Media Mix or Media Mess?

Different media genres cater for different target audience and to reach different goals. This is significant through the wide variety of media that corporations or organisations of today use to maximise publicity as well as providing their respective audience with suitable information. In order to capture the attention of the public, marketers are required to analyse the knowledge of the audience (regarding the product) and their indifference to figure out the best way to overcome the scepticism of the audience as well as using these responses for their own purposes (Myers 1999, p.204)

Media mix can be classified into two major categories - print and online. The common print medias that can be found in the market would be brochures, fact sheets, magazines, books and the local newspapers. On the contrary, online medias caters to both domestic and international audience through websites and blogs. Prints and online media are genres that associates meaning with a social purpose and a social occasion within a given culture but not every mode are equally likely (Schirato 1996). Marketers have to be well aware of the social structure of their targeted audience to ensure that the audience are able to understand and grasp the information provided with ease.

(image source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm)

Internet users are multiplying by millions every day and has wrought changes to the competitive landscape that are drawing away both readers and advertisers, leaving print media organisations such as newspapers in a struggle to survive by embracing customer relationship management (CRM) to gain back readership (Noyes 2007). It is obvious through the survey that most corporations sets up a website for their own to reach out to a wider a scope of audience as they are, too, aware that the public tend to spend more time in front of the computer rather than strolling the streets. Mainly, it was more convenient.

A simple example would be the local newspaper, The Star. Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd make use of both print and online media to keep the public updated with the latest happenings in the nation and across the globe. The printed newspapers publishes more on national news as their intended audience scope are the local readers and distribution of the printed media are confined to a certain area. Therefore, they had to alter their contents to adapt to the different cultural and ideological construction in their newspapers (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006) where as TheStar Online keeps a balance ratio of both local and international news.

Illustrated above are the different media mix that are used by Star Publications: official website, citizen's blog and printed newspapers.

An added advantage that are found in online media is that there are unlimited space and users have the choice to participate and interact with the corporation through the online website or blogs. However, texts posted on websites had to be in chunks as it is tiring to read on screen (Nielsen 2000). Thus, online media are often used as complimentary to printed materials as audience are more willing to spend more time to read on print materials than straining their eyes by looking on the computer screen.

Hence, one has to be knowledgeable on which media mix to use to make full use of its functions to achieve desired results or else it would eventually end up in a mess as media that are being used without proper consideration are equivalent to waste.

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References:

Internet World Stats 2007, 'Internet usage statistics: the internet big picture, world internet users and population stats', viewed 15 October 2007, <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 2006, 'Chapter 1: The semiotic landscape: language and visual communication' in Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2nd edn, Routledge, London.

Myers, G 1999, Ad worlds: brands, media, audiences, Arnold, London, pp. 203-214

Nielsen, J 2000, 'Chapter 3: Content design', Designing web usability, New Riders, Indianapolis.

Noyes, K 2007, 'CRM for newspapers: a matter of survival', ECT News Network, viewed 15 October 2007, <http://www.technewsworld.com/story/59778.html>

Schirato, T & Yell, S 1996, Communication and cultural literacy: an introduction, Allen & Unwin, NSW.

TheStar 2007, TheStar online, viewed 15 October 2007, <http://thestar.com.my>