New media is not chaff

13 Jun 2007

Contrary to Kevin van Deventer's belief (see Separating the wheat from the new media chaff), new media does deliver real value, both “in terms of reach and impact”. If the vast majority of the world's communications, marketing, and web experts are saying the same, business owners, marketers, and communicators must start embracing this new “paradigm” if they're to maintain a competitive advantage. And that's the tipping point…

Consumers are switching off to traditional methods of advertising. Sure, TV, radio, print and outdoor all do indeed provide massive reach. But what, or more precisely, who are we reaching here? An LSM? People flipping channels while adverts are screened? People paging through magazines in search of their favourite column? People driving past hundreds of billboards not actually remembering any messaging by the time they arrive at work?

Demonstrate people-centricity

I'd rather advocate the reach of individuals. And if companies say that they're people-centric companies, shouldn't they start demonstrating same in their communications?

So, it comes as no surprise that I then disagree that it's just about “getting as much reach of your target market for as long as possible”. I'd like to think that it's about getting as much targeted and measurable reach as possible that integrates with the broader “as much reach as possible” approaches. It's this targeted reach that will facilitate the creation of relationships. It's this measurable reach that will cut down on overall costs. And, it's this sort of reach that will stand out from what competitors are doing.

Savvy media planners are often given the job of dividing “the wheat from the chaff”, but sometimes these same media planners who don't know what most of the tactics are, let alone how they are measured, what benefits they offer when integrated with traditional media, and what value they can bring to a company's bottom line.

I blame this on three things:

some media buyers turning their heads on new ways of doing business,
the large supply of techno-dribble that makes matters even more confusing to media buyers and companies, and
rightfully said, a lot of new media companies opening up or recommending solutions without having the right expertise onboard.

The truth of the matter is that no other marketing spend can be measured as accurately and rolled out in a more conversion-focused manner than online. However, I'm in agreement that, on its own, online stands no chance for a big brand, let alone the big brand spends that media planners often control.

Embrace new ways

But traditional media is shrinking because more and more customers are switching off to traditional channels, which means we must start embracing new ways of engaging with them. With this comes the education of these facts to clients. And when traditional media players slander new media approaches in front of their clients, does that not lead to a client who's ill-informed?

Any good new media strategist brings four things to the table: an original concept, a business case study, excellent expertise, and the courage to stand before traditional media players. And that's why my and some others' approaches are different. We'd rather work with traditional media buyers in trying to figure out how these innovative ways of engaging in meaningful dialogue with target markets and having a positive impact of ROI can be integrated with their expertise.