07 Mar A revolutionary way to plan your communication
It used to be that in order to make as many people as possible aware of your message you would hit them over the head enough times via ‘mass reach’ channels with annoyingly high ‘frequency’. However, for an increasing number of marketers this ‘exposure’ model is delivering diminishing returns.
In a world where ad-blocking is growing at 38%, where people are flocking to ad-free subscription services like Netflix and the only place to get mass audiences is in expensive event TV or sport, we need to rethink the communication model.
What if there was a way to connect with a large number of people by leveraging something that you already have? Well, we believe there is, and we call it ‘Communicating from the Inside-out’.
It starts with your owned channels (your staff, website, social pages, stores). After all, it is here where your loyal customers interact with your business and where your new customers get their first impression, so they are the most important channels. But owned media channels are so often underutilised or neglected. Store windows, website homepages and customer-facing staff, all have scale and influence for your messages. The ‘media’ value of Australian businesses owned media ranges from $2M to $50M – a significant foundation for any communication plan.
How it works
The first step is to create an owned media playbook which details out each owned media asset for size, audience profile, communication role, content share-ability and result delivery. Each asset forms part of your always-on brand communication infrastructure. Every time you have a new message you want to communicate, you pick the appropriate channels from your owned media playbook for a relevant time period.
The second step is to leverage your most precious asset of all; your customers. The most likely source of growth is going to come from attracting more people like the ones you already have. So, existing customer behaviour is a good proxy for predicting how new customers will behave when it comes to advocating your offer and sharing your content. If, for example, you have 5 content videos and one is a clear favourite with customers, then that video is likely to be the one that customers share from owned media and attracts new customers in paid media channels.
The third step is to work out how much and what type of media you need to buy to supplement the scale and type of communication you are achieving through owned and earned channels. Paid media is so often the first step but in this model it is the last, maximising the assets you own and can influence before you pay a premium to ‘reach’ new audiences through other channels.
The 3-step model is therefore to build your communication inside-out by starting with an owned media plan (using the playbook), followed by a content distribution plan (based on what is working with your customers) and then top up with paid media.
Too many marketing teams get fixated with creating ads designed to lure the people furthest from their business first; cold prospects through paid media. We believe marketers should start by investing in leveraging those already loyal to or considering their business; warm prospects through owned media. Resulting in more valued connections, greater advocacy and less meaningless exposures.