Life for the Marketing Director used to be simple. You took your marketing budget and
invested it in a combination of advertising, events and direct mail – in fact pretty much what you do today.
However 20 years ago your advertising was print and your direct mail postal. Then everything changed, along came the Internet and in came discussions on ROI, click through rates, targeting, social media, open rates, and more.
It’s all good, your choices for how to communicate your audience are greater, the opportunities for creativity more compelling, and it’s all measurable, so what’s the problem?
The problem is that this misses some of the basics principals of marketing, and for those of us promoting telecom infrastructure related products and services may just be missing the point. Think about this:
- can a telcom operator buy your product online using their PayPal account – if you are selling part of an NGN, offering an outsourced solution or most other things in the telecommunications space, I doubt it.
- do the C-Level executives from your major clients register to listen to your webinar or download your white paper, do they walk the halls of major trade expo’s picking up leaflets (how many Tier 1 operator CEO’s burdened with bags of leaflets and stress balls did you spot at #MWC12)
If the answer to questions like these is ‘no’ then there is a very strong argument for going back to basics, bring back the corporate advert and the banner, they are just as vital a part of your marketing mix as webinars, video interviews and social media campaigns – and they are simple and comparatively cheap to produce.
But I hear you shout, they aren’t measurable, and in a sense it’s true, but go back to basics and the effect can be seen. Do branding campaigns reflect on increases in traffic to your company website (not necessarily click through rates on the advert) and over a period of time, do sales increase.
So, to summarise:
- Pick media where the audience matches your target – and ensure that what they claim matches reality. As to see their BPA or ABC audit – whether in print or online – you can view the Total Telecom web traffic here.
- Think about metrics you can measure / assess – not just CTR on banners. ComScore says two-thirds of internet users do not click on any display ads over the course of a month and those who do tend to younger and less affluent (whilst this is a consumer market observation – it probably reflects on the people you want to target). Think about Reach, Engagement, Lift etc. – read iMediaConnections 5 Advertising Metrics You Should Know
Long live the banner and the corporate advert – the perfect companion to more fancy forms of promotion!
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