The Touch Process: Incorporating Traditional Media in Your Marketing Strategy

Author: Rachel Durkan Category: B2B, B2C, E-commerce & Retail, Marketing, Nonprofit, Social Media & Digital, Web Design Date: December 15, 2016

In this blog series, we are discussing “the touch process” in your marketing strategy and how you can leverage your website as an effective marketing tool. It takes 7-9 touches to really reach your target audience in a marketing campaign. Although it is vital to have a website where visitors can download tools or sign up for more information, newsletters or contact you, it is imperative that you have a plan to send visitors to your website.

Have you considered traditional media in your marketing plan?

When we talk about traditional media, we are referring to press releases, advertisements in newspapers or magazines, and TV or radio spots. Where do these fall in your marketing plan?

The Press Release

If you haven’t thought about traditional media at all, a good place to start is to incorporate press releases into your marketing plan. A press release informs the public about news in your organization or company. It should be no more than one page in length and include your contact information so a member of the media can contact you with additional questions. It includes the who, what, where, when and how of the news story. Nothing more. No opinions.

What is great about the press release is that it not only sends information out to the various media outlets, but it is also new content you can add to your website. Every time you add new content to your website, Google will index your new page for their search engine.

When you send out your press release to media outlets, you are directing them to your website by including your link somewhere in the release, or at the bottom. You can also post your press release to press release distribution sites such as www.pr.com. When you do this, you are also gaining new inbound links to your website, which is helpful to your search rankings.

TV or Radio Spots

These days, a TV or radio ad might cost an arm and a leg or a bargain, depending on the programming and channel you would like to advertise during. A television ad can direct viewers to your website to “do”a number of things, such as purchase a product, sign up for a list, receive coupons or freebies, read more information, request someone to contact you, or more. TV ads are what we call “interruption advertising.” It’s one “touch” in the process, and not always the most effective. You are, essentially, interrupting the viewer/listener’s programming to tell them about your product or service.

The important thing to remember if you’re going to use a TV or radio advertisement, you should direct viewers/listeners to your website to perform an action. This action will act as a conversion on your website, so you can judge and analyze how well your campaign is working.

Newspaper & Magazine Advertisements

When you think of traditional media, I am sure that advertising in a newspaper or magazine comes to mind. Whether you are advertising in a local newspaper, a niche magazine, or a nationally distributed newspaper or magazine, you will want to consider how it is you’re going to analyze the return on your investment. This will be the same as a TV or Radio Ad so you’ll want to direct your readers to your website to take action. Whether it is in the form of purchasing a product, signing up for more information, downloading a tool, requesting that your company contacts them or subscribing to your newsletter, all of these actions are considered conversions. This makes the advertisement and your website an effective part of your marketing strategy.

Traditional media can be used as a touch point in your marketing strategy, but should direct readers or viewers/listeners to your website in order for you to capture the ROI. By directing them to take action once they are on your website, you have the capability now to not only analyze the effectiveness of the ad, but you should also follow-up with those who have landed on your website due to interest because of something they read, saw or heard. In our next blog post, we will discuss the number of different “touches” someone will find once they hit your website.