Is new media competing with traditional media or does it completes it? As an Integrated Marketing student, I agree with the latter.
I created a campaign proposal for a class and while having a discussion with the evaluator, she posed the question, “why are you spending so much money on traditional media when you have social media? It just doesn’t make sense.” I was taken aback because I realised that this is one of the mistake that a lot of companies make.
Social media is the new, popular medium for a lot of reasons; affordability, large/targeted reach, engagement, just to name a few. But, does this mean that one cannot still invest in traditional media? Absolutely not!
Traditional media still has its place in society. Depending on the marketing objective, target audience, and messages, traditional media can be very effective especially if the messages are complimented on social media. A national campaign targeting teenage obesity is an example to illustrate the importance of an integrated model and how traditional media fits right into the list of channels to be used.
The target audience for such a campaign would be Teenagers and their parents. This audience is spending much more time online based on the statistics. Consequently, one would think that they are not watching television, listening to the radio or even reading the newspapers, but that is a misconception.
The target audience have specific programs that they watch on television; they listen to specific radio stations and read certain sections of the newspaper. This is an advantage for marketers. Marketers can reach the target audience by advertising between programmes that are of greatest affinity to them. Taking television programmes into consideration, teenagers/ parents would be interested in some of the following; ER, School Challenge Quiz, Onstage, Prime Time News, CVM at Sunrise and Boys and Girls Championships, just to name a few. So, while marketers are engaging with them on Social media, they can use traditional media to remind them of or reinforce the same messages and have a greater impact.
Also, traditional media has a large reach-Reaching teenagers and parents who rely on traditional media for information as they may not have internet connection. Additionally, traditional media can give the campaign a national profile; it also seen as a medium of authority. Therefore, although the messages are crisp, clean and clear on social media, traditional media makes it more trustworthy.