.jpg)
In today’s competitive landscape, developing the right go-to-market strategy is more complex than ever before. There’s more competition for consumer attention in an overly saturated digital marketing landscape, particularly as the amount of AI-generated content increases.
Advertising costs are skyrocketing, making it harder to generate a strong ROI from paid campaigns, and even organic engagement levels are dipping.
The only way to ensure excellent results is to invest in a comprehensive strategy that captures attention builds trust for your brand, and helps you stand out from the “marketing noise”. For many GTM teams, this means not just building innovative “owned media” campaigns, but also exploring the opportunities offered by the right “air cover”.
The question is, what does “air cover” actually mean in 2024, and how effective can it really be for your GTM strategy?
The term “air cover” in the marketing world is a slang term traditionally used to describe TV and radio coverage of events. As the marketing channels we use to interact with consumers have evolved, the definition of air cover has transformed too.
Now, “air cover” is essentially another term for a comprehensive PR (Public Relations) and reputation-building strategy. It’s about getting your story out there, through reputable mediums, in as many channels as possible. Air cover can include traditional marketing methods, like getting thought leaders to discuss your latest event on the radio, or promote your product on television.
It could even include magazines and physical publications writing about your business. At the same time, air cover can also apply to all of the “digital” strategies you use to build brand awareness, improve your company’s reputation, and strengthen customer connections. This could include responding to comments on social media, sharing content on reputable publications, producing shareable thought leadership content, and hosting online events.
A comprehensive marketing strategy uses “air cover” for a variety of purposes. It can help to generate conversations about your company and increase brand awareness and reach. It can also improve your company’s reputation, build trust with your target audience, and help to protect your brand equity.
Though the concept of “air cover” has changed significantly in recent years, the importance of the right strategy remains significant. In fact, a good approach to “air cover” maybe even more important in a world where a single negative tweet or bad review online can do serious damage to your reputation. Let’s look at some of the core reasons why GTM strategies need air cover in 2024.
Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of air cover, is that it helps to draw attention to your brand. While all forms of marketing can boost brand awareness, the right “air cover” strategy goes a step further. It ensures you can earn the trust of your target audience by:
The more your strategy earns the trust of your target customer, the easier it is to convert prospects into leads. Sales teams don’t have to work nearly as hard at converting your products if they’re already aware of your company, your accomplishments, and why they should trust you.
Many strategies for developing air cover, like working with online publications on press releases, help you to take a highly strategic approach to communicating with your target audience. After evaluating your target audience, you can choose publications to showcase your product based on their existing connection with the people you want to reach.
You can also ensure you’re conveying the right messaging at the right time. For instance, you can use air cover to draw attention to the features of your new product before a launch, boosting the potential of your other marketing campaigns and lead generation strategies. Since PR also earns you backlinks from reputable companies, it also boosts your chances of ranking on the search engine results page, for specific keywords your customers are searching for.
Today, much of the “buyer journey” for modern consumers is an individual process. Before buyers speak to a sales agent, they do their own research, learning as much as they can about a company and its products not just by visiting their website or social media channels, but by looking at endless resources. Air cover gives you an opportunity to provide your customers with the insights they need into your business and brand before they connect with your sales team.
This means when your sales professionals step in to pitch a product, they don’t have to spend as much time highlighting the benefits of your solution, or explaining what your product or service can do. Instead, they can focus on personalising the pitch to suit the specific goals and pain points your customer has already identified, increasing your chances of conversion.
Investing in “air cover” isn’t just an excellent way to attract more potential prospects to your business. It can also be a great way to improve your relationships with existing customers. Studies show that consumers are becoming a lot “less loyal” to their favourite brands, thanks to economic uncertainty, and cost of living issues. If your consumer can find a cheaper version of your product elsewhere, they’re more likely to switch, unless they already have a connection with your brand.
Air cover gives you the opportunity to build stronger relationships with your customers. It’s a chance for you to showcase your unique values and vision, without focusing exclusively on the products or services you sell. You can highlight your sustainable and ethical approaches, or show customers how committed you are to delivering excellent customer service.
Plus, consistent air cover ensures you can constantly keep customers up to date on what’s happening with your business, creating a sense of transparency that your buyers will appreciate.
Similar to other PR strategies, air cover also gives you a way to preserve your reputation, and respond effectively to issues. Every negative comment left about your company online, or bad news story has the potential to destroy your revenue in today’s digital world. Air cover gives you a chance to “drown out” the negative press, with a communication strategy you can control.
It helps you to address negative press in a strategic way that boosts your reputation and relationships with your audience. Plus, it’s a way to re-shape the conversation about your brand, so when consumers search for your company offline and online, they see more “positive” stories about your products and services, and less negative commentary.
Notably, while air cover remains essential to building and preserving an effective go-to-market strategy in 2024, the landscape is changing at an astronomical rate. Today, companies don’t just have offline radio and TV coverage to consider. They also need to think about how they can expand their strategy, with a combination of offline and online channels.
At the same time, it’s worth noting that the people who can promote your business and offer additional air cover have changed too. Beyond standard industry publications, there are now influencers, podcast hosts, and members of the creative economy to think about.
Air cover will remain a valuable tool for business leaders in 2024, but a strong GTM strategy will rely on your ability to choose the right, multi-faceted strategy for your business and target audience.
.png)
.png)
.png)
