ATL, BTL AND TTL MARKETING - Definitions and Examples!
- ATL : Above The Line Marketing - Widespread brand building advertising.
- BTL : Below The Line Marketing - Highly targeted marketing focused on conversions.
- TTL : Through The Line Marketing - Integrated ATL and BTL marketing campaigns.
Here is a description of the terms mentioned above -
ATL Marketing Definition
This kind of marketing is the kind of marketing that has a very broad reach and is largely untargeted. Think about a national TV campaign, where viewers across the nation see the same advert aired across the various networks.
This kind of marketing is mostly used for building brand awareness and goodwill.
BTL Marketing Definition
This kind of marketing is the kind of marketing that targets specific groups of people with focus. For example, a leaflet drop in a specific area, a Google Adwords campaign targeting a certain group or a direct telemarketing campaign targeting specific businesses.
This kind of marketing is best for conversions and direct response.
TTL Marketing Definition
This kind of marketing is really an integrated approach, where a company would use both BTL and ATL marketing methods to reach their customer base and generate conversions. It might seem obvious, although not all marketing campaigns are like this - some are ATL only and some are BTL only (it would be much more common to see a BTL-only marketing campaign in practice though).
This kind of marketing delivers both a wide reach and a focus on conversions.
Examples of ATL, BTL and TTL marketing activity
ATL : An example of Above The Line marketing would be a television campaign run by a cereal company. The ad would be aired across the nation, with every viewer seeing the exact same message. As mentioned above, this kind of marketing would be used to build general brand and awareness of the business and/or it’s products over the long term as well as goodwill.
BTL : The same cereal company could also run a direct marketing campaign in a large city, targeting commuters on the way to work. They might offer free cereal samples along with vouchers that could be used in a local store. This would be a strategy designed to target a specific group of people and to try and encourage quick purchases, or conversions.
TTL : In this example, a pizza company could launch a nationwide Youtube campaign that would show different video ads to different users according to where the users lived, featuring a promotional code for a discount on purchases made at their local outlet.
The traditional ATL/BTL/TTL separation
So, as we have discussed above, the traditional separation of the ‘Lines’ goes as follows:
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Above the line: ‘brand building’ based advertising solely
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Below the line: direct, response driven marketing solely
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Through the line: ATL methods designed to feed leads into BTL based campaigns
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