Choosing the right media

We are spoilt for choice when planning to communicate with our customers. Online, print, outdoor, television, radio; the opportunities seem to be endless.

Now, you may be an advocate of social media or you may not. You may proudly upload your holiday photographs on your page, or you may be a private person and prefer to share such times only with friends and family: the choice is completely yours and that is exactly how it should be.

However, when it comes to marketing, it’s worth bearing in mind that what ‘floats your boat’ when it comes to receiving communications may not have the same buoyancy for your customers.

Newsagents, for example, do not stock magazines as some kind of alternative to wallpaper. Print has to be paid for, distribution costs money, and the advertising within the pages has come out of budgets.

And, for the record, what you see on the newsstand is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to publishing; there are far more controlled-circulation titles being sent to qualified lists than appear in store. Just because you don’t buy or receive any journals does not mean that your customers don’t either.

As a quick rule of social media thumb, B2C good, B2B - choice needs lots of care.

So, before you start allocating budgets, have a think from other peoples’ position. If you want to target the captains of industry, maybe Facebook is not such a good idea. However, private-type person, if you are selling toothpaste, breakfast cereals or any consumer product, it most certainly is.