We media people don’t always have it easy these days, do we?
We’ve been around for longer than most of the new media platforms put together, and that should tell you that we’re doing something that works.
However, in a world where business owners worship ‘the new’ at every turn, it certainly feels like familiarity can often breed contempt.
I speak to many business owners about their marketing, and what’s clear is that with the advent of Facebook and Google and other platforms that allow you to target people very specifically, ‘old media’ is often regarded as ‘too broad’, even old hat.
Which – you and I both know – is about a million miles away from the truth.
So, how do you convince your prospects that it’s worth investing their advertising budget in so-called ‘old media’, especially when they’re convinced that they’ll be able to ‘target’ their prospects more effectively with digital media?
There’s no easy answer. People love ‘new’, and always will. But in my experience, this line of reasoning generally works well:
It’s called ‘mass media’ for a reason. What’s the reason? Well, it’s a media that reaches the masses. And by definition, reaching ‘the masses’ is not ‘targeting’ – how could it be? Further still, within the masses, and the decision-makers and their all-important influencers.
There’s also a good reason why ‘mass media’ has stood the test of time. The reality is that whatever the marketing gurus tell you, mass media works. That’s why it’s still going, while many new media have come and gone.
Targeting costs more for less reach. What the people recommending new ‘targeted’ media don’t tell you, is that you’re paying a premium for the privilege of specific targeting, when you could have reached those people anyway with mass media.
Mass media still allows you to send the right message to your target audience. While radio or TV advertising usually doesn’t allow you to filter down an audience, you can still ‘choose who to lose’, by selecting the right ad copy that filters out the customer you don’t want and attracting the ones you do.
Long story short: targeting is expensive, and you can get the same result (if not a better one) with mass media.
Essentially, it’s not about what’s old; it’s not about what’s new. It’s about what’s a good deal, using a relevant and proven platform, to communicate my message to my decision-makers and their influencers, en masse.
Try this out in your next sales conversation, and let me know how you get on…
