Steve Yastrow

Your un-media plan

“Marketing media.” Did you ever stop and think about what that means? “Media” = “In the middle.”

Every good little ad agency always makes sure that a media plan accompanies each recommendation they present to a client. It is assumed that all marketing communications must have some media in the middle, bridging the way between buyer and seller.

Why?

There’s no good reason. In fact, the most effective marketing doesn’t have mediation. It is when the buyer and seller are in direct contact, sans media.

Certainly, there are times when media are necessary. If you have a lot of customers, you may not be able to talk with them all directly. If you want to reach people you don’t know, you may need to delegate customer communication to some magazine or billboard. But, here’s my question: What do you build first into your plan - rich, personal, unmediated encounters, or mass, impersonal, mediated transactions?

Instead of building your media plan first, try this: Build your un-media plan. Start conceiving of your marketing by focusing on interacting directly with your customers. And then, use relatively-inefficient, less-productive marketing media for what’s left over.

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Posted in Customer Encounters, Marketing | 4 Comments »