When you're running a business, managing your content is a challenge. You already have your time consumed handling production, distribution, accounting, sales, and every other thing that comes your way. On top of this, you must determine which messaging, and channels are compelling to your target consumers and then produce a steady flow of content to attract and engage them.
You may find it relatively easy to whip out the first few social media or blog posts, but before you know it, your daily work will eat up your time and inspiration. Your online presence will suffer, and with it, your lead generation efforts and sales.
Small and midsize businesses benefit most from working with a media partner with experience in content strategy. Not only is it essential to develop content that speaks to your consumers. It's equally as critical to delivering it through the right combination of marketing channels to make sure your content reaches your audience, your ad dollars are spent effectively, and you maximize your marketing ROI. Media partners understand what audiences want, have a high production capacity, and knows how different channels intersect.
Understanding What Audiences Want
No matter how compelling your content is, it's useless if the right audiences don't hear it or see it. Remember this phrase, “content is king, distribution is queen!” Even the best content producers make the mistake of not understanding the key secondary point in this phrase. The best content means nothing without an effective distribution strategy. Media partners have the time, expertise, and resources to perform the marketing research that lets them know which target consumers will be receptive to your content and in what format. They can help you refine your content to make it most effective on the distribution platforms your target audience consumes. They can help you identify the distribution channels that provide you with the highest marketing ROI for your product and budget.
Many small businesses instinctively reach for social media because aspects of it are free. A media partner can help point you to other options in instances where you're selling a product that requires a high degree of consumer trust and business credibility. An experienced media partner might point you to news talk radio, whose dedicated listeners regularly do business with the firms they hear advertised on their favorite programs. Or a product that is typically an impulse buy may benefit from drive time radio ads to motivate drivers to head on over to your store to make a purchase.
Because media partners work with multiple firms and industries, they can also bring insights from other marketing campaigns relevant to your strategic goals. Their media and marketing channel resources and connections can often help them secure ad opportunities and pricing that a small business, on its own, cannot.
Having a High and Broad Production Capacity
Media partners are also well-versed in creating quality content for various businesses, industries, and marketing channels. They assemble talented teams of in-house marketing professionals, so you don't have to. Rather than struggle to find an excellent graphic designer who is a good fit for your needs and budget, you can work with a partner like Federated Media that has a deep bench of graphic and digital professionals. They’re capable of making a broad range of content, (including commercials, produced shows, attention-grabbing social media posts, as well as content marketing materials such as videos and blog posts. In addition to helping you produce quality content that meets the needs of your consumers', Federated Media is also effective in helping you distribute the content in a way that delivers the best ROI.
Media partners can help you find the talent and resources you need to produce high-quality content. Finding the radio influencers or production equipment you need to create radio ads that land within your audience is part of what a media partner brings to the table since most businesses don't have the resources or time to do this on their own.
They can help you develop professional and polished content that helps you build your brand. Their in-depth knowledge of the marketing metrics tells you how your content resonates with your audience and guides your campaigns. You don't need to pore over reams of data and parse industry jargon to understand why you're getting the consumer and customer feedback you're getting. The right media partner can explain your results to you in plain-spoken language and help you uncover strategic insights about your customers that can help you improve your ads and marketing strategy.
Knowing How Marketing Channels Intersect
To attract, engage, and convert your target demographics almost always includes a multi-channel approach. Building an effective strategy requires knowledge of how each channel works individually and in tandem with others. Staying on top of the latest trends in radio, social media, and television is tough when you must also keep up with your production and distribution schedules, free cash flow, and competition.
A media partner's staff works with multiple marketing channels each day. They understand the ins and outs of how each channel works because they work with so many different channels. Their broad expertise allows them to leverage each channel’s strengths to drive consumer action. When you're working with a media partner, you're able to think beyond which radio ad will drive the most foot traffic to your store or which email list you should use. You'll be able to think through approaches like developing radio ads to encourage email sign-ups on your website and then using email drip campaigns to drive more online purchases. Multi-channel pairings like these are proven to work, and media partners have the knowledge, expertise, and resources to help you think through these and other strategic approaches.
Running an effective business includes knowing what responsibilities to take on and which to delegate to the professionals. When you work with an experienced media partner, you gain professional, compelling marketing content you strategically publish to attract and engage consumers and convert leads. You'll have the marketing strategy and tools needed to get results, freeing your time and resources to run the rest of your business.
