‘Media Malpractice’

BY STEVE EICKMAN

Picture this: you have a few aches and pains that are getting consistently worse so you call your doctor to make an appointment. On the phone, you describe your shoulder pain and your physician immediately recommends surgery. “Surgery?!” You exclaim. “But you haven’t even seen me yet!”

You and I would run from any physician who prescribed a cure for us without first performing a thorough examination. We might label it negligence, incompetence or even malpractice. Yet, every day, in organizations all over the world, marketing professionals practice what I like to call “Media Malpractice.”

Media Malpractice happens every time you select a medium to communicate your message, with- out first considering the person(s) you want to receive the message. Media Malpractice happens unintentionally; imagine that your sales manager reports that the competition has a new television commercial and proclaims, “We need one of those to increase sales.” That day, the owner goes to a seminar and a futurist proclaims that social media will take over the world. Consequently, he pushes for 50 percent of the marketing budget for social media. An email from a board member suggests you buy radio spots from her golf buddy. Now you feel the need to buy a variety of media to keep everybody happy. Just like your doctor recommending surgery without thoughtful and professional analysis, purchasing media without giving consideration to your target audience will never garner the results you’re looking for.

As the number of options to communicate brand messages continue to increase, the best way to select the correct media is to follow a TAMM Strategy –Target, Action, Message, Media:

Target: Always start with the target group and develop a solid mental picture of who those people are. Go beyond general demographics like “adults 18+” or “men in a three-state area.” Do a deeper dive. What do they like to do? What does their day look like? How do they spend their time? What community issues influence them? What do they spend their hard-earned cash on, and how did they find out about it?

Action: Next, determine what action you want them to take as a result of your communication. Again, try to be specific about the action step and skip vague, oversimplified goals like: Increase sales.

Message: The most important step in this process is the message. This is hard work and a common mistake is to not take enough time to craft a great message that connects with the target and is compelling and believable. It should leave them in a state of mind that supports the action step you’re after.

Media: Ah, finally to the fun stuff: Choosing media to deliver your message. How does the media fit with your target and your message? For example, if you have a lot of information to share, a billboard might not be the best media choice to deliver the message. On the same note, if you are trying to reach young active, people under the age of 30, you might want to reconsider a printed newspaper and opt for the digital version.

The TAMM Strategy may seem simple, but it acts as an important reminder to:

1. Put strategy first in your communication –a key for success.

2. Help you focus your message.

3. Select the best media from the masses available.

4. Reduce the amount of Media Malpractice happening at your organization.

If you would like to learn more, go to www.tammstrategy. com. PB

Steve Eickman Partner, Anchor Marketing stevee@anchorwebsite.com