The type of media that a business implements merely depends on what the business is trying to achieve in their marketing and advertising methods to promote their product, service or image to reach potential customers and leads.

As marketing continues to evolve, new methods — typically referred to as “new media” — have emerged. These methods are mostly said to deliver better results than other tactics — known as “traditional media” or even “old media”. However, this doesn’t mean that traditional media is dead as it still does have its place in the media mix.

As with any strategy, each decision made has a purpose whether it’s to increase brand awareness, request different types of subscriptions, or drive leads / purchases. Of course, there are solid digital channels that accomplish these objectives, but some audiences are still better reached through traditional channels.

Before getting into discussion, I’ll start by providing you with the definition and examples of the two types of media:

Traditional Media: Traditional media refers to mediums that are part of our culture for over half a century. Companies have used these methods for many years to reach consumers and motivate them to make purchases. Up until very recently, these marketing and advertising styles were very effective, and helped businesses make a profit. These forms include:

• Television
• Radio
• Print advertisements
• Billboards
• Direct mail advertisements

New/Digital Media: New media are forms of media that are native to computers, computational and rely on computers for redistribution. Many of these methods have been around for several years, but have only gained prominence recently. These forms include:

• Search engine optimization
• Pay-per-click advertising
• Content marketing
• Social media
• Email marketing

The New Age of New Media.

New Media, the type of media that we all love in this generation. For this section, I’ll take you through the many different types of new media and why each of them is good for a business.

Search engine optimization: a series of processes by which a website improves its rankings in search engines like Google. SEO is crucial for online marketing, because without search rankings, your website may never attract targeted customers. The use of keywords is one of the ways SEO can improve a website’s ranking. Through matching up keywords to the words or phrases that people are searching for, websites are more likely to show up in searches. Therefore, more exposure to a business.

Pay-per-click advertising: With this, you can choose which keywords and phrases you want to trigger your advertisements. Then, if your bid is the highest, your ads will display above organic search results for those terms. A benefit of PPC is that results are instantaneous, meaning PPC ads can provide direction to your business’s website the minute they’re clicked to go live. If a business wants to quickly boost sales, PPC is a great option.

Content marketing: This type of new media is in the form of written content like articles, videos and my blog that your reading right now – all to appeal to potential audiences and business networks. Consumers tend to react very well to companies that provide entertaining, engaging, or useful content which have value; making it more likely for consumers to learn more about an unknown company.   

Social media: And of course, we have to mention social media – it would be rude not to bring it up. Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are used by businesses to establish connections with their potential customers, and also strengthen the relationships they have with current ones.

Having the ability to answer questions, respond to feedback or encounter conversations with potential customers are all advantages for businesses utilizing these social platforms. Also, for certain companies who might just be starting out or do not have a huge budget; social media would be a more realistic and cheaper option.

Traditional Media Isn’t Dead.

Many people think traditional marketing is dead; or in other words, no one uses it anymore. However, that’s not the case. People are so obsessed with new media nowadays that we forget that traditional marketing can still be effective for businesses in this day and age. Here are some instances where traditional media could be a great option.

If a business is seeking the attention of a particular audience, traditional media such as billboards and radio can be great method to increase brand awareness. According to Commercial Radio Australia’s annual listening summary, radio audiences reached an “all-time high in 2018 and have grown by 12% over the past five years”. It is one place that digital is not supposed to be the primary attention grabber. Billboards have also shown success, depending on the range of your target age group.

Print advertisements such as those in newspapers and magazines continue to be used to attract large groups of people at once. In a situation where businesses need to cover a wide range of age groups – traditional media such as print publications could be a good option. Given that there are cost savings, people still get that printed newspaper or magazine.

Brand awareness in the age of digital marketing and direct brands can be a challenge. But televsion still works well for the task. The most expensive form of marketing – television ads – still have the power to reach broad and targeted audiences, depending on the reach of the channels selected.

The most important case to make for traditional components to a media plan is attribution. Although you can’t credit that billboard, radio spot, or print ad to a direct purchase, you could assert that it had an impact earlier in their journey. The best performance is accomplished when you combine both digital and traditional media that fits with the businesses marketing standards and capabilities.

Arguing which type of media is better than the other really depends on a business’s aspirations through media planning. Even though both new and traditional media has its own different uses and benefits for a business’s marketing strategy, as mentioned before its performance is most effective when both types of media are used together.

Businesses need to ensure that they don’t just focus on one kind of media because who knows; that missing half of disregarded media could be the added boost that your client or brand needs to see an increase in revenue.

Do you guys use new media or traditional media? Or both?

Please let me know in the comments and show interest by sharing this post.

Also, if you’re interested please visit my own personal website to know a little bit more about me. Link to my website: https://zendenlee.wixsite.com/website

It’s concerning.

Whenever we use our devices to go on online, whether if its: social media, researching information or watching videos. We can never really feel safe anymore knowing that apps like Facebook, Amazon and Instagram not only have access to our personal information but are able to use that information for their own purposes. And what makes it even worse is that it doesn’t necessarily need to be internet-related. It could be from the products you purchase to the service you experience. It’s very concerning and worrying at the same time.

In saying this, I’m going to take you through some of the worst privacy scandals that have happened so far.

1. Facebook- Cambridge Analytica

This was one of the biggest privacy scandals that occurred. A major political scandal in early 2018 when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had gathered the personal data of about 50 million peoples’ Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political advertising purposes.

Facebook exposed the data of millions of Facebook users to a researcher who worked at Cambridge Analytica, who apparently worked for the Trump campaign. Hence, there was some speculation that the access to this data was one of the reasons why Donald Trump became president in the US elections.

It all started when researcher Aleksander Kogan from Cambridge University developed an app called “This Is Your Digital Life”. Giving access to Cambridge Analytics, Kogan was able to retrieve the personal information of not only the Facebook user but friends of the user from the app.

During his Testimony on April 2018, Mark Zuckerburg publicity apologized for this breach and said “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here”.

2. Weeping Angel

In April 2017, Wikileaks released a document that exposed a CIA created tool called “Weeping Angel”. Weeping Angel was known as an alleged spying tool, co-developed by the CIA and MI5 security agency. It was apparently used in Samsung Smart TV’s where it pretends to turn itself off – and record your conversations – when you’re not using it so to obtain information back to the spies.

If this turned out to be true, it’ll go down as one of the worst privacy breaches of all time.

3. Equifax Credit Scandal

Equifax is a US credit agency with the purpose of keeping track of the credit information for all US citizens. In September 2017, Equifax admitted that the hackers found a weak spot in a web app and tapped into crucial records.

The data breach had compromised very important personal information: social security numbers, addresses, birthdays and drivers’ licence were some of the information. 143 million Americans including Canadian customers were affected as Equifax will pay at least $575 million, and potentially as much as $700 million to settle allegations over its massive data breach.

Hackers behind the breach have still yet to be identified by authorities.

4. Privacy Scandal of Yahoo

With literally billions of accounts, Yahoo’s mail service is one of the most popular in the world. Yahoo reported two major data breaches of user account data to hackers; first occurred in mid-2013 and then in late 2014. It was later found out at 3 billion of its user accounts were impacted. I don’t know about you but that is a very scary number.

Specific details of material taken included names, email addresses, telephone numbers and even hashed passwords. There was no doubt that Yahoo faced multiple lawsuits because of this and I’m not sure whether Yahoo can ever gain the trust back from their users and recover from this breach. I’m certainly never using Yahoo again – not like I ever did anyway.

5. eBay scandal

Still being one of the largest online marketplaces in the world, eBay suffered a huge breach back in 2014. According to BusinessWire, auction site and global retailer eBay is the latest victim and has been hit by a huge cyberattack that compromised its main database holding user passwords. It all started with hackers compromising a small number of employee’s log-in details.

The hackers gained access to information including customers’ names, passwords, email, addresses, phone numbers and date of birth – the usual stuff in every online breach.

An email was later issued which informed all eBay users to urgently change their password. From what I know, no one actually lost any money or information through this breach, but imagine what could’ve been if they did; very lucky indeed especially if you’re a big purchaser of eBay.

These were only some of the many privacy scandals faced by major organizations and highly known individuals. Nowadays, we always have to be careful of the things we provide online. Sometimes it is beyond our control to avoid these scandals from happening as companies like Facebook and eBay have also shown that despite their popularity and great reputations around the world, they don’t have the power to stop these hackers from doing what they want.

The real physical world is already dangerous enough and now it’s just as dangerous out there in the online world. I’m not saying from now on you guys should stop using apps like Facebook but make sure you limit the amount of personal information you provide online or else who knows; you might be the next victim of a future online scandal.

Have you guys ever been involved in an online scandal before? Please let me know in the comments and show your interest by sharing this post.

Also, if you’re interested please visit my own personal website to know a little bit more about me. Link to my website: https://zendenlee.wixsite.com/website

Before talking about why IMC is important for companies like Domino’s; first, let me explain what IMC is.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a strategic, collaborative, and promotional business function through which a targeted audience senses consistent, persuasive, and reinforcing brand messaging.

It is vital for organizations to use an IMC approach focused on a brand message that is consistent across all media channels. Part of why IMC so important for companies is because once implemented correctly, it effectively reach consumers with the intended message which can create awareness and even achieve brand loyalty for the products or services of thier brand. In addition, it is especially important for those particular companies who are struggling in performance such as a decline in sales or a decrease in market share.

There were many major companies such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Starbucks, Apple and American Express that undertook an IMC approach to achieve some type of marketing objective. But the one campaign that really stood out for me personally was the “AnyWare” campaign launched by Domino’s in mid to late 2015.

The “AnyWare” campaign was designed to help people order food in more convenient ways. The innovative technology nowadays has enabled this business to prosper and to allow consumers to have easy access from various social platforms to order with a tweet, a text, Ford Sync, smart televisions and smart watches. The media throughout this campaign was mainly focused on targeting TV viewers. Domino’s wanted to establish high amounts of weekly reach and frequency levels across all target audiences.

From implementing this, it drove awareness of digital ordering and Domino’s further promoted their message of ” Order your favorite oven-baked goodness on your favorite device” through other channels including mail and social media. I don’t know about you guys but it has definitely caught my attention.

The campaign was a huge success in the end which lead to great results. Big reason why it was so successful is because the business followed the 4 C’s of Integrated Communication:

Coherence: From television to mobile devices to radio, domino’s message was connected across all media channels, simply just saying to order thier pizza from any device.

Consistency: Whether if it was celebrities in thier TV ads, or a bright display on a huge billboard, the communication across the channels used by Domino’s still supported the main message.

Continuity: Domino’s always stood with the same consistent message throughout the whole campaign, no matter what marketing strategy it was.

Complementary: Rather than one message in one go, Domino’s ensured that the sum of all communication across every channel used resulted in a bigger effect.

According to the Shorty Awards, a social media awards show.

• The AnyWare campaign generated 2 billion earned media impressions, including segments on Jimmy Fallon, Ellen and the Today Show.
• The AnyWare website received more than 500,000 visits.
• The AnyWare television campaign, generated 10.5 percent year-over-year sales growth.
• The campaign helped Domino’s achieve and exceed it’s goal of having 50% of all orders be made digitally

The success of Domino’s campaign highlights how much of an impact the IMC approach can have on a business. The way companies decide to execute their IMC approaches really depends on what the business wants to achieve.

In Domino’s case, their main goal was to make thier ordering process quicker and easier for thier customers and given how technology is evolving in this generation and for the future; it led to them trying to create the next idea which involved innovative technology. Hence why they gave thier customers the option to purchase through many other different devices.

That was just one of the many examples that shows how much of an effect IMC can make to a brand.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever purchased Domino’s through your smart TV or smart watch before? Please let know in the comments.

Also, if your interested please visit my own personal website to know a little bit more about me. Link to my website: https://zendenlee.wixsite.com/website

With a growing number of people using mobile phones and computers in this generation, there’s no surprise that we now see more people making money through online advertising.

Either if its searching for a product, scrolling through the internet or on social media, many individuals and groups see online advertising as an opportunity; an opportunity to take advantage of the high amounts of usage people spend on the web and get money or value out of it.

Before I get into the ways of how advertisers make money through online ads, let me tell you how internet ads work.

Ads basically work like this: there are advertisers and publishers which are two types of people in the basic process of online advertising. Advertisers have the aim of reaching thier desired audience as efficiently as possible. Publishers want to fund thier publication and use ads to cast thier content.

Advertisers would want thier ads displayed on the pages of publishers who offer them the best opportunity to reach their audience. In turn, good publishers would want to ensure that advertisers paid them a fair price for their ad space and allow these ads to also attract thier own presented content. In general terms, that’s how ads are used by people.

Advertisers make money through:

Facebook and Social Media

Facebook and Social Media is one of the biggest if not the biggest platform advertisers use to advertise thier ads. Advertisers can reach a targeted audience for as little as $5 per day, as of publication.

Ads on these sites can help extend existing marketing strategies, such as adding email subscribers to blog posts or simply to drive traffic to websites.

Microsoft adCenter and Google Adwords

Another way is to use Microsoft adCenter and Google Adwords as they are the big two of online advertising, as of publication. For this method, users create ads focused on selling their products or services, and select keywords to determine which websites or searches will show their ads.

Ads will then appear in search results and websites selected by chosen keywords and target location. Advertisers track the results of ads and campaigns, and make adjustments in budgets and keywords to maximize results.

To use Microsoft adCenter click here. To use Google Adwords click here.

Free Online Advertising

Create a news release about items such as a new product release. Send the release to online media such as the online local newspapers, interest-focused magazines and blogs, and trade publications.

These are just the few ways that advertisers can do to make money through online advertising and it’s not always easy but of course money is not always guaranteed at first when displaying your online ads. Impressions and awareness is the first main goal that advertisers usually try to achieve before making money.

In my experience, I’ve definitely seen ads that caught my attention and have allowed businesses to go through that “pay-per-click” moment.

In saying this, the multiple ads that we always see on our screens are now something that we can’t avoid. It’s literally everywhere on the internet. Not only that but the particular ads that we see are getting more accurate in terms of how relevant the ads are to our personal interests. And one things for sure, the trend in online advertising has only just begun.

If you guys want to make money through online advertising, you at least now have an idea on where to start.

Have you guys ever experienced a time where you clicked an online ad before? If so, what was it and why?

Have you ever realized that when you search or watch certain content on the internet, there tends to be ads and recommendations that display content on your screen that are very similar to what you searched or watched before.

For example, I watch many sport videos on my YouTube account especially football videos. Now whenever I click on my recommendations list, all I see is football, football and football. How is that possible? Why does YouTube recommend football videos to me but not anything else?

• 

This is because major organizations nowadays like YouTube have large databases that can gather huge amounts of data about different people and use that data to find out their behavior so to use it against them. The whole idea of this is called Big Data.

As defined by the IT service management company, Gartner. Big Data is data that contains greater variety arriving in increasing volumes and with ever-higher velocity. This is known as the three Vs.

First of all, let me take you through each of the three Vs:

Volume– The amount of data matters. With big data, you’ll have to process high volumes of low-density, unstructured data.

Velocity– Velocity is the fast rate at which data is received and (perhaps) acted on.

Variety– Variety refers to the many types of data that are available.

These three Vs is what makes up Big Data. Without one of them, there would be no big data.

From a company perspective, they can utilize Big Data information to get to know more about thier consumers behavior and interactions in terms of thier likes, dislikes and passion. With this knowledge, companies are able to approach customers in a more persuasive and attractive way, given that they now know more about thier interests. However, the large of amount of data, the rate in which it is being received and the many types available can make Big Data difficult to manage and segment. Therefore, dangerous if incorrect data is used as ex-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt claims that humans are creating “5 exabytes of data” every two days which highlights the quantity of data being processed in this world today. The image on the right also highlights how much data is being processed.

From a customer perspective, Big Data can be dangerous because it is useful for companies. If companies know more about the people then the people know about themselves then it can be a dangerous thing as if someone is actually spying on everything that you do on the web. Despite this, some people like the advertisements and the suggestions that are displayed on thier device. It saves them time and effort on searching something they are into when companies can do that for them.

In saying this, what makes Big Data so useful but dangerous all depends on who you are. For me personally, I prefer YouTube to provide me with video recommendations because I don’t have to search for myself and I don’t really have that fear that YouTube knows what I love. For others it can be different.

Throughout the past decade, there’s no argument that both Samsung and Apple have taken over the mobile industry. Whenever you ask someone what phone do they have, you would expect them to say either a Samsung phone or an Apple phone. Tell me that’s not true?

I currently own a Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus because for me personally, I prefer Samsung and it’s not because I am a “Apple hater” but Samsung offer benefits that meets most of my “personal interests”. For example, I love a phone with a long-lasting battery and a very fast hardware. So you can see why I chose Samsung over Apple.

For others it’s different, some prefer camera quality over other attributes and for that reason they would go with Apple. So it really depends on what you like and what you don’t like that in a phone that can determine which phone you prefer.

There are many other reasons why people choose one brand over the other, these reasons include:

1. A word-of-mouth influence from their friends and family.
2. Adaptation and loyalty to a certain brand.
3. Price.
4. Marketing of the brand.

1. A word-of-mouth influence from their friends and family.

This can be a very big factor when it comes to brand preference. For example, if your surrounded with people you know who use Apple phones, it’s most likely that your going to be influenced by them. Given that they are the people who you spend the most time with, there’s always going to be a time where they will explain the reasons as to why Apple is better than Samsung. It could also just be the idea of someone copying their friends and family because they want to be able to fit in with the rest of the group.

2. Adaptation and loyalty to a certain brand.

Have you ever been in a situation where you struggle to use your friends phone because your so used to your own phone. That’s the point I’m trying to make. It’s not easy to switch and adapt to a completely new system that your not used too. In saying that, people will tend to stay with the current brand they are using because it saves them time and effort. Furthermore, this adaptation has also enabled consumers to stay loyal to their brand due to the great experiences they’ve had with their brand.

3. Price

Price can be a huge factor for consumers when deciding which phone to purchase especially in a time where people are now becoming more price sensitive. Although Samsung and Apple both offer similar prices for their phones, it could be that slight difference in price that allows consumers to purchase the cheaper option.

4. Marketing of that brand

Mobile brand preference can also depend on how well a brand advertises and promotes it’s product. Does it reach it’s target audience?, Are people acknowledging the benefits? Are they engaged?. These are some of the many questions brands should be asking themselves to find out whether their marketing strategy is effective. Apple and Samsung have done a great job in advertising their product and communicating it to their consumers, there’s no doubt about that. It’s one of the reasons for their success.

To watch the Samsung S10 ad click here. To watch the Apple iPhone X ad click here.

Despite what you prefer, you have to respect both Samsung and Apple for what they have achieved in the mobile industry for the past decade. It’s not often you have two brands dominate the mobile market as much as these two brands have and I’m sure they will continue to dominate for years to come.

I’m sick and tired of being manipulated into believing all these football journalists who say this player is going to that club or this club wants to buy this player.

I have been tricked one to many times now from thinking a particular rumor about a player or a club is actually going to be true. I find myself interested in reading football news because football is a sport that’s close to my heart. However, I don’t find myself being interested anymore because whenever I read a certain post, I know that’s it’s definitely not going to be true.

That’s what the media have done to me, they have talked smack about possible football outcomes that end up being untrue in the end and have given me no motivation to believe anything that I read. And for what?

Maybe it’s to gain publicity or solely because of the fact that they enjoy providing people with false announcements. Well if that was really their plan then great job guys, you got your wish. But who knows, there can be many reasons behind it.

Take Neymar Jr for example, Neymar is a Brazilian footballing superstar who plays for the french giants, Paris Saint Germain. For the past few months, he has been rumored to rejoin his former club FC Barcelona for a ridiculous amount of money because apparently he was “unhappy” in Paris.

When I first heard that rumor, I was thrilled because I’m a Barcelona fan myself. However, a few days ago I hear another rumor saying he’s going to Real Madrid CF. Like it’s got to the point where I don’t even know what to believe anymore. It only gets worse from there, after all this rumors about the Brazilian, I hear another rumor of the player stating that he’s “happy” in Paris and that he didn’t plan to moving in the first place.

At that point I just gave up because I knew that if I continued to follow these rumors, I’m only going to make a fool out of myself especially if I share information to my friends about him that end up being wrong.

It is these types of rumors that mess with your emotions, believing something at one point and finding out that isn’t the case at all. And that doesn’t only have to be in the topic of football but it can literally be about anything.

It doesn’t only effect the readers but also the actual players themselves who have people making false accusations against them. How do you think they would feel?

I understand that not everything in the media is true, especially when it comes to rumors. Because that’s what rumors are, news that might or might not be true. But football journalists shouldn’t consider it as rumors if they end up being wrong most of the time. They are better off not posting anything at all.

If they are going to share information that will be exposed to the entire world, it should at least have a chance of being true and with evidence to back it up or else what’s the point of sharing false information that no one is going to believe like I have found myself doing after what I’ve experienced and I’m sure many have as well.

What do you guys think about fake news? Have you ever been in a situation like this before? Comment below.

As mentioned in my post last week, Social Media is used by almost every individual in the world but the question is why do we use it for.

Whether if it’s a reasonable or a ridiculous reason, each person has their own purpose as to why they involve social media in their lives.

There are countless reasons as to why people spend so much time on Social Media, it could be because it gives them the feeling of joy or the feeling of fitting in with the rest of the world.

In Curtis Foreman’s blog “10 Types of Social Media…Benefit Your Business” connecting with people, sharing photos and sharing news are some of the reasons why people use Social Media. To obtain a deeper understanding on the 10 types of Social Media, click here.

I use social media myself, and for many reasons mentioned in Foreman’s blog like socially connecting with my friends and family or to keep up to date with last night’s European football scores or to even post a picture of myself for my friends to see. I do it, because it gives me pleasure and satisfaction to send something that is interest to me and have others react to it, especially in a positive way.

For others, it could be different. It all depends on who are we as an individual and the environment that we have grown up in that differentiates our reasons. Social Media comes down to the basic desire from humans: the need to connect with others, to be part of a group. That’s how humans are like, and sometimes we can’t explain why this need for us to feel like we need to connect and socialize exists. Life is like that.

Decades ago, it was difficult to get yourself noticed as we would only know people who live along our street or possibly around the block. We didn’t have any type of media that enabled us to connect with people globally.

If people wanted to connect with others, they would have to do it through the act of going outside and meeting face-face. Whereas now, most of us would socialize with our hundreds of friends through our phones while staying at home.

In this generation, the presence of social media has made it possible for everyone to know more about each other than we ever did before. The world is changing, and changing for the better part of society.

We should be grateful for the presence of social media because it has made our lives much more easier to connect with people compared to how our parents and grandparents connected.

In the end, Social Media has had a major impact towards people’s lives. Whether we like it or not, Social Media is only going to get more influential then ever, despite the reason they use it.

Hello all blog readers, my name is Zen Den. I am currently a full-time student studying Bachelor of Business (Marketing Applied) at RMIT University. This blog contains my perception and thoughts into the world of Digital Marketing (Semester 2), so please feel free to read and comment on posts that you find interesting as I’d love to know your own opinions. It’ll be great if you could come along in this journey with me by subscribing to my blog to keep up to date with new weekly content. Enjoy!