a channel rather than a strategy. It’s the act of transcending what we recognize as an alien we have to figure out and treating it as second nature.
It’s also a channel that can’t work by itself. To succeed on Facebook, Twitter or any other channel is to pair it with other tactics. If marketing is a cup of coffee, social media’s your little pack of stevia. Your cup is not as tasty when it’s not in there, but to drink an empty cup of sweetener? Um, yeah.
Due to the rise of social use by marketers and the marketing capabilities the Internet allows, people are starting to consume more enhanced types of media, and from now on, consumers expect it to be there.
Hubspot reported Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times the engagement than their pictureless counterparts. People are 40 times more likely to share visual content, like videos, maps, photographs or infographics, rather than other types of content.
When people consume media, they’re much more likely to absorb and remember the content with moving pictures and sound rather than with text or audio by itself. They’re also more likely to enjoy it. Studies have shown visuals containing color boost a consumer’s willingness to engage by 80 percent.
Therefore, as consumers become more accustomed to media that can be devoured enjoyably and allows for interactivity, bland, outdated methods are basically just burning cash.
What You Get in Modern Marketing Media
Virtual settings are blending with reality to give customers an interactive experience in marketing.
So what does integrated media and marketing look like?
Instead of actually attending an event, many organizations set up livestreaming so people around the world can see, which increases reach and audience with the simple use of a camera and a connection.
Instead of webinars, think interactive. Online courses, which include content like video and infographics themselves, pose as effective, attention-holding ways to educate. Other types of interactive content, like clickable images, quizzes and customized videos, are becoming preferable over static content for consumers.
Rather than using social media for a quick snippet, people are now open to posting longer, beefier original articles that have greater value and appeal to readers who want more than just an airhead update of the weather.
The blockbuster effect can be annoying, but if executed correctly, people will continue to love it. The concept has slipped its way into online videos, boosting the efficacy and increasing popularity of content series.
Have you checked out an Oculus Rift yet? As 3-D technology increases, businesses are beginning to place consumers in virtual scenarios that give them a sense of engaging with a product or service before they’ve purchased it. If you’re interested in booking a room at a historic hotel, don’t guess from the pictures. Put on the virtual headset and wander the corridors yourself.
Outdated Marketing with No Idea Where to Go? We’ve Got a Map
Times are changing. Luckily for your business, we like fast-paced marketing methods that come out overnight and vanish even quicker. BlueArx will help you stay on top of your game with marketing and media to help your business succeed.
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