Online, for offline's sakes

Most of the time we are approach by a client, they are thinking in running just an online campaign. Most of the time they think of online as an isolated resource. There are few companies exploring the power of multichannel marketing, which basically means driving audiences from offline (print, TV, radio, points of sales, outdoors and others) to the digital media, and back again to offline.

Why should a marketer think on more comprehensive multichannel campaigns? Simply, it's individuals that are being exposed to the message in a variety of contexts and formats. Some channels with a more immediate call to action, others with a more mindshare objective.

The online can perfectly fill the gap between offline channels, providing marketers with the ideal tool to track conversions and acquiring customer information to then be used on more targeted digital communications (making then more efficient, measurable and adjustable than traditional media).

Let me put it in more simple words. Recently at e-volution we develop a set of campaigns for Disney in Latin America where TV audience was encourage to show off how much they knew about specific characters on primetime series. The result: Disney was able to register TV viewers on their email database, to target them in future online actions, but also to trigger desired offline behavior, like for example notifying them of in-store offers of new DVD releases. Even more interesting, rewarding those loyal consumers that provided you with the information with a pre sale event at specific retail (let’s say, the most loyal retail partners). This campaigns measure which days of the week people were watching more the programs involved as the questions and activities related directly to the episode air on a specific date.

Online brings new ways to measure the level of commitment of a brand’s audiences, not only on the consumer side but also on their distribution channel or even among vendors. Allowing the brand to act accordingly and reward them, as in the example set above. Why bother delivering an offer driving traffic to a retail store that you know would not have enough products on the shelf? There are alternatives to the traditional earn points to get this great plasma TV programs. Channel programs that reward business owners with coop marketing activities are a great incentive that also reinforce the sales cycle.

On the other hand, by acquiring customer information, particularly media companies can discover new audiences that are part of their viewership. For example with A&E Television, one of e-volution’s clients in Latin America, we discover a younger audience, more technologically savvy based on the responses to on air promotions driving users to participate in online contests.

I summary, when most of the marketers think of an online campaign, composed by a nice banner on a highly well known site linked to a registration form for a drawing, they are missing an infinite number of opportunities that could be seized on every touch point of the campaign.