With the New Year upon us, we continue to observe constant change in the marketing arena.

As the media spectrum continues to expand, strategic well-thought-out integrated marketing strategies become more critical to the overall success of each campaign.

Is inbound marketing (SEO, Search and Social) taking over traditional platforms? Yes, No and It Depends…(Perhaps I should have gone into politics). The overall consensus is that social marketing budget allocations are growing rapidly but in most cases are not taking over traditional media all together… at least for now.

The Role of Social Media in Today’s Marketing Plans

Social media builds and strengthens consumer and business customer relationships while influencing new audiences (friends).  Social marketing should complement every traditional marketing/media campaign by providing supportive content to further strengthen the initial point of contact.

Mobile Increasingly Entering the Media Plan

At the same time mobile traffic is undergoing exponential growth. The proliferation of smart phones and tablets means advertisers can now reach consumers almost anywhere. Many anticipate the smart phone will soon replace the wallet with the onset of digital payment apps and stored value products such as Passbook.

Mobile (SMS) permits advertisers to reach consumers as they approach your store. By leveraging new digital technologies and consumer mobile devices advertisers can then send tailored messages/coupon offers to lure them in.

One of the greatest challenges and biggest priorities for marketers this year will be compiling and reporting data for cross-channel marketing campaigns. Using a common reliable source to measure specified campaign metrics will allow us to better understand what customer actions each platform triggers.

Digital Media on the Rise

More and more CMO’s are looking to integrate digital media into their marketing and media plans. As pressure to reduce marketing expense and increase measurable ROI increases more and more companies are looking to add digital to their media programs.

The latest estimate by Zenith OptiMedia shows digital media accounted for almost 18% of total media spending in 2012 with this figure expected to top 21% in the next couple of years.

What it all Means

As social media grows, mobile becomes the norm and content marketing plays an ever important role, traditional media can also become more effective with inbound marketing support. With the onslaught of new reporting data across the media spectrum, we will continue to measure, analyze and optimize to further improve overall results.

Whatever you do make sure you have trusted and well-connected media advise on your marketing team. They should be fluent in the latest digital and traditional media trends and services. Finding and incorporating targeted media channels will help increase your brand’s impact and lower your overall expense.

The First Step toward New Media and Multi-Channel Integration

Ad Agencies and media buying firms all have a vested interest in selling your company something. To leverage today’s exploding new media marketplace you need an ally on your team.

The Ascension media strategy and executional team has an extensive traditional and new media expertise gained from hands-on experience planning, negotiating, and buying complex media programs around the world. If you’d like to get some objective media expertise on your team, contact us at info@ascensionstrategy.com.

We help our clients leverage new media opportunities to drive targeted, more efficient media programs.

We can help your organization too!