onDemand CMO Blog

Digital out-of-home media (digital signage) is often forgotten in discussions involving traditional media (TV, radio, and print) and social media (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn).  Think of it as the younger sibling who quietly eats his vegetables while his other siblings fight over who gets more chicken at the dinner table.  Now that the younger sibling is older, he wants a piece of the chicken too.

The main advantage of digital signage is its captive audience.  A digital sign placed in a doctor’s office generally displays advertisements related to health and medicine.  Similarly, a digital sign, located in the lobby of a corporate building, shows advertisements for corporate events and meetings.  Currently, the industry is shifting from being merely electronic billboards to a more interactive form of marketing.  Recent developments in general shape recognition software, software that calculates the gender, height and age of passersby, is allowing marketers to further target advertisements.  Additionally, touch screen technology is providing marketers the ability to generate leads on the spot.

Today’s consumers are active.  They, for the most part, are not passively sitting in front of a TV anymore.  They are on-the-go.  The digital signage industry is at the forefront of providing for this change in consumer behavior.  Savvy marketers are already incorporating digital out-of-home media into their overall marketing strategies.

It is only appropriate to start this business marketing blog with an entry on social media.  We are all well aware of the impact of social media on our daily lives—as well as on our society.  Some marketing pundits predict social media eventually outpacing traditional forms of marketing and promotion. On the other hand, some of my fellow marketers cling tightly to the legacy of traditional media.  As a result, many marketers are juggling their marketing efforts and investments between the two.

This leads us to the question: How do you achieve the right balance between traditional media.  As a result, many marketers are juggling their marketing efforts and investments between the two.

• Establish goals.
• A means to the end.  Traditional and social media marketing are both tools in a business marketer’s arsenal.  The key here is integration.
• Consider the costs and benefits.  Like everything else, traditional media and social media both have pros and cons.  For instance, as good as social media is at spreading a message, it is not so good at staying on message.  You can lose control of the conversation if you aren’t careful.

Although social media is constantly growing and evolving, it will not replace traditional marketing efforts.  Today’s best marketers are the ones who learned how to integrate them together into a marketing strategy to achieve a set of established goals.