Martha Stewart delivered a single message to a crowd of about 600 at the Direct Marketing Association‘s annual conference in San Diego on October 19: It’s good to be everywhere.
“Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is really after an omnipresence in consumers’ lives,” Stewart said. “That sounds a bit full of it, but it is exactly what a company like ours needs to do — it helps to have a Martha, or a Rachel or an Oprah to reach out to audiences across all media and it allows our advertisers to reach everybody.”
Whether it’s online on Web sites, blogs, Twitter or e-mail, on air on TV programs or Sirius radio channels or in one of four print magazines, Martha Stewart’s brand is combining media and merchandising to provide instruction, information and sell a wide range of homecare products.
“We are, of course, marketers,” Stewart said of her team. She credited direct mail and e-mail for much of her company’s growth.
She also advised marketers to think of their brand’s content as the sun in a solar system of media outreach. Stewart described her recent interest in targeting consumers online through blogs, Twitter and Facebook as a natural progression of reaching younger viewers in a connected universe of interaction.
Much of Stewart’s brand’s content channel revolves around repurposing content and recognizing synergy with other media channels or companies. She noted that by making instruction and advice available to a wide array of consumers, the company can sell and merchandize complimentary products.
“You have to be active and informative when using Twitter and blogs, in order to drive interest to all of your other digital and offline products,” Stewart advised.
