Eight Digital Media Opportunities to Beat Digital Burnout

Written by April Hollander | VP, Media Director

In a world overwhelmed with virtual interactions, it’s important to employ a number of methods to reach your target audience. Digital media can help compensate for the reduction of face-to-face communications which are so important for moving people toward a desired action.

Outlined below are eight of our favorite digital media opportunities that we are deploying to help our clients effectively, and efficiently, reach their target audience:

1. Digital audio

   – Gone are the days we have to choose between scale and targeting. First-party data, including attitudes and targeted geography, allows us to identify niche audiences and buy across multiple audio platforms to achieve volume.

2. Connected TV

   – Like digital audio we can reach narrow target audiences through first-party data via Connected TV. This means the impact of TV can be deployed to a niche audience cost efficiently without worrying about “waste.” The cost is comparable to pre-roll and we often run the two tactics synergistically.

3. Webinars with incentives

   – The pandemic webinar burnout is real but offering incentives for joining webinars or other learning opportunities can increase attendance – we’ve seen responses triple when a compelling offer or prize is included. Offering continuing education credits is still important and often easier to earn virtually.

4. Facebook Live

   – Putting business experts into the digital world is easily achieved via Facebook Live. This content can then be distributed via other social channels for bonus impressions against a niche business audience. We’ve used Facebook Live as a platform to host lengthy discussions on complex topics with impressive results. For one client, we reached nearly 6,600 people out of an audience size of 9,000.

5. Targeted audience extensions on LinkedIn

   – We’ve seen great success targeting niche audiences through LinkedIn. By using job titles and other job-related data, we’re able to effectively target messages through this career-focused platform. Using timeline and newsworthy content, we’ve seen response rates six times higher than LinkedIn benchmarks.

6. SmartCodes

   – Often seen as a thing of the past, there has been a rejuvenation of SmartCodes in print materials now that they’re more accessible with just a phone camera. Whether it’s a print ad, a direct mail or a special-purpose publication, a SmartCode allows print materials to be interactive and trackable. And, those who do respond are more qualified visitors, according to time spent on site and return visits.

7. Reddit

   – Ideal for a more unique niche audience, you can granularly reach users discussing certain topics with little competing advertising. Seeing that Reddit is the seventh most visited website in the U.S., it is a playground of digital opportunity that is not to be missed.

8. Triggered emails

   – Sending curated content to users based on their recent searches on a specific website allows marketers to send real-time emails based on recent behavior and interest. This tactic has been shown to have open rates six times higher than traditional email.

These digital media opportunities provide ample “test and learn” scenarios that allow us to continuously optimize and refine our approach. With continued emphasis on digital communications during the pandemic and likely afterwards, now is the time to try new media to increase your marketing performance.