“Print is dead” has been said so many times that it’s almost a cliché at this point. Certainly, if you try to advertise your business solely with a print campaign, you may as well just take that advertising money and donate it to a charity of your choice so that it will actually do somebody some good. However, there’s something to be said for cross-media campaigns involving the web, radio, local television and print.
Multi-media campaigns are those that involve many forms of media to get the word out. Cross-media is when you are using one form of media to bolster the other. For instance, QR codes appearing in magazines. You scan them with your phone and they take you to a website where you can sign up for a mailing list or get a discount on something.
The great thing about online marketing is that you can launch a global campaign with very little money. Pay for a host, a domain name, and a blog writing service and you’re good to go. That blog writing service costs the same whether they’re writing for the web or for newspapers around the world, but getting those words in print takes a lot more time, effort and money than posting them online. But, for a smaller business, especially one that sells primarily to their own area, the power of an offline campaign can be tremendous.
Here’s why:
- It’s personal
A blog can be read by millions of people. A newspaper insert or a local radio ad is a little more personal in that it only reaches you and your neighbors.
- It’s concentrated
A great radio ad that plays to locals becomes part of the local culture. If it’s funny or weird or interesting, people talk about it with the knowledge that their co-workers and family members will get the reference.
- It’s informed
Selling a local campaign to local people means that you’ve soaked up the same local culture as they have. In other words, you’re speaking their language.
- It’s easy to be seen
If you put a flyer up at the local coffee shop, everyone visits that coffee shop will see it. You reach a wider audience online, but it’s also more difficult to cut through the noise and get people to notice you.
If you run a business that sells to a local demographic, expanding into print, radio and television advertising, and using that to bolster your web content, and vice versa, can make a tremendous difference in how your market responds to your marketing.
Writer Bio: Gilbert S is a writer and artist who lives with his wife and with his dog, Sir Kay, in rural New Mexico.
