If you’re a young entrepreneur, chances are you know how to navigate your way around the Internet pretty easily. You have grown up with email, Facebook, and were right there when Twitter took the world by storm. When it comes to advertising your product or service, these social mediums are quick, easy, and affective. As someone who is comfortable with the Web, this could very well be a way of advertising that has helped jumpstart your business; however you cannot survive on this emerging media alone. There are many more forms of traditional advertising and PR that can significantly help you get a little more “jump” in this operation “jumpstart.”
What Traditional Media Can Offer
One major component of creating and running a successful business is your advertising and PR. Knowing the value of using both social and traditional media is something many veteran business owners know to be vital. Unfortunately, the buzz of social networks and email marketing has blinded many new entrepreneurs into missing the advantages of traditional media all together. Below lists a few reasons traditional media should be blended into your advertising schemes:
- Audience – There are still many people around the country who prefer traditional media. If you can get a commercial or an ad in the newspaper, you will be opening up your product or service to the 35 percent of people who get their news offline (Don’t Discount Traditional PR Outreach Just Yet).
- Credibility – Traditional media has been around for so long that it has gained significant credibility. You know as well as anyone that there is a lot of spam and nonsense information posted on the Web; however a newspaper, news program, or radio station does not have that same negative connotation.
- Price – Even though traditional media popularity has declined, it still wants to be a relevant source of information and kick that new, flashy social media to the curb. Because of this, traditional media has put on the boxing gloves and entered into a full blown competition with social media, so there is a good chance someone will work with you to help you gain the audience and credibility you want.
It is important to realize that you can (and should) mesh social media with traditional media. For example, if you find that you have the funds to create a commercial, mention in that commercial that your company has a Twitter account that customers can follow or a website they can visit. By doing this, you capture the eyes and ears of many who may prefer to read more about your company online, but have never stumbled across your website or social networking name.
On the other side of the spectrum, if you know you have a radio announcement or column in the paper coming soon, mention this on your Twitter or Facebook page. Once again, you will get the eyes of many who are online, but may not have normally tuned in to that particular radio station or picked up that particular newspaper.
Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from merchant services to liability insurance for Resource Nation, an online resource providing tips for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
