Don’t be misled by the title. This session isn’t just for or about women. We’re not sexist here at PubCon! But don’t be misled by the “radio” part, either. Businesses can still get a lot of benefit out of traditional public relations strategies and methods. Ignoring older methods because you think they’re outdated can sometimes be a mistake, and a costly one at that. Pat Lynch is going to explain how to use both old and new media to build your brand to be profitable, and get the biggest ROI possible.
Pat Lynch‘s presentation is actually titled Convergence Marketing: Content, Community and Communications. [See what you missed? ;-)]
Because the group in this session is pretty small, Pat starts by asking us all to introduce ourselves. [What?! No, I’m just here to blog! Oh, everyone else did it? Fine…] It’s a pretty diverse group—a woman from Microsoft, a gentleman who works at a cosmetic company, a woman who runs a blogging and content site, and a few others.
Pat starts out by saying she’s glad businesses were pushed into the Internet about 15 years ago. She got involved to get other women involved in using the Internet for business and marketing.
Women in business needed a better, faster, cheaper way to communicate with their clients. They turned to the Internet, e-mail, etc. A woman at AOL precipitated this by persuading the marketing team to put their software on discs, and send them out via mail to people. Remember getting all those discs in the mail in the ’90s?
Then women’s organizations used the Internet and acted as a medium to give women a voice to talk to other people across large geographic areas. They basically shunned major terrestrial broadcast media because it had been started by men who put out press releases stating they would not allow women to have a voice in their radio and television stations.
Pat’s glad there’s a man in here to learn about reaching the women’s market. She talks about having run an advertising agency in Atlanta several years ago, and being excited to see a billboard she created actually put up. It’s very different now. We can reach so many more people. But sometimes it can be difficult to see how things fit together.
How do we learn how things go together to reach the market we’re after? Where to begin? Always start with the prime prospect:
- What do they need?
- How can you reach them?
- How can you best be of service?
- Your prime prospect, and your ability to be of service, will dictate all other “publics.”
Publics are anyone who can influence your brand.
You naturally want to know everything about the person who’s going to buy what you’re selling, which isn’t necessarily a product. When you do, you’re going to learn how to reach them. What influences them? What media reaches them? You need to determine what media methods are going to work, and how to combine them. That’s where the convergence comes in.
Marketing vs. PR
- Marketing speaks to the strategies and goals to reach, influence and sell your prime prospect.
- Public relations is above Marketing. It is concerned with communications to all of your publics, including your prime prospect.
- The Brand must communicate to all.
You can’t have a brand where you’re not listening as much as you’re speaking. A good part of media and marketing is the ability to listen. Research can give you information about your competitors, but you also have to listen to your customers to find out what they want.
Whenever you start a new business or a new project, there are some steps you must follow every time.
Research
- Who is the prime prospect?
- Where can you find them in the largest numbers?
- What media reach them?
- What’s the cost?
There is no media so far that has died. It’s changed quite a bit, the demographics have changed, and it’s partly because other media have been introduced and our culture has changed, but all media, old and new, is still available to you.
Radio is still niche. What they’re listening to today is different than what they were listening to ten years ago. Your job is to discern what they want and how to reach them.
People who come to these conferences want the latest and greatest and want to be ahead of the curve.
Marketing-Media Plan
- Create a vertical list of all media that will influence your prime prospect in order of how your prime prospect uses the media.
- Create a horizontal list of the time your campaign will cover
- Put time and money (and the name of the specific campaign” in the box created by the convergences.
What would make your online campaign stand out more? You have to get on Facebook and like people and interact with people. But you can also put your Facebook address in your signature and your e-mails. By doing that, people will look you up. Television and newspapers do this to let people know they have presences in these mediums.
Pat mentions Marshall McLuhan, the man who said, “The medium is the message.” Each medium is unique. Each requires special strategy, from using Facebook to newspapers to bus signs.
Media Strategies
- The use of more than one medium is exponentially better than the use of any one single medium.
- Each medium is unique and if used, should be used to optimize its unique qualities
- Media can play off of each other. That “play” can be organized and orchestrated.
- Use of keywords throughout all media
- Use of contests/games in various forms in several media
- Use of images consistent with the brand
- Use of timing
- Use of audio, video or active images
Community includes the media. It’s as important to have a relationship with them as it is to have a relationship with your clients.
Value of Online Media
- Immediate
- Global
- Viral aspect
- Niche-ness
- Vast-ness
Value of Terrestrial Media
- Known quantity
- Geographic and demographic boundaries
- Unique creative opportunity to reach the prime prospect and other publics
Every medium is unique, but TV and radio have unique requirements and opportunities to be creative and informative. If you really understand your audience, you don’t have to be clever, but you do have to speak the way your audience will appreciate hearing from you. You don’t have to be the creative genius from Madison Avenue. [Did she just insult Don Draper?! ;-)]
Re-double the Effect
- Merchandise the advertising/creative campaign after it has been published or aired by rebroadcasting, republishing and reprinting.
- Create vertical websites to increase the opportunity to reach the prime prospect using several approaches – Use your keywords in communication with the clients and advertising.
- Research, test, re-test, analyze results, adjust, continue
The point is, don’t discount certain media or promotion methods because you think they’re outdated, or they’ll be ineffective in this time of the Internet. But rather than scattering your efforts, test what works, and pursue it.
And that’s it for me today! Lisa will be back shortly with some afternoon session coverage you definitely won’t want to miss!
