Cross Platform Marketing For Better Branding

Every day, Americans spend over ten hours ‘snacking’ on media. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, chances are, some form of media is right there with them. Americans spend more time on the Internet, watching television, reading the news, and playing games than they do sleeping. Even more stunning, research shows that every year the amount of time Americans spend devouring media grows by seven minutes. Obviously, the single ‘flavor’ marketing campaigns of yesterday are no longer effective. Instead, today’s best multimedia marketing campaigns rely on multiple platforms and channels to effectively broadcast their message.

Serving Up Media On Multiple Platforms

Today, there are four major platforms for receiving media and American reliance on these platforms is steadily growing. Consider the following facts sited in a study by Ipsos Research:

1. One out of every four people own a web-enabled smartphone, increasing their     exposure to interactive marketing.
2. 75% of the population visits one or more social media platform. Nearly half of them use social media on a daily basis.
3. Television consumption is relatively consistent, with about 75% of television users still watching ‘live’ television. Interestingly, Internet usage during prime time television hours is on the rise.

It seems apparent that multiple marketing platforms are the most effective way to establish a brand name.

Multiple Platforms, Exponential Visibility

Logically, marketing across multiple platforms positively impacts your branding efforts. As consumers are repeatedly exposed to your message through techniques such as content marketing, you exponentially increase the likelihood that they will follow your call to action by clicking through or visiting your brick and mortar location. The question becomes on what platforms to position yourself and how. It isn’t enough to create marketing campaigns for mobile viewers, for social media users, and for traditional Internet and television viewers. You must take things a step further.

1. Encourage Cross Platform Viewing — Provide viewers with content that complements other channels or platforms in your marketing plan. For example, encourage website viewers to visit your Commonfig profile or integrate comment streams into your social media platform, games or interactive media onto your website.

2. Utilize Technology Effectively — Remember, cross platform marketing is more than simply regurgitating content for each specific platform. Instead, the technology must be used appropriately. Consider, for example, content marketing efforts. Your content is formatted for optimum viewing on a computer screen. While the information is relevant for mobile users, without reformatting for the specific strictures of mobile devices, the content loses it effectiveness.

3. Make Your Marketing Easy to Digest — With the increased popularity of mobile devices and the inundation of media to the average American, content that is highly scannable, easily navigated, and, above all, short, will have the biggest impact. Consider the mobile user scanning your site while they are waiting for the bus, or the eBook reader just waiting for a book to download – if your material is easy to digest, your message–and your brand–will be more visible.

Building a Balanced Media Meal

Utilizing multiple platforms to improve the viability of your brand or company provides an excellent opportunity for growth. Taking advantage of today’s most popular multimedia marketing platforms, mobile media, social media, and the Internet can create exponential growth for your website or business by providing consumers with easily digestible media ‘snacks’ throughout the day. Build a more balanced media plan with websites optimized for mobile viewing, marketing across all social media platforms like Commonfig, and integrating complimentary content for Internet users.