Brand Builders Part 23: Are You Utilizing Traditional Media?

A big part of building your brand is going to be embracing different tactics. Different places that you can utilize to get your message out there. I find that we all get so attracted to the shiny thing, the new thing: digital. We forget about traditional. Traditional still has a place in the world. Now, I’m not saying you need to go create an entire TV campaign, but you need to look at where your target audience is spending their time. Because you might find some of those old style, old school traditional tactics really do have an opportunity. So, whether that’s TV, or radio, some markets, the time spent listening to radio is actually higher than the time spent online on the internet. So, take that into consideration if you’re in one of those communities, and your target audience is a member of it.

Also, what about print? Now, maybe it’s the daily newspaper, but it doesn’t have to be in the print version. It can be the digital online version, it’s still the newspaper, and people still go there to get their news. But think beyond just newspaper, look at magazines, trade journals, those have a lot of power. When you have a very specific targeted audience, I bet most of them are reading the industry publications for their industry, so put your message in front of them. Now, I’m not saying it’s your industry journals and trade publications, I’m saying it’s the one that your audience reads. Right? And what about our friends, PR? Public relations has great opportunities. Are you having events? Are you sending out press releases and media advisories? Are you really making those connections with the journalists, so that they’re covering whatever stories they should be about you, your business, your products, your services, your market? All of those are opportunities you do not want to miss.

I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up direct mail. A great opportunity to get the message out to people, because when you can send something to them that gets past the gatekeeper, and lands right on their desk, they’re gonna pay attention to it. Now emails are tricky, because for some people email has become traditional, because it’s been around for so long now. And for others, they still think of it as digital. So, do it twice as much. When you have an audience that you know exactly who they are, you need to be in contact with them on a regular basis, and email might very well be the way you do that. So, when you plan out your annual calendar, and you assess what you’re going to be doing month in and month out, look at all of the different traditional options and make sure you’re utilizing the ones that your target audience uses. That way you’ll be putting the messages right in front of them just like you need to. That’s how you’re going to build a better brand.