Best Practices for Pairing Traditional and Digital Advertising

Traditional media is an integral part of any multi-layered campaign. And it pairs perfectly with digital advertising.

The most effective media plans incorporate both digital and traditional advertising. The combination of these two media categories works best when brought together into one, cohesive campaign.

When you think about how your target audience consumes content throughout a typical day, this approach makes sense. Most consumers don’t separate their content consumption into online and offline. Instead, these experiences occur throughout the day. Think about your morning routine. Are you watching the news? Reading the paper? Checking social media? Are you listening to the radio as you drive to work? How many different types of media do you consume over the course of an average day? The answer might surprise you!

How do we incorporate traditional media and digital media into one media plan?

Here are three best practices for blending traditional advertising with digital tactics that will help ensure the success of your multi-layered campaign:

1. Know who your audience is and where they spend their time. Put yourself in your audiences’ shoes. What is their routine? Where do they consume content? How do they get to work or school? What kinds of content do they read, view, or stream? Imagine a typical day and identify all of the ways people are exposed to advertising messages. The truth is that most of us consume a mix of online and offline content. The more you know about your target audience’s information consumption habits, the more effectively you can connect with them.
2. Establish a campaign-wide theme to ensure cohesive messaging. Your digital and traditional creative assets should have connected branding and complimentary messages. Chances are good that your audience will be exposed to these messages across several channels. Frequency is achieved when all advertising assets adhere to your brand standards.
3. Balance reach and frequency to achieve the greatest impact. It’s important to focus your advertising efforts on where you will get the greatest impact. Experienced media planners will negotiate the most cost-effective cost-per-thousand (CPM) to make the best use of your budget. They’ll also consider where you can reach your target audiences most often to compel them to respond favorably to your CTA or offer.

A well-rounded media plan may include a careful selection of digital and traditional tactics working in tandem towards a single goal. If you’d like to learn more about how digital and traditional media tactics work together, contact us. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and work with you to develop, implement, and manage a strategic media campaign that gets results.