Media strategy

Last updated February 29, 2024

Media strategy, as used in the advertising or content delivery (online broadcasting) industries, is concerned with how messages will be delivered to consumers or niche markets. It involves identifying the characteristics of the target audience or market as well as who should receive messages and defining the characteristics of the media that will be used for the delivery of the messages, with the intent being to influence the behavior of the target audience or market pertinent to the initial brief. Examples of such strategies today have revolved around an Integrated Marketing Communications approach whereby multiple channels of media are used i.e. advertising, public relations, events, direct response media, etc.

Overview

Media is a means or tool that is used to express and communicate messages to targeted audiences.^[1] There are various types of media, including but not limited to visual media, audio media, and traditional folk art media. Those can also overlap with each other, television is a typical example of visual-audio media. Strategy, on the other hand, is a plan created to help an individual or organization to achieve certain goals.^[2] Media strategy, specifically, is commonly applied in the public relations, marketing and advertising industries. By leveraging different forms of medium, media strategy could efficiently play an effect in establishing a good customer relationship, building a decent brand image, improving flatten sales revenue, and so on.

Stages

In the way of generating a media strategy, there are three stages of building a strategic framework- initiation, diffusion, and maturity,^[3] and each stage will have its own focus. The initiation stage is the most common one that a majority of companies will go through when developing media strategies. It guides people to identify the target demographics and the corresponding best-fit channel by primary research and secondary research. Research findings will help understand the target audience in a deeper layer and thus avoid some potential risks as well as costly losses before implementation.^[2] Carrying out research is a key step to help decision-makers uncover the hidden side of the market and better understand the consumer behaviors accordingly. Once the target audience and media channel are determined, companies are geared to their goal when it comes to the diffusion stage.^[3] During this stage, people are motivated to think about what specific outcome they aim to achieve through the media strategy, which could be very diverse among different parties. For instance, non-profit organizations tend to raise public awareness by well-designed media strategy while public companies care about how many profits will be driven out of a media strategy. Finally in the maturity stage, the main focus is no longer the goal but monitoring. Monitoring what’s happening in social media platforms is likely to generate significant insights that will not be found in any previous stages.^[3]

Case studies

Old Spice, an American old male grooming product brand, hits a huge marketing success by orchestrating social media campaigns for a correct targeted social group.^[2] Even though men are the direct consumers of Old Spice body wash product, they rarely purchase it by themselves whereas women are the actual buyers of men’s body wash. In terms of such quantitative research findings, Old Spice tailored a series of social media campaigns to attract female consumers and finally led to a steep increase in sales.^[2] Therefore, media strategy could be especially beneficial and profit-driven when implemented to the right target audiences, and doing research is an efficient approach to verify the target group. Looking back to the Old Spice’s case, social media strategy is not just to create networking effects and viral influence. The terminal goal is to pinpoint the most appropriate medium to reach out to the target audience and thus convey messages efficiently.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Marketing is the act of satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.

Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. It can be delivered by word of mouth, or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.

Mass marketing is a marketing strategy in which a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and appeal the whole market with one offer or one strategy, which supports the idea of broadcasting a message that will reach the largest number of people possible. Traditionally, mass marketing has focused on radio, television and newspapers as the media used to reach this broad audience. By reaching the largest audience possible, exposure to the product is maximized, and in theory this would directly correlate with a larger number of sales or buys into the product.

Marketing communications refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination. Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate a message to its desired market, or the market in general. It is also in charge of the internal communications of the organization. Marketing communication tools include advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sponsorship, communication, public relations, social media, customer journey and promotion.

Advertising management is a planned managerial process designed to oversee and control the various advertising activities involved in a program to communicate with a firm's target market and which is ultimately designed to influence the consumer's purchase decisions. Advertising is just one element in a company's promotional mix and as such, must be integrated with the overall marketing communications program. Advertising is, however, the most expensive of all the promotional elements and therefore must be managed with care and accountability. Advertising management process also helps in defining the outline of the media campaign and in deciding which type of advertising would be used before the launch of a product.

In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, persuasively. It helps marketers to create a distinctive place in customers' mind, it can be either a cognitive or emotional route. The aim of promotion is to increase brand awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty. It is one of the basic elements of the market mix, which includes the four Ps, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion.

An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concepts into one large media base. Advertising campaigns utilize diverse media channels over a particular time frame and target identified audiences.

The target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to the previously intended audience. In marketing and advertising, the target audience is a particular group of consumer within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message.

Marketing ethics is an area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics overlap with media and public relations ethics.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to marketing:

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development during the 1990s and 2000s changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly used digital devices instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e-books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones, callbacks, and on-hold mobile ringtones. The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.

"Youth Marketing" is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 11 to 35. More specifically, there is teen marketing, targeting people age 11 to 17, college marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 24, and young adult marketing, targeting ages 25 to 34.

Customer engagement is an interaction between an external consumer/customer and an organization through various online or offline channels. According to Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen S-D logic-Definition of customer engagement is "a customer’s motivationally driven, volitional investment of operant resources, and operand resources into brand interactions," which applies to online and offline engagement.

Brand awareness is the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognize a brand under different conditions. Brand awareness is one of two dimensions from brand knowledge, an associative network memory model. Brand awareness is a key consideration in consumer behavior, advertising management, and brand management. The consumer's ability to recognize or recall a brand is central to purchasing decision-making. Purchasing cannot proceed unless a consumer is first aware of a product category and a brand within that category. Awareness does not necessarily mean that the consumer must be able to recall a specific brand name, but they must be able to recall enough distinguishing features for purchasing to proceed. Creating brand awareness is the main step in advertising a new product or bringing back the older brand in light.

A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total market for a product or service.

Media planning is generally outsourced and entails sourcing and selecting optimal media platforms for a client's brand or product to use. The goal of media planning is to determine the best combination of media to achieve the clients objectives.

Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.

Marketing buzz or simply buzz—a term used in viral marketing—is the interaction of consumers and users with a product or service which amplifies or alters the original marketing message. This emotion, energy, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service can be positive or negative. Buzz can be generated by intentional marketing activities by the brand owner or it can be the result of an independent event that enters public awareness through social or traditional media such as newspapers. Marketing buzz originally referred to oral communication but in the age of Web 2.0, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are now the dominant communication channels for marketing buzz.

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of social media marketing campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone".

Word-of-mouth marketing differs from naturally occurring word of mouth, in that it is actively influenced or encouraged by organizations. While it is difficult to truly control WOM, research has shown that there are three generic avenues to 'manage' WOM for the purpose of WOMM:

References

↑ NARASIMHA, REDDI (2019). Effective public relations and media strategy. PHI LEARNING. ISBN 9789388028905.
1 2 3 4 Quesenberry, Keith (2021). Social Media Strategy: Marketing, advertising, and public relations in the consumer revolution. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 79-101. ISBN 9781538138182.
1 2 3 Effing, Robin; Spil, Ton A. M. (2016-02-01). "The social strategy cone: Towards a framework for evaluating social media strategies" (PDF). International Journal of Information Management. 36 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.07.009. ISSN 0268-4012.
↑ Richardson, Paul; Choong, Peggy; Parker, Mark (2016). "Social Media Marketing Strategy: Theory and Research Propositions" (PDF). Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness. 10 (2).

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[1] NARASIMHA, REDDI (2019). Effective public relations and media strategy. PHI LEARNING. ISBN 9789388028905.

[:0-2] 1 2 3 4 Quesenberry, Keith (2021). Social Media Strategy: Marketing, advertising, and public relations in the consumer revolution. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 79-101. ISBN 9781538138182.

[:1-3] 1 2 3 Effing, Robin; Spil, Ton A. M. (2016-02-01). "The social strategy cone: Towards a framework for evaluating social media strategies" (PDF). International Journal of Information Management. 36 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.07.009. ISSN 0268-4012.

[4] Richardson, Paul; Choong, Peggy; Parker, Mark (2016). "Social Media Marketing Strategy: Theory and Research Propositions" (PDF). Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness. 10 (2).

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