Omnichannel Marketing and The Digital Divide

Shifting away from selling ‘traditional’ media vs. ‘digital’ media makes more sense now than ever

Broadcast sales executives hear the term, Omnichannel marketing more and more. It describes an approach to marketing that reaches beyond broadcast radio and TV. Omnichannel refers to the combinations of platforms found in digital environments. That covers everything from on-demand video sent to mobile apps to live streaming on smart speakers.

For years,  broadcasters have been mindful of separating ‘traditional’ media from ‘digital’ media. That meant two separate rate cards, two different sales budgets, and sometimes, individual sales staff.

That made a lot of sense until now.

It Is What The Audience Says It Is

Futuri recently released the results of our collaboration with SmithGeigerGroup, The Future of Audience and Revenue study, one of the most innovative media studies ever conducted.

This study revealed dozens of reasons why omnichannel marketing has become so important. One, in particular, stood out:

The perception of media is changing. Formerly well-established concepts such as “TV” and “radio” no longer exist as they once did. Instead, we have a continuum of professional and semi-professional content delivered through innumerable routes to the end consumer, who is, as a result, more selective and less trusting of the major players who used to dominate the field. In focus groups featuring more than 100 media consumers, we found that modern consumers interpret the term “television” to mean all forms of video, from standard live television to streamed events, video posts on social media, and of course YouTube. The same expanded definition applied to radio, which now refers to any form of transmitted audio over any channel. In every case, respondents brought up non-broadcast content when asked to describe their experience of “radio” or “TV.” Consumers used the terms interchangeably with a variety of audio and video resources. This is both a threat and an opportunity.

In other words, the audience isn’t thinking about the words ‘radio’ and ‘TV’ the way broadcasters have. Radio is audio, and TV is video, no matter where they’re consumed.

Download the white paper to see more key takeaways supporting a shift to selling and integrating omnichannel marketing into your branding strategy here.  

The Silver Lined Truth

The terms ‘Radio’ and ‘TV’ aren’t as discriminated against by the modern audience as you might have thought. Instead, audiences are as welcoming to television and radio content they are to video and audio content.

Broadcast sales executives now have the opportunity to leverage this new information when pitching an omnichannel solution to a client or prospect. The audience’s definition of ‘radio’ and ‘TV’ helps support the digital platforms recommended in any proposal.

Tell the Two Stories About Digital

When making a pitch to a prospect, tell two stories that support the digital components of an omnichannel solution. First, tell the story of the prospect’s website performance. Then, the story about their customer’s digital habits.

The magic happens when these two stories connect to support the digital parts of the proposal. It removes a great deal if not all of the questions the prospect might have.

Always assume that the prospect is aware of their own website’s performance and is tracking the metrics vital to them. That means you’ll need to blow them away with insights they never thought they would hear from an outsider.

It’s also highly likely that your prospect will have researched how to best engage with their targets online. If you’re able to offer data that deepen their understanding of their target’s digital habits, your prospect’s ears should perk right up.

An Omnichannel Tool Based on the New Science

So, how do you get the data to tell those two stories? If that sounds like a lot of work you know you don’t have the time for, let’s talk — because our TopLine sales intelligence system can help. TopLine’s Digital Analysis reports will help you tell two stories about your target’s digital data in a way that justifies your pitch and omnichannel solution proposal.

TopLine advances every stage of your sales process, helps you close more deals, and increases conversion rates – – all while shortening the sales cycle.

If you’re interested in learning more about how TopLine can help you and your team,  reach out to us at Futuri today.