How to Mix Media

If you’re as old as I am, or if you’ve studied your advertising history, you may remember Canadian cultural critic and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, who maintained that the method of communicating information is more important than the information itself. The phrase, “the medium is the message” seemed pretty cryptic to me then, but the longer I worked in advertising, the more sense it made.

Good strategic advertising takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of each communications medium in making up the media mix. It also takes into account the cumulative effect of receiving the same core message in different media as well as the way a communication channel’s role may change. For example, billboards, print ads and commercials sometimes change from a role of raising your awareness to a role of reinforcing your decision after you’ve made the purchase.

Adherents of integrated marketing communications - and I am one of them - hold that impressions made from numerous sources have more value than impressions made from a single source. Thus, you capture more and better brain cells if a prospect sees your ad in a magazine, hears the name on the radio and then gets something in the mail rather than seeing the ad in the magazine alone - even if he/she sees it several times.

What becomes critical, then, is that the message at the center of your branding strategy is conveyed with the same meaning regardless of the particular communications channel. To ensure that, refine your value statement to razor sharpness then choose design and imagery that carry the same message unchanged across many different platforms. This is harder than you might think.

In addition, your media mix needs to be appropriate to the audience. For instance, it would be inappropriate for a machine shop to use television advertising because its customers are relatively few in number and the cost of television advertising is relatively high. Far better for them to use direct mail, technical brochures and a direct sales force to target their audience.

To determine which advertising media will be best to use for a particular audience, first, know thy customer. Even relatively simple research can tell you where they live, how old they are, how often they purchase what you sell, and what they read, listen to or watch. Know your customers, and you’ll know how to reach them.

Finally, two additional concepts are worth considering when you’re planning a media mix: “frequency” - how often the same message reaches each particular prospect - and “reach” how many different prospects are exposed to a particular message. So, if you buy 100 spots a week on one radio station, that’s a strategy based on frequency; if you buy one spot a week on 100 radio stations that’s a strategy based on reach.

Which is right?

In a world of unlimited resources, you want both frequency and reach. But sadly, few of us live in a world of unlimited resources. That means that most of the time we have to choose a program that balances frequency and reach.

All other things being equal, most companies, most times are probably better off to err on the side of frequency. Two reasons: first, studies show that most people have to hear or read the same message multiple times - as many as six or seven - before it lodges in their brain cells, and second, people generally build up the confidence to do business with you over time, and regularly seeing or hearing your advertising is a factor in that.

That having been said, reach makes sense when the object of your promotion is “transactional” rather than “relational” - meaning that you have a big deal for one-time customers, and aren’t much interested in forming a long-term relationship - a “lost-our-lease-going-out-of-business-end-of-the-year-blowout-sale,” for example.

Regardless of whether your focus is on frequency or reach, choose a creative approach that breaks through the normal advertising clutter, gets the attention of your prospects, and sticks in their gray matter. That, after all, is what effective advertising is all about.

Here’s a highly abbreviated look at some of the communications “tools” at your disposal when you’re planning a marketing campaign.

Medium	Strengths	Weaknesses
Print advertising	Can be moderately well targeted. Creates awareness.	Operates in a cluttered environment. Expensive.
Outdoor advertising	Maximizes impressions. Raises awareness quickly and broadly.	Hard to target any except a mass audience. Difficult to buy for short term. Not available in all markets.
Broadcast advertising	Can be moderately well targeted based on audience demographics. Creates awareness. Dynamic.	Operates in a cluttered environment. Expensive. Many can now “zap” TV commercials.
Web site	Easy to modify message. Allows depth of information. Interactive.	No outbound capacity.
Internet advertising	Highly targetable. Immediate response. Easy to modify message.	Operates in an extremely cluttered environment. Costs vary, but can be pricy.
Sales promotion	Stimulates immediate response. Creates excitement.	May create unwanted expectations and undercut brand image.
Public relations	Gains credibility from third party presentation of the message. Allows cost-efficient communications with secondary and tertiary audiences.	Difficult to do well. Effect and effectiveness is often hard to measure.
Direct mail	Can be highly targeted.	Expensive on a per-impression basis. Operates in a cluttered environment.
Event sponsorship	Creates high level of personal involvement. If philanthropic, creates positive image and news opportunities.	High cost per impression. Effect and effectiveness is often hard to measure.

This month's columnist is Phil Soreide. Mr. Soreide is a 30-year business-to-business advertising veteran and an associate of Wise Women Communications