“Kate, I read that when Mitt Romney made his speech in prime time, there were 23 percent fewer television viewers than four years ago when John McCain spoke. Am I wasting my money advertising on television here in Connecticut?”
With so much change in media and so many more choices, Image Marketing Consultants is receiving an increasing number of questions like this one about how to spend marketing dollars. The answer to this business owner is: It depends. That means that for every promotional campaign, B2C enterprises have to start from square one in investigating options, their costs, the probability of success, and how to test out tactics before making a significant commitment.
Television advertising, for example, may seem to some B2C enterprises to be too much to risk in terms of dollars and possible conversions. They have a hunch that it would be cheaper and more effective to create their own online videos to distribute on YouTube and through their own digital platforms such as their website, blog, Facebook fan page, and twitter account. Not so fast, at least not in isolation.
For example, personal injury law firms have to dig around for how their most successful competitors are navigating the marketing mix. A major personal injury lawyer who started out in Connecticut and now dominates New England emphasizes television and ads on public transportation and billboards. His web presence is just developing. Therefore, a competing firm could view digital as the space to pounce, not attempt to compete toe-to-toe with him through other mediums.
Image Marketing Consultants recommends: Slow down, study the terrain, experiment. Monitor results. Approach marketing as the work in progress it has become.
Kate Sirignano, Millennial founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations in Marketing including Advertising, Partnerships, Public Relations, Social Media, and Special Events kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868