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Marketing experts
A total of 13 marketing experts were interviewed to obtain a preliminary understanding of
the domain of marketing and its ROI. Table 1 reports some details about the business and
expertise of the interviewees.
Table 1: Business and expertise of the 13 interviewed marketing experts.
Radio and TV offer (less) opportunities for local SMEs
According to the experts, classic, mass media marketing campaigns on radio, TV and print
(magazines/newspapers) are very interesting, although only for (inter)national companies.
Large companies may use these media channels mainly to increase their national brand
awareness. The (expensive) prices for advertising space and airtime depend on different
factors (time, programming, frequency, uniqueness, etc.). (Very) small SMEs and local
shopkeepers mostly do not have enough budgets to spend on these media and they
experience little or no added value in national brand awareness.
Big companies do not only rely on radio or TV spots via classical, well-known commercials,
but also through many variants of paid, exchanged or negotiated product placement (such
as including one’s brand in a serial, movie or show). The latter channels offer some
opportunity for small companies. They can go for free press coverage (earned media) or an
infomercial or advertorial. If their business, event or local initiative "is sufficiently interesting
or important" they can negotiate prices for coverage for that event or even get coverage for
free. According to the interviewees from the providers of radio, TV and newspaper sector,
the local success of such media attention, through “recognition and being spoken about", is
considerable.
Online is omnipresent
The experts agree that online marketing efforts are particularly successful. There are many
opportunities in online marketing, both owned, earned and paid: website, newsletters,
Google advertising, bannering, skippable or non-skippable advertisements before a YouTube
video, Facebook, Instagram, ... Online marketing tools are considered as positive, because
an organization has ownership of its content, because these tools are fairly easy to use, and
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