I’ve realized that to truly engage customers, it’s essential to be wherever they are – be it on social media, email, websites or even traditional channels like TV and radio. This is where a solid media mix comes into play.
By strategically using multiple channels, I can deliver messages more effectively and ensure they reach the right people at the right time.
But how does this help you plan better campaigns? And why has it become such an important part of modern marketing strategies? I’ll break down how a strong media mix works, share some compelling statistics, and highlight an example of a brand that manages to take their campaigns to the next level.
Table of contents
What is a media mix?
A media mix is a marketing term for the combination of channels a company uses to achieve its marketing goals. This can include billboards, emails, websites and social media. Companies may refer to their marketing mix when thinking about how to achieve the goals of future marketing campaigns.
A media mix is another term for an overview of the channels through which companies implement their marketing strategies. Ultimately, media mix optimization is the process of analyzing the performance of these channels.
Think about the last campaign you saw from one of your favorite brands. What did they do differently that you really liked? By incorporating a media mix into your annual planning, you can narrow down what resonates with your audience.
Media mix Example
The theory is great, but it’s important to see this approach in practice. The makeup brand immediately comes to mind The Lip BarThe latest campaign introduces their limited-edition HBCU lip gloss collection.
To build anticipation and drive demand for this limited-edition product line, The Lip Bar launched a multi-channel campaign that reached audiences both online and offline.
First the website.
When you land on the brand’s homepage, you’ll see an image of the CEO with the following sentence: “Introducing the HBCU Lip Gloss Collection. Limited edition transparent lip glosses inspired by our HBCU girlies.”
Clicking on the image will take you to a landing page that shows the entire lip gloss collection and explains the concept behind this limited edition.
The second digital channel the brand uses for this campaign is YouTube and publishes a 59 second video Celebrate HBCU culture paired with lip gloss.
Going offline, I love how the brand also showed up at FAMU’s homecoming and opened a pop-up shop. They advertised on Instagram to attract people to their in-person event.
So what conclusion can be drawn here? The benefit of using a media mix is using different strategies to see which tactics work and result in better conversions.
I think The Lip Bar’s recent campaign is a great example of how each brand can use channels differently to achieve the same marketing goal.
Media mix statistics in 2025
Things have changed significantly in recent years, particularly with the emergence of AI. So how do marketers approach different channels and campaigns? The situation is evolving, so I will share the latest.
Our extensive internal investigations also reveal the following:
Media mix optimization
Now that you know what media mix is, how do you find the right mix for your brand and product?
This is where optimizing the media mix comes into play. Based on data from your previous campaigns and audience research, you can identify the best channels to reach your target audience – and then send your message across these different media.
I think optimizing your media mix is important because it allows you to invest more time and money in marketing strategies that work best for your audience.
When optimizing a marketing media mix, you need to look at the analytics and ROI of different marketing strategies. This can be anything from engagement data on social media platforms to views of the latest commercial.
Enter media mix modeling. If media mix optimization is the “what,” modeling is the “how.” Each model can (and should) look different depending on your marketing and broader business goal.
Modeling the media mix
Media mix modeling, also called marketing mix modeling, is an analytical technique for measuring campaign impact and determining how each channel (and specific elements) contributes to conversions. Using the results of media mix modeling, marketers can figure out what drives conversions to create campaigns that provide a high return on investment.
Media mix models can be used to analyze the relationship between a dependent variable and an independent variable.
For example, let’s say my company has a question like, “How did paying for a promoted tweet impact overall blog traffic?” My company’s media mix model should then accurately reflect how a dependent variable – like total blog traffic – relates to an independent variable, such as investment in X.
For companies that are still deciding whether media mix optimization is a good idea for them, I have put together important tips to help you create a media mix model. Let’s explore these next.
Tips for optimizing your media mix
1. Collect data on a personal level.
This is where you need to find and focus on analytics that help provide an accurate picture of how customers are interacting with your media mix.
Analytics software is extensive and offers a range of tools to use. If you ask me, there is no reason to rely on anything other than that HubSpot Marketing Hub.
I would also advise against having too many metrics; This can be confusing and lead to inaccurate data. Therefore, it is best to have an idea of what metrics you need to track so that they are accurate from the start.
A normal media mix optimization process can take a few months to a year. So gathering the right information at the start will help ensure the most accurate information overall.
2. Have a robust reporting process.
When using a media mix, online and offline strategies are often combined. With this in mind, it can be more difficult to measure the impact of a billboard compared to a paid social ad.
This means you need to think outside the box when evaluating your media mix. For example, while an online ad can provide clear conversion rates, a billboard may require creative tracking.
Maybe you can track the increase in branded search volume or improved brand recall.
This requires a robust reporting process that takes into account the events you track – both online and offline.
3. Choose the right platform.
Marketing teams using CMS or analytics software are already ahead. Software like this is essential for optimizing a media mix because it can give you numbers that would otherwise take time to calculate manually.
A brand can analyze its media mix using platforms that collect real-time engagement data and aggregate this data into tracking reports.
I recommend looking for a platform that provides a holistic view of results across all areas so that results remain consistent. It also makes sense to choose software that specializes in the marketing channels you currently use.
Because optimization involves measuring a lot of different data at the same time, you should stick to as few systems as possible.
For companies looking for a CMS, Content Hub is a great option that is easy to use for brands of all sizes.
4. Analyze the data.
I’ve talked a lot about the type of data and analysis that needs to be done in media mix optimization, but another important factor is the ability to interpret and understand that data.
It’s no secret that there are a plethora of processes and acronyms floating around in the marketing world. Although it can be intimidating at first to understand this data and what it means, it is important to understand the data being collected and how to use it to your advantage.
For example, if a marketing team had particularly high click-to-open rates for weekly newsletters, that’s useful information that suggests their next campaign could benefit greatly from implementing email marketing. On the other hand, if a marketing team has no idea what the click-to-open rate is, these numbers won’t be helpful – they’re just a little confusing.
Reading data to understand its usefulness is just as important as collecting it.
5. Consider public perception.
Knowing how the public perceives your brand can help fill in some interpretation gaps during the modeling process. In the media mix model, consider how you incorporate customer opinions. This way the numbers have some customer opinions to define them.
I recommend you do this in several ways:
- Monitor brand mentions. To better understand your brand perception, monitor your brand mentions on social media. Notice the positive, the negative and the questions.
- NPS survey. You can also create a survey to find out how your customers feel about your company and its services and use a Net Promoter Score (NPS).
An NPS asks customers how likely they are to recommend a company to a friend. Knowing this will help you understand how a company is performing in the marketplace. It will also be helpful in future marketing efforts.
- Track relevant metrics. Keeping an eye on your metrics such as brand awareness, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction will help you assess how your brand is performing in the public eye and where you can improve.
These methods ultimately give the customer control over optimizing the media mix.
Takeaways
My biggest takeaway is that in 2025 you need to advertise across a variety of media. Gone are the days of simple one-stop-shop advertising. However, to effectively get your message in front of your audience, you need to optimize your media mix with real data to know where your audience is and how to reach them.
Taking the time to optimize your strategy will ultimately save you time and direct your resources to the right channels.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2020 and has been updated for completeness.