Once a business has dominated their current marketing platform, and their budget allows for them to expand in to new avenues of advertising, we encourage them to practice integrated marketing. That is, we advise them to commit to market themselves across a variety of platforms. Why? Because in today’s marketplace, with millions of companies vying for a customer’s attention, using only one or two forms of advertising will not effectively reach a business’ target audience. Utilizing several different marketing channels creates a much better chance of engaging consumers, and eventually, converting them into customers.
To further prove the power of integrated marketing and explain why we are advocates of it, we’re taking a more illustrative approach in hopes of bringing this marketing concept a little closer to home. We have composed a timeline following the daily activities of one consumer who is representative of the majority of Mid-Missouri when it comes to media exposure. Check it out to see just how repetitive and convincing integrated marketing can be.
Monday, 7:36 AM
The weekend is over and it’s time for one consumer to face the reality of another Monday. She unenthusiastically climbs into her car.
Her radio automatically comes on with the turn of her key. Her favorite, local morning show gives her community news updates, the weather forecast, and of course, the music she loves listening to!
A commercial seamlessly asserts itself into the mix. This consumer hears an advertisement informing her of the business with the guaranteed best deal on a new set of tires.
Sure, she could use new tires, but not anytime soon. So, she drives on, waiting for the music to start again.
Tuesday, 12:20 PM
This same consumer is at home for lunch. She notices a local magazine atop the stack of mail she just brought inside. She flips through the pages while she eats.
She can’t help but notice the familiar name of the tire business she heard on the radio the morning before. It’s yet another reminder of the best tire deals in the area. Still seeing no immediate need for this, she thinks nothing of it, closes the magazine, and returns to work.
Thursday, 4:12 PM
The weekend feels so close, yet so far for our consumer. She sits at work, but her mind is elsewhere, so she reaches for her phone to scroll through Facebook. “There it is again,” she thinks to herself as she sees an ad for the same tire business whose name she’s now noticed three times in one week. She scrolls past the ad and waits for the day to end.
Friday, 5:02 PM
It’s finally time to head home for the weekend and our consumer couldn’t be more thrilled. She’s ready to relax! As she pulls out of her office’s parking lot, she hears another reminder on the radio regarding the same tire business. “Is this business stalking me or something,” she thinks to herself. She quickly laughs this thought off as she makes her way home.
Wednesday, 8:07 AM - (3 months later)
Continuous exposure to these same advertisements (via radio, magazine, and digital platforms) has been inescapable for our consumer over the last three months.
She is officially late for work after experiencing some troubling bumps and noises coming from the right side of her vehicle. She pulls off the road and onto the shoulder. It doesn’t take long for her fears to be confirmed: her tire is completely flat and her rim already looks somewhat warped. She calls a friend, who comes to help her switch out the newly dilapidated tire for the spare.
The same Wednesday, 10:01 AM
After getting past the initial shock of the morning’s events, it’s now time for our consumer to face the task of finding a solution. Instead of googling, “Tires in Mid Missouri,” she searches the business’ name she’s been hearing on the radio and seeing in magazines and on social media.
She’s immediately taken directly to their website. She doesn’t have time to filter through the dozens of other options. She’s got to get her newfound problem solved quickly! This particular business’ name and catchy radio jingle has been stuck in her mind for months, so it only makes sense to look them up.
She easily finds a wealth of information on their website regarding their products and services, reassuring her that these people know what they’re doing. She doesn’t even need to do any more research. She knows exactly where she’s going after work to take care of her tire needs.
The tire business closes the sale and gains a new satisfied customer who will most likely be referring her friends and family to them in the future.
This representative timeline offers a very real example of integrated marketing’s effectiveness.
Marketing via one channel gives consumers a gentle nudge every once in a while. Marketing across a variety of platforms causes consumers to feel utterly surrounded and bombarded by your business’ message. This makes it impossible for the public to forget you and it causes your company’s name to be the first thing that comes to mind whenever a need for your services arises.
If your business commits to integrating its marketing channels with a consistent message, then it won’t be long before you start reaping the benefits! In the end, having the entire community instantly recognize your business’ name, products, services, jingles, and slogan will be well worth it!
Let Zimmer Radio & Marketing Group be the solution for ALL of your marketing needs: radio advertising, magazine advertising, digital advertising - you name it, we can do it! Contact us today to kick start your business’ journey to becoming a household name!
