Forget One Piece... Have the Whole Pie
Something happened to me the other day; I received a piece of direct mail. Now normally this would not be a momentous occasion. After all, we all receive piles of direct mail every day. However, what made this particular piece of mail extraordinary was the sender – GOOGLE!
When it comes to Internet giants, Google stands out as greatest behemoth of them all. The company is pervasive in our daily lives, and its brand name itself has become a verb (“google it”). So what does an innovative, online company like Google do when it wants to market a service or offer a special promotion? They send out a printed direct mail piece!
Yup, even a premier Internet company like Google understands the importance of a complete approach to marketing, including the use of tried-and-true ink on paper and the mail. As Google knows, there are countless tools required to effectively market a message. However if you only focus on one piece and ignore the rest of the pie, entire markets and groups may left out of the loop. Case in point: If Google had only advertised this particular promotion for Google AdWords on its website, I would have never seen it.
Clearly, the best way market a message is to use ALL forms of media including print, e-mail, social media, video, word of mouth, and the rest. A true cross-media strategy will help ensure that a message can be heard across all markets and audiences.