Where's the Link? Integrating Your Website into Your Media Mix

by BILL PARKES, Senior Vice President — Media and Technology

While most executives recognize that their organizations' websites are important components of their overall marketing and communications strategies, huge opportunities exist for many to increase the leverage and value they get from the Web. But to derive this value they need to change the way they think about their websites. Instead of considering a site as merely a discrete customer touch point, they should think of it as working seamlessly with the media plan — a public-facing piece of communication that should align with any traditional and digital marketing efforts. What follows is a quick-start guide to integrating your site into a larger design.

1: Organize for integration
In most organizations the website is typically managed by a department separate from the one in charge of media and advertising. While these groups may ultimately roll up to one person, such as a CMO, they work separately. A company in this situation should ask itself how well its website roadmap is formally integrated into its media and communications planning process and work towards ensuring the two organizations have the appropriate collaboration and communication touch points.

2: Evaluate the current state of the website
Look at your website entry points. Do the site entry points from the advertising pay off the advertising? Do they provide the needed content, tools and course of action for the customer to have a fulfilling experience on the site?

Think about how well you are measuring site results. Can you track which media consumers use to get to your site? And once they get there, are they taking action? Are visitors needs being met? Do you know which media vehicles are most efficient in helping you reach your site and business goals and whether the media is working as hard as it possibly could?

3: Review the Web roadmap and align it with future media plans
Be prepared to enhance or build out your site so that it continues to grow with your overall strategy. For example, if you know that in four months you're going to buy online banners, billboards and print ads to support a product launch, plan for this in the site plan in terms of content, navigation and functionality so that the site can provide a compelling and positive experience for customers reached through your media plan.

4: Balance investments between paid media and website enhancements
Try to find the right relationship between media spending and spending on your website. Your goal is to deliver the highest business impact possible across all marketing efforts.

Marketing has changed. Company websites and other digital media are increasingly becoming the venues that introduce people to and cause them to consider your value proposition. If you haven't already, it's time to change the way you think about your website so that it is integrated into your overall media mix.