Posted by: Paul Keers, Axon
In the digital space, it's far too easy for a brand to end up saying too much, too often, about too little.
So your favourite brand of juice launches a new flavour. The tweet announces it; the website presents it as "news"; the blog explains the background to it; the Facebook page asks if you "like" it; the e-mail sends you an offer for it; and the e-zine runs a feature on the product development unit who created it.
But...it's a new flavour.
We've all now encountered brands who are seduced by the unlimited capacity, unconstrained frequency and relatively low cost of digital communications. They tell us about anything and everything, all of the time. And when those communications are managed in-house, there is sometimes an employee justifying their role by spraying announcements and messages as widely and as often as they can.
The consequence can be an audience which becomes irritated by, and ultimately disengaged from, a brand's messages.
An integrated strategy should reflect, amongst other things, the kind of message for which each platform is suited; its frequency, tone and length; the manner, including likely place and time, in which the audience will receive it; and the way in which it relates - and not simply connects - to the other messages.
Publishing agencies are in an ideal position to assess the engagement value of a client's messages, whatever the platform; and our experience with space and frequency constraints on non-digital platforms are a useful discipline when it comes to balancing content across the different media of a fully integrated strategy.
Paul Keers, Founding Director, Axon Publishing www.axonpublish.com
