This article originally appeared here as part of MOXYPLANET Media’s “Lost in Translation: Digital vs. Traditional” series, which is geared towards traditional producers and publishers who may be allergic to the idea of stepping through the digital doorway. You can find Part I here. .
Listen up, traditional producers! It’s time to look squarely into the eyes of your new-found digital audience. Go on.
Marketing your programs as ‘brands’ and reaching audiences in the digital era may seem daunting, but the plethora of tools to share your work, build that brand, and reach out and high-five your potential fan base have made the transition simpler, and more cost-effective, for you. As a traditionalist, you may be well-acquainted with the established modes of sharing; television, websites, print, and billboard advertising, as well as good old-fashioned face-to-face selling (the kids nowadays call it “f2f”), did right by you. But digital audiences are out there, hungry for your content, and they exist well beyond the local areas that traditional media can reach. You can definitely double your potential reach by using digital marketing mediums in addition to your old favourites.
For those brand new to the online biz, here are some simple tips on how to get yourself adept at digital:
Go Shopping
The most important step in establishing your fabulous stuff online is knowing your brand and what it’s all about. You want eyeballs. Who’s your demographic? Is your content lifestyle, kids, drama, comedy? Are there existing brands, consumer goods or products that complement yours ? Whoever you are, figure out what digital platforms and means of outreach would work best for your content, depending on whether your brand lends itself better to imagery-heavy platforms (like YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat); written content/conversational platforms (such as Twitter, or those cost-effective, beautiful things called e-newsletters); or search engines, in which case you can throw some ad dollars towards search engine optimization, or as the marketing gurus call it, “SEO”. With the magic of SEO, you can grab onto specific customers/audiences with more precision and speed than if using the traditional tools. Whatever you choose, using these platforms can very quickly tell you how a particular campaign is doing, and you can go from there. Just make sure your website, landing page, and social media homepages have a wow-factor, and show off your goods in the best possible way, before whittling down your marketing moola.
Consider the Costs
Your budget will determine many of your choices above, it’s true. But luckily, one of the advantages of marketing in order to reach a more global audience in the digital age? It’s far, far cheaper to get your content flowing to the online masses. If you have a limited set of funds, and depending on the social platforms you choose, it’s likely that a solid online presence is going to be your bestest bud. Costs for marketing in the digital sphere only require a bigger chunk of change if you begin employing a full-time social marketing guru; if you contract a third-party to take on the responsibility for you; or you want to get aggressive with your AdWords dollars. Otherwise, using social media management systems like HootSuite and Tweetdeck, in conjunction with a snappy content calendar, cost you little in time and dime.
Get Personal With Your Audience Peeps
You can keep on keeping on with traditional outreach, but know that you’re limiting yourself to a certain kind of demographic. Digital audiences are hungry for your content, and are usually younger, with traditional consumers being of the discerning, older, less ‘digitally engaged’ set. To reach a maximum mass of people (if that’s your M.O.), double up and make use of both traditional and digital outlets! There is no denying that established models still have immense power but digital platforms can give you lightning-speed insight into who are your audience is, what they consume and when, where they live, how they identify, and more. Which leads me to……
Get Down and Dirty With Digital Data
One of the greatest advantages of working with digital content is the incredibly incisive, revealing data that becomes available to you, and fast. By investing time (or people) in the targeted media-monitoring of your campaigns, posts, website traffic, and more, your digital audience begins to crystallize before your eyes. Keeping an eye peeled on your content and campaigns allows you to make informed assumptions about your audience and its interests, age groups, income levels, genders, geographical locations, languages and more (the list really does go on). And the other beautiful thing? With a few clicks, you can interact with them in real time, and deliver the content you have determined they are hungry for.
These are mere morsels in the overall scope of your digital journey. At the heart of it all: Be willing to embrace digital marketing and overall online presence when it comes to your content and brand. This will allow you to think globally, and cast an international net for your potential audiences to visit your websites, watch your productions, buy your products, and develop a love for you and what you do. It’s time-effective. It’s cost-effective. It’s dripping with delicious data. And: it’s all yours, in real-time. All you have to do? Take a bite.
for Moxyplanet by Samantha Mehra
To learn more about traditional vs. digital marketing, read on!:
“Digital marketing vs traditional marketing: And why is digital marketing important for your business?” By Jiarong Lau
http://www.conversionbug.com/digital-marketing-vs-traditional-marketing/
Traditional marketing vs. digital marketing” by Manasvi Shiram
https://yourstory.com/mystory/e09309421c-traditional-marketing
“Eyeballs vs Engagement: the Struggle of Digital Advertising” by Phil Pearson
https://medium.com/@philgpearson/eyeballs-vs-engagement-the-struggle-of-digital-advertising-301ffd61c773
This article appears as part of the Moxyplanet “Lost in Translation” series, articles devoted to bridging the gap between traditional and digital content and their producers.
samanthamehra.ca 