For the Best Marketing Mix, Mix Up Your Media

Today's online environment is completely different to the one many of us first knew.

From those early days of heavily text-based sites and gaudy color schemes, the web has developed into an oasis of vibrant visuals, subtle design standards, and endless styles of content. This is a great thing for users, who have come to expect an outstanding experience on almost every site, whether business, leisure, or LOLcats.

For you as a business marketer, however, this diverse environment poses a challenge: is your content updated regularly enough and, if so, are you creating a rich blend of media for your visitors?

If the answer is no to either of those questions, your marketing may be in a funk that it urgently needs to shake off.

Expand Your Marketing Content

Unfortunately, even if you just started writing, a blog is no longer the be all and end all of content marketing. Social media quickly saw to that, with Pinterest, Instagram, and now Snapchat rapidly accelerating the move to a wider content mix, even more so than the familiar likes of Facebook and Twitter.

What started as an appreciation on those established networks for a powerful images or memorable meme, has now turned into a form for content marketing all of its own.

This means businesses experimenting with video, sound, and various styles of content that is relies on strong visuals. In order to continue engaging followers and to fully stand out, your business needs to re-imagine products and services, company culture, into the marketing medium that best communicates its value.

We know, we know, what with spending your time creating smarter advertising and honing your marketing mix, there are very few hours left in the week for extra marketing tasks. The good news is that some of these initiatives can replace writing, and might even save you some time in the process.

Alluring Images Attract Eyeballs

A strong visual sometimes has the power to communicate more than your longest article or advice page. When you find the sweet spot content that resonates with your followers on any particular platform, it's suddenly a lot faster to push out messages that keep your visitors coming back for more.

For example, it can take several hours to write an effective blog article that balances useful advice with a relevant cross over to your own business. But taking an eye-catching  photograph of what your business does, then popping in a quick  caption to push the message home can take just a few minutes if you have an eye for a strong image. Often a picture is quicker, more communicative and far more fun to create than a well-written Test out a free resource like Canva  for the creation of unique, branded images that help your message stand out from the crowd.

It is true that video and audio are sometimes complex to create, especially with a certain amount of editing required. A majority of us now have a smartphone close at hand, however, so even short videos of an interesting event at your business, some snapshot of your day, or  interviews with employees can be produced on a limited budget.

Creativity is really your only limitation, so get exploring new forms of content and bring in others to help you expand your marketing mix horizons.

Mix, But Also Match

None of this negates the need to publish strong blog articles, employ memorable marketing tools, and design effective advertising, of course. When you experiment,  remember that any new techniques must complement your broader marketing strategy.

Make your company identity and unique value proposition at the core of all your business content, while remaining open to new ideas and mediums that help to keep your marketing out of that funk!