12-22-14
We?re hearing a lot about digital cutting into radio advertising budgets?.but does that need to be the case? According to a survey by technology research firm Gartner Inc., sixty-eight percent of senior marketing executives said that their company had a separate digital marketing budget. According to the survey, marketing executives are three times more likely to lead strategic growth initiatives in 2016 than they were in 2012.
So let?s think about this. If digital marketing is all about growth initiatives, of course marketing executives can justify new and separate budgets for digital. If you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hire a sales person who can guarantee to increase your sales dramatically, do you cut budget elsewhere or reduce your sales support staff to pay for that growth opportunity?
Of course not. If a new sales person, or digital initiatives, really can increase sales, those initiatives are paid for out of that growth! And when C.D.s became popular, did consumers replace their car radios with CD players, or did they find extra budget to add the CD option? Where there is perceived benefit, we can always find more budget.
A Forbes magazine article about the Gartner survey said ?Changing market dynamics, an empowered buyer, channel proliferation and a connected economy open up a wealth of strategic growth opportunities for organizations in every sector.?
Who wouldn?t invest more budget in growth? The article said ?For marketers in 2015, it?s less about digital marketing than marketing in a digital world. Hence, marketers manage a much more balanced and integrated marketing mix than in previous years.? It?s time for you to spread the word that digital doesn?t replace broadcast, but rather is a component in an integrated marketing mix to increase the sales.
Wayne Ens is president of ENS Media Inc., a marketing consulting company that trains radio sales people and local advertisers why radio deserves a bigger share of marketing budgets in the new media economy.
Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend
