Marketing checkup: Diversifying your marketing strategy through paid media

In the second installment of our marketing checkup series, we dive deep into paid marketing channels, or the advertising tactics that a company pays for. Brett Adams, Trilix president and chief marketing officer, returns as an expert guest for our Trilix Podcast marketing checkup series. Brett is joined by Travis Ziemke, media director, and episode co-host and media specialist Matt Durant.

Get the best return on your investment by following these paid media guidelines.

Why use paid media in marketing?

• Having a paid media strategy helps you target and reach specific audiences that you may not reach organically while still allowing you to control the message.

• Paid media helps control who views your content while being more selective on how and when you target them. You can target audiences based on age, location, education level, job title, behaviors, keywords, topics and much more.

• Utilize your owned media content — such as video, blog posts, graphics and websites — while allocating resources — or part of your marketing budget — to further your efforts. Keeping your owned channels up to date increases the available content you can use in your paid strategy.

Diversify paid marketing strategy to increase your reach.

• Utilizing a diverse set of paid media channels will increase the frequency at which your message is served to consumers. The more channels your message is on, the more chances you have to reach different audiences, and the more likely your audiences are to receive information through multiple channels.
• While diversification is important, efficiency of your spend and achieving your goal matter most. For one company, this may mean only utilizing two mediums, while another company may find optimal results from using six or seven channels.
• Don’t leave out traditional paid channels, which may include print ads, radio spots and billboards. According to a study from 2022, billboards make up nearly 75% of out-of-home ad spending. Radio programs reach nearly 90% of Americans for more than 12 hours each week. These methods continue to be the foundation of an effective paid media strategy.
• The digital landscape is constantly evolving to offer new options for your marketing mix. Some popular digital advertising channels right now include Connected TV, Google Ads and display ads. In fact, 66% of advertisers and marketers plan to increase their Connected TV ad budgets in the near future.

You should always optimize and measure your channels.

• Track your digital placements. Analyzing this data allows you to better understand what you get from your investment. Key performance indicators or outcomes that you can track from your outputs include clicks, page visits, how long the consumer stayed on the page and what actions were taken.
• Test your strategy to learn how audiences view and interact with your message. Marketers can even determine what time of the day their message is viewed most.
• Paid digital channels are flexible. You can easily modify and optimize your media placements throughout the campaign until you find the sweet spot that works within your budget and goals.
• Determining the success of a campaign comes down to one overarching question: What is your goal? Compare your end goal to your data to determine if you achieved a successful ROI, which may look like brand awareness, website clicks or product purchases.

Allocate your resources and investment wisely.

• Paid strategy is typically the largest portion of a marketing budget, and it should be because these dollars can make the most of your efforts, delivering a more impactful outcome.
• Many companies want to know how to achieve the perfect marketing mix. However, there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” media mix because every company has different goals and a unique target audience.
• Know your goal. Your paid media stategy approach is dependent on your goal and target audience. Understanding these two factors allows you to invest effectively, whether you are marketing a brand, promoting a product or running a recruitment campaign.

Utilize other paid methods.

• Advertorials can help control your brand narrative much like earned media, which we will discuss in our final marketing checkup installment. Advertorials offer an opportunity to share thought leadership and have been proven to come across to consumers as written by an independent reporter.
• Advertorials are a great way to jump into the world of earned media, especially for companies that have limited experience with paid or owned outlets.

Check out the Trilix Podcast to hear our full discussion on paid media and listen to the other installments of our marketing checkup series. Be sure to tune in every other week as we break down marketing news and trending topics. Find the third and final episode in our marketing checkup series, which centers on earned media.