What Media Mix Works Best?

What Media Mix Works Best?

Recommended reading - while perusing the discussions, debates and descriptions of how to determine what media mix works best, I found the “How to chose a social media agency – the questions to ask” blog post from A Good Many, a UK-based creative agency - to be especially interesting and informative.

Of particular relevance for me was the question, “How many people in my target market are using social networks?” This is because I recently secured media coverage announcing a client’s workshop in our local newspaper, The Orange County Register. Since we also conduct email and other forms of outreach, we asked those attending how they found out about the workshop, and the overwhelming majority indicated it was through the newspaper, both online and print.

Which answers the question in this specific circumstance – not many people in this target audience are social media users. I’m sure it will come as no surprise that this particular audience was “mature” – that is, the generation of consumers who grew up reading newspapers, and still read them as a primary source of information. It was really kind of an amazing sight to behold.

The case made for traditional media in this instance, I also strongly believe that a shift is beginning to occur, as older Americans become more familiar with social media, and how they can use it to get recommendations from, and offer their opinions to, their friends and family about a variety of topics and products of interest.

As the migration to social media advances, I believe there will always be a place for traditional media and news sources. As far as determining the right media mix, I think that with all of the types of communication available – online, offline, social, traditional, text, email, direct mail, and face-to-face – the critical decision is which of those options is the most effective way to reach your target audience. And I think the mix can change for each audience, as well as for each message.