I’ve been writing a lot lately about how media and digital marketing has changed. It’s not just me ranting about how people that are stuck in the old ways are dumb. There is actual logic to this.
The media landscape has changed. It used to be that TV ruled, Billboards were important and everyone subscribed to their local newspaper. These days with DVR and streaming services, unless you’re watching live sports, I’d bet you $1000 that you don’t watch commercials. When you are a passenger in a car you never see any of the billboards on the sides of the road because your face is buried in your cell phone. And newspapers… don’t even get me started.
The point is that we’ve reached a tipping point in media and society. To coin a famous Gary Vaynerchuk statement, the television is now the radio and the mobile phone is now the television. As technology advances and new mediums emerge, it’s a logical progression.
With this progression, how you play the marketing game has also changed. Long gone are the days of pumping out sales materials as your marketing content. People want to feel like they are part of something. They want to be educated. They want to be engaged with. As a result, you need to bring them value.
Cross-platform is replacing the single-channel brand
Businesses that rely solely on a website and traditional advertising to hold their audience’s attention are going to lose the battle. This is actually going to happen faster than you would imagine. Today’s media landscape demands a cross-platform approach with multiple touchpoints for connecting with consumers.
The competition that brands engage in these days has changed. When people consume content online, on podcasts or through videos, they’re more likely to care about the quality of the content than who created it or even where it appears.
Media companies and traditional businesses are adjusting their idea of where, how and why content is created and published. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are designed to make branded content feel as relevant and accessible as content from a friend. It’s this type of content that makes consumers feel like they are part of something and drives engagement.
So as a result, what you have is brands that are increasingly embracing a cross-platform approach. Instead of creating a branded blog or Instagram profile, the guys that are doing this the best repurpose their content and optimize assets for multiple platforms. By doing this, your brand is instantly recognizable, no matter where your content appears.
To win new customers and earn greater loyalty from existing ones, you should invest in high-quality content. If you have the assets internally to do this, fantastic, get started now. If you don’t, you need to partner with an agency to help you get to these goals before the changing landscape leaves you behind.