Dimensional Marketing: A More Encompassing Approach to Planned Campaigns

To a consumer, the concept of advertising might look like a flat plane, where ideas are linear and the message is always the same. You might see an advertisement for a credit card online, get another advertisement in the mail and see the same credit card advertised on television—and to you, they might all be part of the same message or campaign, aimed at delivering to you the same product. And while the end result or the main idea might be cohesive and indistinguishable in such a way that everything appears to be the same, it’s only the product of superior dimensional marketing.   Dimensional marketing, in a nutshell   Dimensional marketing is an easy concept for marketers to understand, but a tough one to execute properly. The main idea is to create a campaign that spans a variety of advertising mediums, project a similar message throughout these mediums and funnel potential customers through your sphere of advertising to ensure that they’re persuaded to buy a product by the time the opportunity arises. But, finding linkages and crossover opportunities within the various marketing mediums we have access to today isn’t as easy as it may seem.   Take, for example, our credit card campaign from above. Simply projecting advertisements online, through the mail and on television isn’t enough to create a successful dimensional marketing campaign—there needs to be adjoining factors that continually captivate the consumer and build on the value added proposition of the product. On the other hand, introducing a no annual fee perk through the online advertisement, following up with an extended credit line offer via the mailer and capping it off with a signup bonus via the television ad will serve to show people the numerous facets of the product through various mediums, creating an overall cognizance of the campaign as one fluid directive.   The impossible task   Once again, dimensional marketing is much easier said than done. The disconnect tends to come with the initial planning of the campaign itself—people often envision a marketing campaign fit for one medium, then force square pegs into round holes when it comes to supplementing the campaign through other mediums.   Likewise, problems with dimensional marketing can also occur when too much disassociation is prevalent within the different mediums of the campaign. If people easily remember your television ad, however they never see or don’t remember experiencing your direct mailing, mobile marketing or online advertisements, you’re not going to see any bolstered engagement above what you would if you had only run the television advertisement as a solo facet of the campaign.   The trick to overcoming the seemingly impossible task of creating a successful dimensional marketing campaign is to create cohesiveness through branding and supplementing each proponent of your campaign with jumping points to another. For example, when you air a television ad you might have a call to action that says, “visit our website at www.example.com for more information about this special offer.” Then, once people get to the website, you’ll have the benefit of visitor tracking through your site’s cookies, which you can use to create banner ads that advertise “a special offer” or “a limited deal,” which is sure to be seen by anyone with your cookie. Then, you might follow up with an email that makes signup or checkout for your product simple—just a couple of clicks and you’ve got a sale.   The process needs to be a step-by-step one and must span several advertising channels to be considered an effective dimensional marketing campaign. And, it should be noted, any combination of advertising mediums can be used to bolster your campaign, so long as they’re used in conjunction with each other in the correct manner. Whether it’s emails, direct mail, web ads, television ads, mobile ads or something else altogether, as long as it reaches your target audience, it’s a viable platform.   Growing the campaign   One final thing to be said about dimensional marketing campaigns is that they rarely happen overnight. In fact, some of the best dimensional marketing campaigns have taken years to form, slowly building in effectiveness over time. Companies like Red Bull, Free Credit Report, Pepsi and various dating websites have all offered their products and services to people through dimensional marketing platforms and today, each of these companies has at least one ad campaign that people can vividly remember, regardless of what medium they saw it through.   The key to building your dimensional marketing campaign is to perfect each piece of the overall campaign and find the right way to link each new piece you add into the existing components for maximum effect. Think of it like a big puzzle—each piece that you put together has to be a perfect fit to the pieces it connects to, otherwise your finished picture is bound to be wrong!   By defining your various channels, making the right connections between them and working to funnel your customers from one channel to another, rather than going for the hard sell right off the bat, is going to give you the momentum you need to conquer your chosen market through dimensional marketing.   AlphaGraphics Dimensional Campaigns   Here at AlphaGraphics, we’re constantly producing dimensional marketing pieces. You may have been a recipient of one of these dimensional campaigns. Our dimensional marketing pieces range from personalized fortune cookies to laser-engraved, stainless steel water bottles. Each campaign is personalized for each potential client. Let us know how we can help you with your dimensional marketing campaigns, we’d love to help you increase your reach.