I'm often asked how companies and organizations can use new media to enhance their visibility and sales. How, they ask, can we use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, Mashable and other new media to market ourselves?
The question seems to ignore the role of traditional media and focuses only on new media. Like new media stands on its own. Not so.
Increasingly, marketing success today is based on the integration of traditional and new media and understanding how they work together to promote, enhance, position and sell your organization. And, for companies that care about it, how to help fill the sales pipeline.
One concept, developed in the past year by blogger Jeff Pulver, is to call it NOW Media, meaning that both new and traditional media need to work together to generate maximum results. Jeff and other new media experts believe that traditional media will be around for years to come.
While some of the largest corporations have figured out how to do this well, like Dell's recent Twitter success, smaller organizations are trying to get there.
NOW Media is a good name, as well as a good approach.
To be effective and credible your brand must present a cohesive look, feel and experience to employees as well as customers and prospects. The same is true of your marketing efforts. One-off direct mails, ads, banner ads and not refining the key search terms for your Web site each week are costly and ineffective. Brand is all about the integration of your look, your message and your marketing.
What's the secret to marketing today? Set up company Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (or other social media) pages and integrate them into your cohesive company messages so you are saying the same thing everywhere. But know that you can use these social media sites to promote special offers and calls to action in a way that supplements your traditional media - so everything works in concert.
If you can do that (yes, it does take time, effort and concentration) you will see results. You will get more people to sign up for your email marketing, your catalog, your blog posts.
And, if you never start, you will never get there. There are plenty of "How to" resources on the Web. Or you can contact HRB. We know the secret to NOW Media.
Jim Thebeau
Henry Russell Bruce
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About Me
- Jim Thebeau
- Experience in radio, television, print and magazine journalism, creating and producing marketing and training videos, and marketing for a billion dollar electronics firm. Currently CEO of Henry Russell Bruce, a full service strategic marketing and Internet marketing firm. Native of St. Louis.