BTL marketing and communications

BTL marketing and communications

 

BTL communication is the foundation on which advertising is built, ultimately making its impact on the target audience more effective.

The only explanation why the term BTL communication has become so popular in the professional community is that it is shorter to summarize a group of marketing communication tools than to say them one by one. Although many people pronounce BTL mechanically, they are not always aware of its meaning.


What is BTL communication?

First of all, we have to find an answer to what those three letters (BTL) are. Thus, BTL is short for "below the line". And it is explained by the fact that the nature of these communications, unlike advertising, has a non-standard form, the messages they contain are not cyclical and require creative design.

Finding this type of communication below the line also attests to his background character. It can be said that this is the foundation on which advertising is built, which ultimately makes its impact on the target audience more effective.


What the advertising message cannot reach consumers due to the limitations of its format, is supplied by BTL communication.

Differences between ATL, BTL and TTL

It is not difficult to guess that, in all these segments, the line will play a key role. Depending on where the line is drawn, it depends on what we are dealing with: ATL, BTL or TTL. So, let's draw a line and define the differences between the communications that will remain on its different sides.
ATL (over the line)

Its location above the "horizon" determines that it has access to a large audience. We can say that the characteristic of atl-communication is its wide scope.

However, you have to pay for these advantages, that is, in order for the brand's message to be above the horizon line, you have to spend a certain and not always a small amount of money for its placement.

BTL (below the line)

Since these communications are below the horizon line, they cannot boast of access to the general public. But like any occult force, it works precisely to the different needs of the public.

It can be said that this type of communication tells in detail and answers the questions that people do not understand or do not understand about advertising.
TTL (through the line)

It can be confused with time to live, but TTL communications cross the "horizon" line. This definition is influenced by the development of online promotional tools, and essentially demonstrates that it is now difficult to reach consumers through the dense informational noise that distracts them.

Important brand messages for the target audience do not always reach. To improve performance, marketing now uses combined promotional tools that include atl and BTL communications simultaneously.

Types, examples and channels of BTL

To understand the magnitude and complexity of BTL communications, it is enough to list the specialties that exist in them, but they are all "under the covers". Are here:

  public relations

  event marketing

  business marketing

  content marketing

  mms

 email marketing

 others

BTL communication tools in marketing

They consist of the following three types of marketing communications:
Public Relations (PR)

Traditional public relations communication focused primarily on the mass media, giving them news in the form of press releases and holding press conferences.

But with the diminishing role of the media and its influence on audiences, public relations has shifted its focus to social media. Now relatively new specialties like content marketing, SMM, SEO, SMRM, storytelling, influencer marketing, and email-marketing use PR technology.

Modern public relations uses the following channels to interact with the target audience:
 

Events, including sponsorships and online events. These are presentations, workshops, debates, exhibitions, etc.

Social networks. In this type of media, public relations technology is used to form and maintain brand communities, reputation management, which includes responding to negative posts and comments on user accounts, creating content with influential people etc.

Internet. In addition to social networks, the field of PR includes websites, weblogs, forums, content aggregators, online media, bloggers and vloggers who publish content on topics related to brand promotion etc.