Denver, Colorado – So often advertisers think of their campaigns and media plans in a bubble – operating with tunnel vision and making one platform the end-all, be-all when, in actuality, an integrated media plan approach actually garners the best results. Think about it – do all of the members of your target audience hang out at the same place at the same time? The answer is no, they do not.

There’s often a split where a certain number may prefer your Facebook profile, some look for information on your website only, and another group may respond well to online and print ads. If you are not looking at the bigger picture, you can easily alienate portions of your target base and lessen your reach and probability of achieving your goal.

Traditional media is still around because it works – television, outdoor billboards, radio and print have a huge audience and many people flock to these sources for news and information. When working with your media agency, make sure that they have a strong traditional media plan in place for your business so that at the very minimum, you are hitting the most frequented points of contact for your audience. This can serve as the foundation for your media plan and ensure that you have a solid base upon which to add in your digital, mobile and social platforms.

One of the easiest ways to tie in these other platforms with your traditional media base is through cross-promotion. For example, every time that you run a television ad, your media agency can work with the station to run an online ad on its website as well so that the two will run in conjunction. This will expand the depth of your message reach and connect with multiple segments of your audience.

Another way to tie in other platforms is to clearly outline what you want viewers to do after seeing the ad by giving a call to action. After all, it is great to be entertained, but if you create a 30-second spot to highlight a new product offering, instead of just fading to black at the end, urge viewers to visit your website to find out more information. This will pull more viewers to your website so that they can utilize it as an information hub for all things pertaining to your business, and it instantly gives you an outlook on how many people say your ad and actually followed through with what you asked, which indicates their level of interest in your company.

All of this can be done through social media as well, whereby you ask viewers to tweet a certain hash tag featured in the ad or weigh in with their opinions on your Facebook wall. By communicating via multiple forms of media, you amplify your message.

Although this method will take some work to coordinate, your marketing agency is filled with highly skilled experts who can recommend the best mix of media platforms and ad frequencies to achieve the goals that you are striving for. By utilizing their industry knowledge, you come away with a tailor-made plan that works best for your business and the audience you are looking to reach.

If you would like to more information on how to improve your media buying and increasing sales, contact us today.