What's the Best Media Mix for Your Company?

Having worked on the client side for numerous businesses and media agencies, the perfect media mix really depends on your budget, where your business is in the business life cycle (corporation, start-up, seeking funding, etc.) and what your business goals are.


Below are some scenarios where your marketing mix and strategy really changes based on what sort of branding your business currently has and how much money you have in your Marketing coffers.



No Branding, No Budget

Goal - GET USERS TO INCREASE CONTENT AND BRANDING

  • Increase organic presence through engaging and hopefully viral content

  • Improved SEO - amazing website, user friendly mobile app

  • Increase content posted by users organically by offering them incentives (amazing fun app experience, some sort of discounts/benefits from posting content)

  • Partnerships with local businesses & Influencers (word of mouth marketing)

  • Increase Community Presence (if local) or National Presence (builds a positive business reputation)


No Branding, Large Budgets (letgo at beginning stages)

GOAL: ATTAIN NATIONAL BRANDING PRESENCE

  • National TV Campaigns - during prime TV spots (superbowl - ie avocados for mexico)

  • Partnerships with Influencers & Major Celebrities (increasing mentions through artistic content)

  • Increase YouTube Video Content (Brand Lift Studies & Measurement of Social Engagement Metrics)

  • Spotify, National Radio

  • Organic Social Presence - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

  • Amazing Website & Mobile App development (launched before marketing starts)


Here, you just want to let people come in organically and see how your brand campaigns are faring by measuring NPS and through multiple brand lift studies. Also, comparison to other competitors in a similar industry to see where you fall.


Startup with Branding & Large Budget (Letgo)

GOAL - GET ENGAGED REVENUE GENERATING USERS

  • Paid Search

  • Paid Social

  • Aggressive Testing - with new partners, campaigns, audiences, creatives

  • Programmatic Partnerships (non-incentivized traffic sources ONLY).

  • Partnerships with Businesses that have the ideal and very niche audience that are most likely to generate revenue.


Here, you can diversify your media mix and do aggressive testing of new sources.


Local Brick & Mortar Business - Average Branding & Budget (example - Blink Fitness)

GOAL: ACQUIRE SALES FOR LOCAL BUSINESS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN YEAR END PROFITABILITY

  • Email Marketing

  • Organic Social (Facebook, Instagram)

  • Paid Non-Branded Search

  • Paid Competitor Search

  • OOH - Billboards

  • Local Partnerships (popular restaurants, cafes, retailer discounts)

  • Local Radio Stations

  • Community Presence (volunteer events, providing donations to schools & other community organizations)


Here, you want to utilize your best customers to get newer customers but also be flexible in changing the marketing mix based on the type of demographics in the local market you are entering into. Audience data for local markets is super useful to look at before deciding what channel to put your dollars in. For example, if locals fall into the retirement and 65+ age category, Direct Mail, Billboards and partnering with businesses popular with this target demo would be useful and you would want to stay away from heavy social unless it’s limited to this age group online.


National Corporation - Branding, Budget (example - PCH)

GOAL: UNLIMITED SPENDING AS LONG AS 20-30% ROI GENERATED & YOY CUSTOMER BASE GROWING

  • Email Marketing

  • Native Advertising

  • Non-Branded Paid Search

  • Non-Branded Paid Social

  • Top Corporate Partnerships

  • TV Commercials/Video Brand Lift Studies

  • Utilizing data to find new audiences (remarketing to VIP highest revenue generating audience, lookalikes)

  • Utilizing current library of content in Paid Advertising to acquire new users

  • Affiliate Marketing (with heavy attention to detail for FRAUD & ROI)

  • Programmatic Partnerships (heavy attention to FRAUD & to ROI)

  • New avenues to maintain continuous engagement of current customers so they keep spending (via gamification - mobile apps or online content - tokens, prizes, etc.)

  • Mergers & Acquisitions - to diversify and find alternate sources of revenue away from current sources. Also, to expand to other target demographics that would not come through your current branding efforts.


At this level, the sky is the limit because you have amazing branding and unlimited resources.Lots of vendors want to work with you so you have to be more nitpicky about who to work with and really protect your current brand presence. Also means making sure that businesses that steal your brand recognition to make money are taken down immediately.