Own Your Audience

It seems impossible to believe that January 2010 is already half over.  I love the flurry of activity associated with the New Year.  There is also a sense that, at least in the marketing world, things are more optimistic than last year.
While many marketers have strategically planned their organizations 2010 initiatives, others are being more fluid with their approach to this year.  Whatever camp you fall into, here are three concepts to keep in mind.
1.  Stop renting your audience and start owning it.
This was the theme of Daisy Whitney’s “New Media Minute” show for the week of January 11th.  Due in part to social media, the Web and changing offline media habits, many companies are making the move to “owning” their audience.  Take soda pop giant Pepsi.  For years, Pepsi has been a major player in that game known as Super Bowl Advertisers Ad-xtravagnza.  The grid iron game of the year was also one of Pepsi’s biggest marketing events.  But that won’t be the case this year.  Pepsi is going to embark on more targeted, mostly online efforts, to reach soda drinkers. 
I believe every marketer should consider owning their audience through a mix of integrated marketing efforts.  A media plan where you’re paying someone else (a TV station, newspaper or website) may not guarantee you reach.  Focusing just on newspapers, Harris Interactive released some stunning stats.  Just 2 in 5 Americans don’t even read a daily newspaper and 77% of Americans will not pay for online newspaper content.  Three-fourths of adults – no doubt some of your target audience – will not pay to read a newspaper online.  If they don’t read the content, they won’t see your ad.
Another point that needs to be stressed – companies are moving dollars from traditional media to digital marketing efforts.  While placement may be free, there are still dollars being spent to create the message and to have someone distribute this message.  Partly due to the economy and partly due to how some people think about the Web, interactive marketing is not a “free” effort.  You do have to commit budget to it and, sometimes, you even need to pay for a product or service in order to gain ROI from your efforts.
2.  “Searchmercial”
With Daisy’s stellar recommendation in mind, start thinking in terms of a “searchmercial“.  What’s that?  A “searchmercial” is short-form web video content that helps people locate your business.  This content can be a :30 to :90 second video that tells your story.  Take one extra step to make your “searchmercial” more valuable by building it on a video landing page. This way, when audiences who may not know about your business learn about it through the video content, they have a way to reach you directly. This beats with putting the onus on the audience to find you.  A “searchmercial” video landing page can be deployed any number of ways – through keyword ads, integrated into blogs, shared via social networking, and even distributed via email.
3.  Leverage Smart Technology
Website Magazine wrote a great article about how marketers can leverage online applications to their advantage.  While online businesses are using technology to improve their customer experience, many organizations have admitted that they may not be using analytical data to their advantage.  I truly believe that the FLIMP Platform’s sweet spot is the robust analytical data every flimp video landing page generates.  We don’t provide this data because we like looking at pretty charts and graphs.  We give you this data because we know it can help you with your marketing efforts.  Isn’t that why you use a marketing technology like Flimp?  To help you improve your bottom line. 
In this New Year, do not let the data bog you down.  Embrace analytics.  Website Magazine best summed it up:  “The bottom line is, using analytics to the right extent isn’t easy but if managed with care, can provide the means to significantly increase brand recognition and revenue.”  What’s even better:  Flimp analytics are easy to understand and easy to manage.