Now that e-media has become a very viable form of advertising in the B2B world, including in the industrial media area, an integrated advertising program makes the most sense and that is why I recommend it to my clients. What exactly is a good integrated ad program?
It includes more than one medium targeted to the audience that the advertiser desires to reach. A good print advertising program in the right magazine is still the workhorse of many good B2B industrial ad programs. The right ad message with the proper frequency placed in the right magazines will increase product and brand awareness. It will not generate the kind of leads that many advertisers want.
e-media on the other hand, will generate today's leads if the advertiser uses an integrated ad program. Using both print advertising in the right publications along with e-media advertising to the same right audience constitutes an integrated ad program. The e-media advertising would include, banners and buttons in the right places, ads in e-newsletters, webcasts, videos on the right websites, and optimization of key words and brand names.
A good B2B magazine's e-media package will include all of the above. If readers are turning to a given magazine for content, they will also go to that magazine's e-media products. In addition, customers/prospects who use electronic media instead of print as their primary source of information will also be reached through e-media advertising.
So by advertising your products in print magazines that reach your best target audience, and advertising your products on websites and other e-media vehicles that also target your audience, you will be covering both avenues for sending your sales message to prospective new customers. Your print advertising will work with your e-media advertising to generate click throughs and searches for your company and this activity will function as today's sales leads.
However, customers and prospects will still use Google and other search engines after they have seen your products advertised either in-print or online. So the magazine or website that you choose to advertise in will not always clearly get the credit for the sales leads. Your advertising will work to send new customers to you through your website but the traffic will come from many sources. By using an integrated advertising program, you will greatly increase the chances of that traffic happening.
Reach your customers where they are. Print and e-media, an integrated advertising program, the way to go!
