Last week, we wrote about the first steps involved with developing a media plan. To recap quickly, the basics – after identifying your audience – involve determining the reach, frequency and a vision of the impact you’d like to make with your campaign. Understanding the purpose behind a campaign is very important because your goals provide you with direction.
The underlying essence behind media planning is the connection created between people and companies. It’s no secret that in a highly competitive market where multiple suppliers are constantly trying to build a loyal customer base for similar products and service, sometimes we all just have to accept our existing portion of the market share.
Expanding market share involves establishing a constant presence. As we mentioned last week, on average, a consumer is exposed to a message three times before she takes notice. To stay visible within the “Goldilocks” range – neither overexposed nor underexposed – requires trial and error tweaking, but the masses can still be drawn in.
Since not all of us offer tangible goods and a successful business requires a web presence, we’re going to offer a few insights on capturing market share via a manipulation of web presence. If the product is accessible – i.e. priced fairly – visible and sold with clear communication of the differentiating features, it will do its job in creating a wider customer base.
With web-centric commerce, take advantage of the host of analytical tools available to design your strategy.
1. Site analytics – CMS platforms like Drupal and WordPress, and now Facebook and Twitter, come built-in with reports of daily analytics of interaction and visibility within your audience. As does Google.
2. Contextual Advertising – Contextual advertising is built around communicating your message on an online medium based on the content being displayed.
3. Press Releases and Search Engine Marketing – Strategically placed product reviews (paid), press releases of new products and ventures and constant tweaking of SEM keywords help increase and keep visibility stable. They move you beyond specific searches and bring your services up at the forefront for generic queries as well.
