What are consumers doing online? How are they making decisions? Which television programs are watched live? What is the role of social media today? How is video complimenting content strategies? It helps to guide our strategic thought process and ultimately influences where we invest marketing dollars.

This data creates debates among marketing professionals. Some argue that traditional media (television, radio, outdoor) still has an important place in the world – we need mass communications channels in order to influence large segments of the population.  Others state the obvious fact that consumers are spending more and more time online through their digital devices every day. So they must prefer a digital marketing experience? 

So which is it? Online or offline?

It’s neither. Or both. The fact is that today’s consumer doesn’t discern between what’s digital and what’s not. They don’t put themselves into either/or buckets. So, why do so many marketers insist on that approach?

Some marketing professionals prefer a digital approach because that’s the media trend. And digital is more easily measured. Others point to the proven brand lift that traditional mass media still provides many brands. And the advanced marketer can measure the effectiveness of their offline campaigns too. 

The industry is having this debate over which is a more effective choice to influence consumers. Only thing is, the consumer is oblivious to that line of thinking. They have their habits. And they don’t care at all how marketers think. Our job is to step outside of our world understand how they think and what motivates them at each step of the decision making process. Maybe we should call that InLine Marketing.