Marketers have always searched for the magic bullet, that single tactic that can give them the exposure of a celebrity scandal.  Apple found it in 1984 by purchasing air time on the Superbowl.  They had our rapt attention for sixty seconds, followed by endless hours of watercooler discussions. Naturally, many major and not-so-major advertisers followed suit.

What about B-to-B marketers?

Surely, a holy grail of product exposure exists, a single tactical solution that can provide it all, and without the annoying expense of an integrated marketing campaign?  Many marketers feel they’ve found that on the World Wide Web, the one stop, does-it-all interactive media outlet that can give your product exposure to your target market with pinpoint accuracy. There’s no question of the power of the Internet, with 2.67 billion searches worldwide per day*, 183 billion Emails sent per day** and with $131 billion US eCommerce sales in 2007***, yeah it’s powerful.

But wait there’s more.

Consider this statistic.  According to iProspect, “Offline Channel Influence on Online Search Behavior,” 2007, 67% of online search users are driven to search for information about a particular company, product, service, or slogan by an offline channel. Here’s the breakdown: TV 37%, Print 30%, in-store promotion/merchandising 20% and radio 17%.  That means offline marketing channels drive online research that can lead to a purchase.

How about integration?

While it’s tempting to consider the web as your only source of exposure, consider the old concept of integration — send a message to as many people as possible, as often as possible, through a variety of media outlets.  A well-constructed, well-thought-out plan can go a long way. A successful plan must saturate, sustain and standout. When all is said and done, advertising is about reaching as many of your consumers as possible as many times as possible with the least amount of waste.

Look at this way, there’s 100% chance that someone will win the lottery, but chances are it won’t be you. Hedge your bet, instead of putting all you eggs in one tactic, consider an integrated effort.

*Source: comScore qSearch, August 2008, monthly figure divided over 31 days.
**Source: Radicati Group, October 2007.
***Source: “The State Of Retailing Online 2008: Marketing Report,” Shop.org & Forrester Research, April 2008.