All in the mix

I’m not a very good cook to be honest. In fact, it’s fair to say that I am well below average. I struggle even to make a packet cake let alone something more complex that would require any type of preparation! Unfortunately, this is also the approach that many people take to their campaigns. Armed with a little bit of knowledge and desire to ‘ just be out there‘, they book some media…and that’s where the disaster starts.

People think that booking media is easy. You go to the media you think is going to work best, negotiate a price and place your advert. Easy right? Well the bad news is…it’s not that easy.

There is actually a lot of science behind media buying and a massive amount of strategy around the actual mix of media.

We’ve written a number of blogs in the past about media buying and media in general. What I want to focus on is the importance of the right mix. Often we are faced with media budgets that are larger enough for us to buy cross media but this is without a doubt the most powerful way to obtain more awareness in the market.

The use of more than one outlet for your message is vital in creating a campaign. You can advertise sure but to create an effective campaign that can then be translated into real store traffic, enquiry and sales, you need to enure that you have the right media mix.

At this point I should clarify that I’m not just talking about the 3 traditional mediums – Television, Radio and Press. Think outside the box! Billboards, in-store posters, merchandise, flyers, cross promotions, email, website, networking. The list is endless.

It’s the real difference between chucking some adverts in the local newspaper to having a planned and strategic approach to the way in which you are going to target and market to your customers or clients.

Campaigns work – simple! That’s why all the majors do it and that should be good enough reason in itself for you to do it too. It does rely however on the right mix.

So don’t end up with a cake that wouldn’t rise. Remember, each ingredient is vital to the end result.

Happy baking!