Marketing Media Pros & Cons: Which Advertising Platform Is Best?
Advertising has been about more than billboards and half-baked radio ads for a very long time. Sure, those platforms have survived until now due to their sheer popularity, but they represent a bygone era that should have been left in the 20th Century. Nowadays marketing is less “set-and-forget” and more about constant tweaking for optimum return on investment (ROI) and maximum reach.
All marketing can be classified according to one of three broad categories: Above The Line (ATL) Marketing, Below The Line (BTL) Marketing, and Through The Line (TTL) Marketing. This article will look at the different kinds of marketing media and their associated risks and rewards.
Above The Line Marketing.
This is often considered the more “traditional” side of marketing and includes platforms such as TV, radio, billboards & banners, and newspaper / magazine ads. This kind of marketing is mainly used when a brand wants to increase brand awareness and visibility. ATL marketing’s main strength is that it can reach a broad audience – a lot of people will see the ad, whether they saw it during an ad break on TV or whether they drove past a billboard on the highway. There is also a certain level of prestige attached to having an ad on TV or radio, but it’s not always the best option for a brand. ATL marketing’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness – having such a broad and scattered audience makes it difficult, if not impossible, to measure effectiveness and return on investment. It is thus an expensive and risky option with very little measurable reward.
Below The Line Marketing.
BTL marketing is a more direct and focused form of marketing and includes direct mailers, online ads, expos, and telemarketing. Whereas ATL marketing is about reaching as many people as possible, BTL marketing is about reaching smaller but more specific groups of people. BTL marketing takes the brand to the people instead of waiting for the people to come to the brand. It is more results-driven and allows companies to directly measure ROI and audience engagement. This approach also gives companies / brands more control over their budget, allowing them to adjust and reallocate funds as necessary based on the metrics generated by any given campaign. A big downside to BTL marketing is that it requires more expertise and more planning than ATL marketing to ensure success.
Through The Line Marketing and Social Media.
TTL marketing combines the best aspects of ATL and BTL marketing. This is the “covering all your bases” approach and can work wonders in capable hands. Social media marketing occupies this niche almost exclusively. With social media, you get all the major benefits of ATL and BTL marketing, but with less of the risks associated with those marketing approaches. Massive audiences, increased reach, specific metrics, and measurable ROI usually make social media marketing the most desirable (and effective) approach in the current market.
Marketing For The 21st Century
If you think you know everything there is to know about marketing in 2021, think again. Social media platforms like Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram are constantly evolving and keeping up with all the changes can be a headache if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Some agencies claim to live and breathe all things social media, but at BANG POW it’s true. Anyone can slap a logo on a stock image and do a silly write-up, but it’ll take much more than that to make your investment mean something. BANG POW is a social media specialist agency that can propel your brand from obscurity to being a household name.
Fill in our contact form and we’ll get the ball rolling for your next successful social media campaign.
