Alternative Media


Been interested in all forms of marketing and SEO we have developed a range of articles for informational purposes.

What is Alternative Media?

Alternative media are defined most broadly as those media practices falling outside the mainstreams of corporate communication.

People who are don�t like alternative media often argue that the mainstream media is heavily biased, criticizing their pretended objectivity as a dissimulation of class biases. Causes of this bias include the political interests of the owners, government influence or the profit motive. While sources of alternative media are also frequently highly and sometimes proudly biased, the bias sometimes tends to be different, hence 'alternative'. Alternative media outlets often engage in advocacy journalism and frequently promotes specific political views, often dissident views.
Some examples of alternative media are:

The following is a list of news sources considered to be part of an alternative media, in both print and electronic forms: COA, NewsZ Magazine, Traditions Magazine, Indy media, CounterPunch, Altermedia, Common dreams, The Raw Story, What Really Happened, Adbusters, Information Clearing House, World Net Daily, Drudge Report, buzz advertising and Drudge Retort.

Example one of alternative media

Golden Palace for the use of streaking in its advertising.

In the past two years, the Gaming casino �Golden Palace� has received numerous complaints concerning an incident at the Olympic Games in Athens involving a person who �streaked� an event displaying the name of Golden Palace.

Golden Palace did not approve or condone the incident in question and does not approve or condone this type of �marketing� by its permit holders.

After investigating the Athens incident and meeting with representatives of Golden Palace, the USA Gaming Commission has directed that:



1. Golden Palace will not use, promote, encourage or fund this type of �marketing� ever again.

2. Given the seriousness of the incident and the negative effect it has had on the community�s reputation, Golden Palace will make a substantial donation to Kahnawake organizations to be identified by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.

The USA Gaming Commission is satisfied with Golden Palace�s cooperation throughout and considers the matter closed.



Golden Palace has been using this form alternative media for quite some time to display their online casino web address it usually give the casino a healthy in expensive promotional campaign yet after the Athens stunt Golden Palace states to not condone this form of advertising any more.

I don�t really think this form of advertising is appropriate for a casino yet it reaches a large amount of people and their business receives a large amount of exposure.




Example two of alternative media

Omaha Steaks box which contains some form of different advertising,

You see, two things came with the steaks. One was an Omaha Steaks cookbook.

The cookbook not only contained recipes but also a bunch of bounce back special offers. Each of these offers were specifically designed to get you to call Omaha Steaks up and order more steaks. And Here Was the Second Thing that Was In the Omaha Steaks Box. The second thing was a blue envelope that said, "Don't Miss Out - Special Offers from Americas Favorite Companies."

Here's what they looked like:

The contents of the blue envelope included what is known in the marketing industry as, "package insert."

Package Inserts,

Package inserts are basically advertisements that get inserted into packages that are being sent out from various vendors.

For instance, in this case, Omaha Steaks sends thousands of boxes to its customers. It sells space in its boxes to other companies who want to advertise to Omaha Steaks customers. This is called a "Package Insert Program" or PIP for short.

There are thousands of PIP program offered by many companies. Here are just samplings of the type of companies that provide PIP programs:

Amazon

American Stationary

Divers Direct

Crafts Enthusiasts

Global Industrial Equipment

Kingfisher Maps

Mantis Gardening Tools

Pitney Bowes

Speed Gear

Toy fare

Vitamin World

Zoysia Grass Plugs

If the profile of your target customer matches the profile of the customers that these companies sell to then you might consider a PIP advertising program with them.

The going rate for package inserts averages around $60 per thousand packages. What this means is that you pay $60 and your insert will be sent out with 1,000 packages.

This relatively cheap for of advertising when you consider that renting a list for a solo mailing might cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per thousand names.

On the other hand, the response rates for inserts are much lower than direct mail. An acceptable response rate used for PIP programs are typically measured in tenths of a percent vs. the 2-5 percent return of solo direct mailings.

The number of inserts in a package can vary from four to eight. Generally, only non-competitive pieces are included together in one package.

Here's a photo of the inserts that came in the Omaha Steaks package I received.

As you can see, there are only three inserts from these companies:

1. Hawthorne Village (model trains)

2. Discover (credit cards)

3. Select Comfort (beds)

Here's some advantages why businesses could Consider Using a PIP Advertising Program in Your Marketing Mix

1. You get the power of direct mail at about 20% of what you'd normally pay for a direct mail campaign.

2. You can target specific niche markets and consumer segments.

3. You can target people by the way that they buy (i.e. mail order buyers, phone order buyers, television order buyer etc.).

4. You get category exclusivity in the mailing (i.e. no competing offers to worry about).

5. Your offer gets an implied endorsement from the company mailing the package.

I'm not saying that you should base your entire marketing program on insert media. What I'm saying is that using inserts can be a good compliment to how you're already advertising your product or service.

With the shrinking list market, package inserts are a good alternative way to prospect for qualified leads. It's hard for companies, I think, to rule it out.

Here's a Few points on how companies get the Most Out of PIP Programs

Tip # 1

Be very careful of how you pick a PIP program. It's much like picking a mailing list. You have to pick a PIP program that is reaching people who are good prospects for your product or service.

Make sure you set aside some time to sit with your broker to identify the characteristics of the programs that work. Then find plans that share these characteristics, and put a plan in place to test them.

Tip # 2

Alternatively, with your broker, identify potential programs NOT on the market that may accept your insert.

Tip # 3

Use large, bold type and a strong, simple offer on your insert. All the rules that apply in creating a compelling space ad also apply in creating a compelling insert.

Ask yourself, "What is it, exactly, that I want my prospect to do when they get my insert?" Then put that in your headline.

Tip # 4

Make sure that you are utilizing the maximum allowable size of insert.

Tip # 5

Make sure that it is easy to respond (this should go without saying). And use free offers to generate leads.

Tip # 6

Make it clear why your insert is riding along inside the package. You need to link your copy into the relationship that already exists between the company offering the PIP and your product or service.

For instance, a Home Depot insert that went to new homeowners said, "You've just moved in..."

Tip # 7

Always have new offers and new creative ready to go. After awhile, if the PIP program is a regularly shipped item, people get tired of seeing the same old ad. So you need to mix it up once in awhile.

Tip # 8

If you've been successful with one PIP program then test a few more.

This form of advertising could be deemed annoying by some people as they might feel like its just a implosion of junk mail with their humble steal cookbook.

Example Three of Alternative media



Evil Empire is a monster mix tape which aims to sell around 500 thousand to a million units in the USA; It is filled with great tracks from many of the South's biggest artists. The Mix tape CD is hosted by Paul Wall and TV Johnny who owns a jewelry store, the All-Star Edition mix tape that features tracks and freestyles from B.G., Paul Wall, Pimp C, Rick Ross, Big Boi, Lil' Wayne and T.I. to name a few which are all some of the biggest names in the USA.

The thing which is different about this CD is that blended in 5 parts of the 30 track mix tape there is a constant use of advertising byTV Johnny for his expensive jewelry store.

TV johnney is found taking over the evil empire CD and is publicly announcing his store.

He states his website in the final track www.tvjohnny.net also quoting that he has a new range of expensive watches soon to be released, he also states in other tracks he does business with all the stars


The site which offers the form of advertising is called Mix tape mob the benefits of using the alternative advertising source are:

They Create Unique Marketing Solutions For the Advertisers:

Mix tape Marketing can allow a business to Sponsor the exclusive and official mix tapes produced by the hottest DJs and Artists today these usually sell in units of 100 thousand +. By Sponsoring the mix tape the business will have the ability to integrate their company brand/advertising message with the cover design and music. This for of advertising is very effective and reaches thousand if not millions of people yet it could be deemed annoying by listeners of the mix tapes.

Pictures of TV Johnney below promoting his jewelry with major artists in the usa:


My form of alternative advertising



My form of alternative advertising would be advertising on the new 4g network which should arrive in Australia in the near future.



Brief information on 4G technology in mobile phones



4G (or 4-G) is short for fourth-generation the successor of 3G and is a wireless access technology.

In general, a generation is defined by the result of technology changes over a 10-15 year time frame. Thus, 4G would refer to whatever is deployed in the 2010-2015 period, assuming 3G deployment spans the 2010-2015 period. Typically, this means a new air-interface with higher data rates in the least, and some see change in the way data transport is handled end-to-end.

Ideally, 4G would provide users with on demand high quality video and audio. The killer application of 4G is not clear, but video is one of the big differences between 4G and 3G. 4G may use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), and also OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) to better allocate network resources to multiple users. 4G devices may use SDR (Software-defined radio) receivers which allows for better use of available bandwidth as well as making use of multiple channels simultaneously.

Unlike the 3G networks which are a jumble of circuit switched and packet switched networks, 4G will be based on packet switching only. This will allow low-latency data transmission.

How the advertising would be done via the mobiles?

Basically 4g is a much more advanced version of 3g technology where phones can be tracked by a GPS style radius of the 4G network, messages can be sent to the phones near this radius, My form of alternative media would be to send advertising media from say a business located in the radius which the phone is in, say you are in Chinatown and you walk past a restaurant with your phone on you their could be a 4g transmitter in the restaurant it could pick up your phone is in the area and then send you some video footage of what is on the menu today and the price list all in video format, For the user to receive this message they would have to accept it.

This form of marketing could be deemed un ethical yet it is the future of technology.