Traditional or New Media? – Small Business
In my seventeen years working in media never have I seen it so important for a business to be seen. Of course every business wants to be seen but I mean, really seen! Being visible to and understood by your target audience now means something different. The places where the consumer looks for information have moved from where they were five years ago. The Yellow Pages was once the bible but not anymore.
The new media specialist will tell you it is all happening on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The sales executive at your local newspaper and magazine will tell you advertising is still king. Television and radio stations will give you the latest OzTam figures and the spiel that electronic media rules the airwaves and it’s the only place to be seen. To be brutally honest, you can take everything they are saying and throw it on the garden because it will be the best fertiliser your garden has received for a long time.
New media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is the new boy on the block and a lot of local WA businesses are using it effectively. In fact there are many businesses that use it as their sole form of advertising and marketing. This is an attractive option because it is thought to be cheap and accessible but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Time is our most crucial asset in business and in particular small business does not have much of it. Social media can not only take a lot of your time but it can consume you for very little return. It’s also not a platform for the novice many have been caught out and mistakes are easy to make. If companies such as Qantas and Harvey Norman make mistakes on this platform you can be sure that you will make some along the way. When using new and social media, work from a strong sense of purpose, clear brand focus and strategy for using your time efficiently. This will ensure that you communicate your position effectively and make the best of the potentially viral nature of consumer online sharing.
Traditional media such as newspaper, radio and television advertising is still extremely effective but out of reach for many small and medium sized businesses. Ask John Hughes or Craig Gemmel how much they spend on advertising. It’s enough to pay back a small country’s foreign debt! This form of media may be ideal for brand saturation for an ASX200 company but may not be appropriate for the successful and thriving fish and chip shop in Leederville. It is also difficult to assess the Return on Investment of advertising in newspapers, on radio and on television. Consumer behaviour has changed, with more online activity than ever before, providing more opportunities for researching, reviewing and sharing online. Traditional media opportunities have to get more aligned with these new behaviours and they are. The big media houses are investing a lot of money online and their presence on the web to align with consumer behaviour. Consider how traditional avenues might be used to direct traffic to your business.
If you are a small business, look at all forms of media and consult with others on where you think your new customers are. Invest in research and understand where your target audience is. A PR consultant or a marketing strategist can help you identify where your current and future clients are. This investment can save you a lot of money and heartache down the road. Too often the band-aid approach, the quick fix is implemented which can result in instant results but the long term goals are never reached.
Take the time to understand where your current clients are consuming and engaging media and you will have the key to a new door of opportunity. It is through this door that real communication and messaging to future business development and revenue exists. More than likely it will be a mixture of both new and traditional media that is required. The next challenge is then to find the right mix. The right percentage of time and money dedicated to communicating through these mediums. This is usually the hard part and where you will need help.
Don’t listen to salespeople that are only interested in selling their media package with no real regard for your business. Listen to those that matter. Listen to your clients, listen to your employees, listen to the independent advisors that can help you position your brand not only to be seen; but to shine!
