The 14 Ps of Mixed Media Marketing - Part 7

Personas
This is one of the mixed media marketing Ps that has not yet been mentioned in marketing school. A persona is a representation of a typical character in your target audience. They are a group of people that you can label (for your own marketing purposes). The people that you want to appeal to should be captured in a persona or several different personas so that your brand can communicate more effectively with each group. It is a way to help you, the marketer, get into the mind of your consumers and understand them; what is important to them and what they like/dislike. Your mixed media marketing campaigns will be built specifically for people who fit within your personas.

A car dealer selling small cars can have several personas to cater for. One may be the elderly person who only needs to drive around town. A name for this persona may be “Nanas”. Another group may be young professionals, mostly females, working in the city. They cannot afford a large car or the petrol that goes along with it. A small car is also ideal for them to park in the city’s small spaces. This persona can be the “Chics” or “Fashionistas”.

Personas take market segmentation to a new level because it requires the marketer to learn about a particular type of person. It is more than demographics. We include lifestyle, values, views and other information to build profiles of the groups.

To get inside these personas and understand your market; read what they read, go where they go, do what they like to do, spend time with them and use what you have learnt to appeal to them in your marketing. To relate to your customers and market successfully you must be able to understand their personas.

This is not a new idea; it’s a fundamental of targeted marketing.

Online Marketing News

Spending on online marketing continues to grow in the midst of the recession. While other advertising channels such as radio, newspaper and TV have experienced decreased advertising spending, a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau in partnership with PwC confirms NZ businesses are investing more and more of their marketing budget online. Some of the highlights from the 2009 1st quarter report are:

• Spending on Internet advertising increased 7.99% from the same quarter in 2008.
• $49.26m was spent on online advertising in Q1 2009
• It grew 2.14% from the previous quarter.
• Online advertising represented 8.3% of New Zealand's adspend in 2008.
• Search advertising comprised of 38% of New Zealand's online advertising expenditure with $18.77m spent in Q1 2009.

Businesses are getting smarter with their budget and are finding that online is the best way to go. It is accountable and flexible giving you measurable results and more ways to distribute your messages.

For a summary of the report see the IAB website.

The 14 Ps of Mixed Media Marketing - Part 6

Promotion
This classic P is central to marketing. It is not interchangeable with “marketing”. It needs the guidance of a marketing strategy for it to be effective. Promotions are programs or campaigns designed by the marketing strategy with the aim of achieving the marketing objectives. Usually this means an advertising or PR campaign and running specials or having special events.

In mixed media marketing, promotion is taken online and offline. There are innovative ways of taking traditional promotional ideas and implementing them online, in an environment where the responses are accurately measurable and the promotion can be easily modified. However, offline promotion is also important and complements online promotion.

• It is easy to add discounts to your online store with the right software or maybe just offer specials to loyal customers.
  
• Cheaply and conveniently distribute coupons and special offers using email or announcements to fans and followers.
  
• Public relations are best performed online where your brand can interact using two-way communication.
  
• Online advertising is also the most flexible and can be done on a low budget.

These are just a handful of the possible benefits of Promotion using mixed media marketing. If your offline promotional efforts are doing great, then continue using them. But look for ways to freshen them up. Integrate them online.

If you are a retail, B2B, vertical, hospitality, factory or website-based business; think of ways that you can promote more sales. What can you do to move more product? In times like these, every business needs to change something. Re-think your promotions and how your brand interacts with the market.