Articles

INLINE Communications - Weber Shandwick

Welcome to the future of communications planning. Welcome to a template for effective and efficient communications. Welcome to a key for unlocking the digital door. Welcome to Inline Communications.

This report highlights the results of a pan-European study of adult consumers to obtain insight into the communication channels that influence consumer opinion and purchase habits.

We have used the results of this comprehensive research to validate our Inline Communications approach. Inline describes communications that are integrated across all channels: online, offline, experiential, word of mouth…

Inline is not just a philosophy, but also a process. There is a methodology behind the insights provided in this report that allows Weber Shandwick to deliver measurable campaigns that provide concrete results.

To find out more, please contact us. We'd be delighted to come and provide you with some tailored insights - and to help you ‘get inline'.

- Colin Byrne

 An introduction to INLINE Communications

INLINE Communications seeks - for the first time - to put real data into the hands of communicators that enables them to deploy their communication resources in the most appropriate, effective and cost-efficient way.

By understanding how consumers process product information - or more simply, how their purchase decisions are influenced - we can help PR and communications managers plan campaigns that reach their target audience in the places where they are influenced.

A great deal has been written about the decline in influence of the traditional media and yet more still about the rise in online search technology, and the mass adoption of self-publishing tools and interconnected networks of individuals that have helped contribute to the traditional media's demise. But to what extent is that true, and how does it affect the European consumer?

INLINE Communications is a simple concept: that your communications activity - and the stories you tell - should not be isolated within channels. Rather than create separate online and offline campaigns (and teams to manage them), brands should create campaigns that draw no distinction between the channels deployed. Consistent stories should be told across all the media that reach your target. What you do offline should also be visible (discoverable) online. In short, your communications should be INLINE.

Great theory, but what about the reality? We set out to prove that INLINE Communications was more than just a clever play on words. We wanted to demonstrate to brands that European consumers really do value traditional media channels. We wanted to establish the true influence of the new digital channels. And we wanted to create a template for communications campaigns that ensured money and resources were maximised, with measureable results that truly influenced the target audience.

We created the INLINE Profile. To do this we asked a representative sample of 4,692 European consumers the following question:

When thinking about purchasing goods or services in general, how influential are these sources in helping you make your purchase decisions?

The results enable us to create a profile for the target audience that maps how - and where - they are influenced. This becomes the template for our communications activity, providing a framework for our teams to deliver against.

Full report in PDF:

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