Have you as an entrepreneur, business owner, student or consumer asked yourself, “how do I keep up in today’s fast-paced economy?” With many things trending one day and dead the next, it’s important that we evolve with these changes and accept the fact that things change whether we like it or not. The same can be said regarding media.
The Internet has molded the way we are as consumers, allowing us the ability to find things in a matter of seconds. At the same time, traditional media still remains an integral part in our lives, allowing us to watch what we want, when we want. As an advertiser, it’s pertinent that we find and maintain a balance between both types of media.
Although new media has taken its grasp on America, traditional media is still an important means of communication to consumers. Let’s take a closer look at the two, and the effects they have on us as consumers.
What is Traditional Media?
Traditional media, or as some refer to as old media, has been used in the marketing/advertising world for years. When related to advertising, traditional media encompasses that of television, newspaper, radio and magazine ads. These forms of communication are the steadfast ways that businesses have reached both consumers and other companies for decades. They are the roots of advertising and the most common form utilized by businesses on a daily basis. Though traditional media is effective, over the course of the last few years we have seen more and more businesses utilizing new media to reach its target audiences.
What is New Media?
New media is the future of advertising. More and more consumers and businesses rely on new media to find their information. Ultimately, new media refers to content that is easily accessible via many different forms of digital media. When related to advertising, some examples of new media include online advertising (retargeting, banner ads, etc.), online streaming (radio and television) and social media advertising. Each of these are means in which businesses have the capability to reach consumers and other businesses with ease.
Effect of Traditional and New Media on Consumers
As consumers, we sometimes find ourselves in a conundrum when it comes to how get our information. Now-a-day, more and more consumers use the internet to quickly find information, making new media advertising pertinent for any type of business. However, at the same time, consumers still take a good chunk of time out of their day to use traditional media. On the way to work we have our radios playing, at home we have the television on watching the news, and at the doctor’s office we find ourselves reading the magazine on the end table next to us. Each of these are forms of traditional advertising that we use on a daily basis.
As consumers, we may also find that there are instances when we multitask each day. Take it from experience, there are many times when I’ll be at home watching television and at the same time I’ll be on my tablet looking up the next vacation I’m going to take. It’s at these times that as an advertiser you need to decide where the best place to put your money will be. Is it going to be running an ad on that television show that I’m watching, or is it going to be online while I’m surfing the web? For advertisers, it’s important to find that balancing act and not to strictly choose one over the other, but to weigh all the options, and find a harmonious mix between both traditional and new media.
Finding the Equilibrium
The million dollar question is this – how do we find this equilibrium between a world of traditional and new media? For starters, although traditional advertising is important for businesses to effectively reach mass consumers, I highly recommend finding a way to inject a type of new media into all media campaigns.
Traditional media tends to be a bit more expensive than new media, but it also has the ability to reach a broad target audience. If the ultimate goal of the business is to reach a broad range of people, this is definitely the way to go. If you want to target a more narrow audience, then new media may be the way to go.
New media is changing the overall media landscape. New media allows businesses to target ads more specifically to consumers based on their age, gender, marital status, etc. It also allows businesses the ability to track what these consumers are doing and how they end up on your website. All of these reasons make new media imperative to any media campaign.
There are ways that traditional media can be tracked, but sometimes we ask ourselves is the ad targeting the people we really should be targeting? New media allows us to get this data and analyze our target audience. From there, we may have a better understanding of where traditional media dollars should be spent.
All-in-all, the key to a successful media campaign is to have a well-balanced mix of media that ultimately targets your businesses audience. It’s important to not waste advertising dollars on media that won’t be effective. Take the time to analyze your business’s marketing plan and target audiences and ask yourself what types of media can be used to reach these consumers. Overall, utilizing a mix of the two has proved beneficial for a variety of our clients over the past few years.
Final Thoughts
When deciding between traditional and new media, it’s all about finding equilibrium. For some businesses traditional media may not be the right choice and new media is. For other businesses it very well may be the opposite. As a media guru, I encourage each business that I work with to see both sides of the spectrum and to know that there is always a way to reach the end consumer. Just because traditional media has tested the tides of time, doesn’t mean that new media won’t outlast. Next time you plan your media attack, analyze all options and decide what will work best.
If you’re having trouble striking a good balance between new and traditional media or could use some advice on what options are right for your business, we would be happy to help. Give us a call at 701-478-1111 and ask to speak with a Marketing Advisor or visit absolutemg.com/contact. We have the expertise needed to develop a custom media plan to fit your needs.