Esther
Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast, I'm Esther.
Melanie
And I'm Melanie.
Esther
And today we're talking about traditional marketing. Does it still have a place in the digital world?
Melanie
I reconcile, but maybe that's because I'm old fashioned.
Esther
Well, I didn't want to say it. OK, so we're talking a newspaper, we're talking TV, radio, you know, print media, flyers, all of those even business cards. I mean, I've seen a lot of people take their business cards online now. So is there still a need to be in someone's hand tangibly, OK, so...?
Melanie
I think so we're very receptive human beings, we we like a tangible, real thing. And I think it makes you more memorable as well. I mean, catchy tunes and whistles and that sort of stuff help. But, you know, using all the senses, I think there's still a place for it. And I mean, very recently, I'm based in Mullingar, which is in the county of Westmeath in the Republic of Ireland, and they change the car parking around here recently so that the long term car parking, some of it became a short term car parking for, you know, through loads of people locally. And I called the council offices and I said, "lads, you know, where was the notification of this? Oh, we put it in the papers". And well I don't read the papers, "we put it on social media". And I went "I do social media for a living. And I live locally and I didn't hear anything about it. What's the story?" And I'm sure they did put it in social and I'm absolutely certain they put it in the papers. But I don't read the papers. I don't know many people who do, to be honest, not of my age and
Esther
will not say what age that is. But no, we're not that old.
Melanie
But, you know, I still think there's a place for it. And not just because it's. I think there's a supporting aspect to it, because the newspapers don't just have it on a tangible sheet of paper anymore, they have it online as well.
Esther
Most of them, like a large majority of them do. OK, so we're talking about a local newspaper.
Melanie
national.
Esther
Yeah, I'm up here in County Down and Northern Ireland. And there's a newspaper that well, it was always printed in the town, in the little village beside me here. And yeah, it was always the running joke was always this week's paper for last week's news, because with being a local small town, you always heard about what was going to be in the paper before it even hit the print. But when you're talking national papers and daily papers, you know, those that come out that are printed day by day, then you get different news articles and information from those. So we've both been featured in different newspaper articles and different even different section. So I've recently been in the Belfast Telegraph and I've recently been in The Irish Times just because I've answered journo requests on Twitter. So you the journalists are using digital marketing and digital media to fulfil their traditional media needs. So it's always
Melanie
what difference does it make? How is it actually helping people? Because, I mean, the temptation is to use just social media, isn't it, for every size and shape of business? And I think the reason for that is just because it's free and it's something you can put up yourself, but. You know,
Esther
but there's artistic light,
Melanie
there is
Esther
there's that added, you know, somebody else wrote about me.
Melanie
Yeah.
Esther
And it wasn't just me telling you what I do. It was somebody else. You know, we're not just talking about placing an ad in the local newspaper or on the local radio station. It's you phoning up and getting interviewed because you're an expert in your field.
Melanie
Somebody's looking for you and thinking you're the person, the county, and in it, there's lots of different ways you can do it. I mean, there are preferred methods that people use. You can either approach the agency direct orders to local media HQ or not affiliates is just one I've heard of. And you can purchase like at an entry point to Media HQ. This is here in Ireland, in the Republic of Ireland. It works everywhere, but definitely here you can.
Esther
Yeah. And I know in the United States there's a hashtag help a journalist out. So it's #HAJO. Yeah. H-A-J-O. Help a journalist out.
Melanie
Hajo
Esther
Yeah. Hajo something like that.
Melanie
So how does that sound like Harro.
Esther
It all depends on the accent you have. But you know, it's international. There are ways and means of reaching out and seeing what journalists want to write about. And then you offering up yourself as the expert in that field so
Melanie
Do you have to pay for it?
Esther
No.
Melanie
no. I'm the desire go to. They come to you and you don't have to pay for it.
Esther
Yeah, I mean, there's a difference between that and sending in, you know, a write up about your most recent piece of work or, you know, if you run an event, an online event, obviously recently, if you send in a press release about that, then you might have to pay for it. If you want to advertise, you obviously have to pay for that. But if they come to you for a snippet, whether it's just a one line, what's your opinion on X, Y, Z, then that's free advertising for you as well. And, you know, not not everybody might go and buy the paper, but I know when I was in it, I bought the paper
Melanie
and so did your mum.
Esther
She can't. She's in Scotland, buy the Belfast Telegraph.
Melanie
But, you know, we wanted to highlight the importance of these other traditional media. I mean, I know we're both in the social media sector, but there is still an important place for it. And social media is just an element of marketing. It's not the be all and end all of it.
Esther
Yeah, absolutely. And there's, you know, flyers door to door. I mean, a lot of people do not like that. But if you're local council had sent something out to your letterbox, you would have seen it.
Yeah. And then sponsored events, you know, actually having, you know, being a sponsor of an event or speaking of still traditional media, it's still traditional marketing. I mean, if you were to get a PR specialist and there's numerous ones in each country, so it's not fair to sort of current one,
Esther
but we do know a good one. If you need one.
Melanie
We do know a really good one. So if you want somebody in the Republic of Ireland, in fact, I think she does Northern Ireland as well.
Esther
I think she does. Yeah.
Melanie
Yeah. Then do that tonight night because she's the best.
Esther
Yeah. Yeah.
Melanie
But anyway, so, you know, this a really important place for using other mediums and you've got to appreciate that not all of your audience is going to have access to the same platforms that you do.
Esther
Exactly
Melanie
Do you know the amount of times I have people say to me, but I'm so worried, I'm putting up these posters and I've seen them all the time and said, well, of course you've seen them all the time. They're your posts. But, you know, nobody else is seeing them as frequently as you. And, you know, you've got to be mindful of that. And even when they do see them, sometimes they don't actually see them, because if they're thinking of something else at the time. So that's why it's important to have you think all these other little pies and I don't think for a second that traditional boxing is dying. Not no second,
Esther
No, print is alive and well and whether that's going and getting your business cards printed off and, you know, handing them to someone when we can finally meet in person again, you know, it's not tangible. That's where I met that person. That's where I, you know, I
Melanie
It helps the memory, doesn't it?
Esther
It does. And I personally write on business cards where I met the person, you know, an exact event and whether they stood out, you know, whether they were wearing red shoes or, you know, what it was that made me take their business card because
Melanie
That's was I was thinking the minute you said that.
Esther
Yeah. You see,
Esther
yeah.
Esther
It worked
Melanie
We will have to have it here on the podcast at some stage
Esther
we will, now we're just going off on a tangent here.
Melanie
Yeah. Sorry, but, you know, don't ignore and don't preclude in your budget traditional marketing. Doesn't matter what line of business you are, small or medium or large, doesn't matter what size brand you are. There is a place for it and you don't have to always pay for it either. You know, if you go in with a good hook, I'm a journalist, so I get people sending me stuff and pictures all the time. And if you come in with a good hook and it's come out at a desirable time and you know there's a relevance, then it will happen.
Esther
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you also have taught me previously that because your audience or, you know, the people that you want to help with your training and online marketing are all local, then you have advertised on the local radio.
Melanie
Absolutely. Yeah, I've done it a couple of times actually say radio still works and it's not as expensive as you think you might be, actually. But I do think a lot of it needs to be supported with other things. You know, I don't I mean, I tell people social media shouldn't be done in isolation and none of these should be done in isolation. It's all to do with strategy. It's all to do with planning and understanding where you are trying to bring people through your promotional sales funnel.
Esther
Yes, definitely. And on that note, that's it for today guys, thank you for
Melanie
Leave me hanging.
Esther
Thank you for joining us. We will be back next week with more Monday morning marketing podcast bye-bye.
