360 communications planning means taking the individual consumer interactions with the brand, often now referred to as touchpoints, and looking at them holistically. Since the consumer interacts with the brand or the company through multiple channels, sometimes simultaneously with the advent of hand-held devices and integration with the online space – the nexus where these channels merge and interact and influence each other has become increasingly important.
Traditional business models built during the era of mass production and mass consumption, which still rely heavily on mass-media advertising, appear to be running out of steam. To adapt to this new situation, 360 communications planning seeks to focus on the experiential aspects of consumer marketing. Rather than concentrating only on mass media-centered around the four major mediums (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) — 360 communications planning radically broadens the definition of media to include all touchpoints in the consumer’s daily life that influence his or her brand experience.
Race Past Traditional Marketing With 360 Communications Planning
Over the past few years, many consumers and media planners have embraced the Web as a means of seeking out and exchanging information before they make purchasing decisions. They can readily compare prices and product specifications as well as discover other consumers’ opinions of a product by reading blogs and participating in online forums. Many consumers are turning to digital media as their exclusive source of pre-purchase information. This trend is also leading to the rapid expansion of e-commerce. Touchpoints encompass a wide variety of media including television, the internet, outdoor, POP and many others. For mass media, where efficiency is a key criterion, 360 communications planning needs data that can be compared across channels.
Now there is a new tool to make 360 communication plans smarter: LogicLab. LogicLab delivers on-demand access to powerful analytics backed up by advertiser and media data to calculate both campaign planning efficiency as well as efficacy of campaign results. Check out a 90-second video at www.logiclabinc.com.
