The 'P's and 'E's of Advertising

A return to traditional advertising… can it be done?
Alisa Higgins

When you consider that the first online advert appeared almost two decades ago, today’s marketer would consider the banner ad ‘old school’. So perhaps the short answer is yes, we have returned to traditional advertising but not in the traditional sense as emerging technology continues to create new tools for marketers.
With these new tools comes more choice for the consumer. There has been more change in media consumption over the last two years than in the 30 years that preceded it. Thanks to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, people are now spending more of their waking days interacting with media than any other activity. That’s more time than we spend working or sleeping or anything else!
Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest are an integral part of our day. A whopping 97% of Kiwis have visited a social media site spending up to 15 hours on it a week. For marketers, social media is word of mouth on steroids; powerful, but it can be dangerous if treated like a traditional marketing tool.
Social media is changing the marketing plan. The consumer has seized control, deciding what content they want to view and what they will share. We are even seeing practitioners questioning the old 4 P’s of marketing model.
One thing we seem to agree on is that social media puts the focus on telling a story and engaging with your customer versus selling. Picture this; you are catching up over a drink with friends when deep in conversation a sales person plonks themselves in the middle of your group asking if your life insurance is up-to-date. You can pretty much guarantee a cold reception, so don’t treat social media any different.
The challenge for marketers (and it’s certainly not a new one), is to use the right message across the right channels (traditional and digital) and to recognise that customers use media in different ways. At the end of the day, advertising campaigns need to show a return-on-investment (ROI). Marketers need to define what impact they want their social media campaign to have. Do you want to extend your TV campaign reach by linking through to your Facebook page? Do you want your readers to sign up to your email newsletter?
Be clear about what you need to achieve and don’t just create a social media campaign because everyone else is doing it. Remember what the world’s best marketing guru said, “Would you jump off a cliff if your friend did?".  Thanks Mum.
Alisa Higgins
iab.org.nz

The 4 P's are out, the 4 E's are in!
>from Product to Experience
>from Place to Every place
>from Price to Exchange
>from Promotion to Evangelism