ATL, BTL, and TTL are terms that are frequently used in marketing these days. The abbreviations ATL, BTL, and TTL stand for
- ATL – Above the Line Marketing
- BTL – Below the Line Marketing and
- TTL – Through the Line Marketing
When Proctor and Gamble paid advertising firms separately (at different rates) for their suppliers who dealt with more direct promotional effects, the terms ATL and BTL were coined.
TTL is a relatively new term that refers to a more integrated marketing approach that combines both widespread and direct approaches rather than the traditional ATL/BTL separation.
Above-the-line marketing aims to increase brand awareness, allowing the product or service to reach a wider audience.
The BTL marketing strategy entails providing free product samples to people in local towns and cities through direct contact.
The best solution for small businesses serving a local market catchment area is a BTL marketing campaign. When a customer or client is in the marketing funnel, a TTL marketing campaign is used to increase overall brand awareness while targeting individual segments or prospects with direct response efforts.
A successful TTL marketing campaign allows small businesses to reach and focus on conversions by utilizing tools and resources such as social media networks, PPC platforms such as Ad words, and so on.
Choosing ATL, BTL, or TTL – Which is better in this day and age of digital marketing?
The traditional distinction between ATL, BTL, and TTL marketing activity is based on the following types of media. Above-the-line marketing, for example, works best when you use media such as television, radio, and newspaper or magazine ads.
In the case of BTL – Below the Line Marketing, the following activities work best: door-to-door sales, telemarketing, direct mail, and exhibitions.
In terms of TTL – Through The Line Marketing, these campaigns work well when ATL and BTL campaigns are combined. Nonetheless, in this day and age of digital marketing, the distinctions between ATL, BTL, and TTL are becoming increasingly hazy. Because they are set up and published or posted for all to see, today’s social media profiles can be considered Above-the-Line marketing campaigns. These days, Below the Line marketing campaigns, may include –
- Catalogues
- Intelligence-based telemarketing
- Targeted leaflet distribution
- Shopping center/mall stand sponsorship
- Local sports team sponsorship
- In-person demonstrations
- Door-to-door selling
- Direct mail marketing
- Email Marketing
- PPC/Social media ads
- Remarketing
- Post-sales coupons/incentives
- Point to sales promotion
When determining the success of ATL, BTL, and TTL campaigns, the various types of measurements must be considered. For example, in the case of an ATL campaign that is intended to reach a large audience with brand-building content, the types of measurement include-
Frequency – the number of times the ads are seen by prospective customers in the target audience.
Reach – The total number of people who see your advertisements.
The number of impressions – The number of times your ads have been shown across various mediums.
When determining the success of BTL marketing campaigns, you should be able to track the following types of events: Conversion rates – from your websites, blogs, coupon offers, and so on.
- Click through rates (CTR) from digital advertisements
- Email open rates, for example, and marketing automation campaigns.
- Visits to a website’s blog/landing page.
- Subscribers and followers – on your blog, email lists, social media profiles, and so on.
In order to measure the success of TTL marketing campaigns, you must consider a combination of ATL and BTL elements by measuring the options available in both ATL and BTL marketing campaigns.
