| |
| |
|
Advertising Information |
|
|
|
Media Planning: Smart Choices for Your Success
Media Planning for Smarties You say you're ready to advertise. How are you going to choose whether to place your ad in the local newspaper or a national magazine? Why not do a radio spot or place a banner ad on a related company's website? Understanding the benefits and pitfalls of these different forms of media will help you get the most out of your advertising budget. Do you believe that simply placing an ad in the newspaper or a commercial on the radio will drive customers to purchase your product or service? Or does your business have a well-developed marketing strategy with an advertising plan for the year? An effective advertising plan will clearly identify and select the media that will provide the greatest amount of targeted exposure for your business. Your advertising plan should answer the following questions: What are your specific marketing objectives? Who are your target markets? What media types will you use? How many placements will you buy? What is your advertising budget? How will you track the effectiveness of your advertising efforts? The marketing strategies you implement with your advertising plan will depend on the length of time your products/services have been on the market, how you've chosen to position your business, the message you wish to send, and the media you'll use to send it. Advertising will keep your product or service in the public's eye by creating greater awareness over time. Defining your target market in terms of demographic, geographic, psychosocial characteristics will be the single most important factor in selecting which media to use. Choosing between radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and television stations, will be evident if you have defined your market well. Savvy planners set advertising goals in terms of reach, frequency, gross rating points (GRP), and continuity. A basic knowledge of these terms will help you talk to advertising representatives and understand their media planning kits: Reach is the number of different people or households that are exposed to your message during a specified time period. Frequency is the number of times that your target prospects are exposed to your message. Gross Rating Points (GRP) are a measurement that equals the reach multiplied by the average frequency. The GRP is intended to give the total impact of the media effort. Continuity relates to the scheduling or timing of the media placements. Your overall marketing budget will determine how much you will spend on your advertising. Getting preliminary placement costs will help you estimate how much will be required to have an impact on the consumer. Like many aspects of marketing, it is not an exact science and you will have to use your judgment when it comes to developing a budget. It's always a good idea to reserve a small portion of your budget for unexpected opportunities, like a "special issue" just before an important event that you had not planned for. Scheduling the actual media placement will depend on the seasonal sales patterns of your product. Typically, advertising will run in a continuous, pulsed, or flighted schedule. To build sales, your business has to market itself. And, since advertising is expensive, it's important to make your efforts effective. However, advertising planning can be a bigger job than most people anticipate. A marketing professional can help you to define your goals, develop your advertising plan, and place your advertising to maximize the impact and effectiveness of your message. Here is an overview of the pros and cons of different types of media: Newspapers Advertising in a daily newspaper can be very effective if your product or service is relevant to most people. On the other hand, it can be a waste of advertising dollars if you are trying to reach a very specific interest group. Newspapers allow you to take advantage of current events. This is a great advantage if you're selling roses and Valentines Day is a week away, but isn't likely to be helpful if you're trying to reach a narrow niche (ex: marketing a new technology to IT managers at community hospitals). Advertisers will find an unlimited amount of print space available, but the cost is incrementally high. It doesn't pay to incorporate detailed photographs or quality color images when the newspaper printing is generally poor to medium quality. Magazines Magazines allow for good quality image reproduction and layout flexibility. Advertising space is usually expensive. Magazines cover hundreds of niche interest areas, so finding the right publication to reach a specific audience is easy. Magazines tend to be around for a longer time, so ads have the potential for being seen multiple times. However it is difficult to predict when the reader will actually see an ad. Deadlines for advertisements are generally a month in advance of publication, so there isn't much room for last minute changes. Internet Web advertising can take the form of a Web site or an ad banner on another's website. With an ad banner targeting a specific audience is a matter of finding other relevant but non-competing websites that reach the same target audience. Websites that are set up intelligently count hits and can even identify repeat traffic. It pays to study the traffic and number of hits at the different sites and make your own comparison. Ads can be interactive and quickly edited. When properly indexed and registered on search engines, advertisers can maximize the number of potential hits. The negatives are that it is difficult to gauge the impact and costs effectiveness of Internet advertising. Radio Radio is a great medium for targeting a concentrated geographic area and is considered to be relatively cost-effective. The various formats such as talk radio, classical, and easy listening help zero in on the demographics that match those of the targeted consumer. Advertisers can select the frequency and time of day that most closely matches the target audience's listening habits. With radio there is room for quick reaction to sudden developments like a snowstorm or a stock market crash. Since radio uses voice, the advertiser can reinforce his or her message with a voice that suits the message. Other Other forms of media that one might consider include direct mail, broadcast TV, cable TV, transit, and outdoor billboard advertising. If your decision seems more complex than you anticipated, consider soliciting the help of an advertising agency. An ad agency can not only help you select the most appropriate forms of media, but can develop and design ads maximize the impact of your message on your potential consumers. Define your target audience, map out your advertising, and determine your marketing goals. Make sure you have a tracking system in place. With a carefully developed advertising plan, your business should realize a much better rate of return from all of your advertising efforts! Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven, is the owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic and website design, and business writing. Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com/resources/articles.html for more articles and free marketing wisdom. You can visit her marketing blog, Kinetic Ideas at: http://www.wendy.kinesisinc.com Want to harness the power of kinetic marketing? Sign up for Kinesis Quickies, a free bi-monthly marketing e-newsletter: http://www.news.kinesisinc.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
7 Essential Elements for Profit-Pulling Ads Advertising will make or break your business. It is crucial to your success that you learn to write great ad copy. Radio Interview 101 Different Types of Station ContactReaching radio hosts (for the purpose of trying to get booked for an interview) can take on various forms, depending on the type of station the show is done at. What's best? All of them at the same time, of course. Choosing a Print Mail Dealer "Print & Mail is a type of service that is popular among small mail order operators. It is an inexpensive way to get your ad material printed and mailed to people. The Art Of Fear Free Advertising Is fear of failure an issue when you commit valuable money in advertising?Well how about if I showed you a way to remove this fear and you know that you would be able to spend money advertising KNOWING you would get a return?Is that a valuable lesson?Course it is!So, how do you do it?The answer is testing!It's simple really.. How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing Measurements to Increase Your Profits! John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." Fortunately for today's marketers, there are scientific ways to determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements. Take Advantage of Your Foes Let's take an example that is easy to check: I am French. Among the readers who reacted while reading that, an half felt their painful stomach ulcers starting up again while the others remembered their burning desire for visiting France. If You're Tired Of Adverts That Don't Work And Letters That Don't Sell, Then You Must Read This Over the 32 years I've been involved in sales, marketing and management, I've discovered that there are two fatal marketing mistakes made by business owners. They are?· Lack of focus· Lack of implementationThere's certainly no shortage of ideas and information - the world is full of it - but what are you doing with it all? Let's do a quick reality check here and now:· How frequently do you get in touch with your customers?· How far up your hierarchy of buyers do you go?· What actions are you taking to make next week, next month or next year better?Pick one thing you've always meant to do and do it tomorrow to start marketing your business more effectively. The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Brochures Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they'll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same. Whats The Frequency? The more things change, some say, the more things stay the same. When it comes to marketing, I tend to agree. Should Your Small Business Hire an Advertising Agency? So, you own a small business, sales are down and you've come to the conclusion you need to start advertising. Questions: Where do I advertise, how much do I spend and do I need the help of an advertising agency?The answer to this question is really very simple. How to Breathe New Life into Your Advertising Campaign If you haven't made many sales or perhaps none at all, don't be discouraged. Use this 10-point checklist to breathe new life into your advertising campaigns and improve your response rate. Books, Bibles and Fast-Talkers Every community has 'em. Fast talkers who roll into town with a clever idea to sell to people in business. In Advertising Bigger isn't Always Better If you have been following the recent advertising news you will notice that more and more major advertisers are looking to smaller ad agencies to handle their campaigns.Is it because they feel bad? Is it because they are cheaper? Or is it because they see the level of creative talent of smaller agencies?Lets take a quick look at why this is happening and how this is good for the consumers and the advertisers. Placemat Ad Advertising Starting a placemat ad business can create more business for you; free advertising and income all while helping other local small businesses advertise their business all at a reasonable price.This is an idea not new by any means, but it can prove to be very profitable to you if done right. Why Would Anyone Want Your Business Card? Do you remember how proud you were the first time you saw your name in print?Most entrepreneurs feel that same flush of pride when they gaze on their new business cards. That small piece of paper represents years of planning and effort and hard work and dreams. A $40 Million Dollar Little Known Referral Strategy Would you like to know how a car wash chain with only 12 locations has cleaned over 33,373,975 cars and has an annual revenue of over $40 Million (that is not a misprint) using little to no paid advertising?Well, sit forward because I'm about to tell you. The company name is "Car Spa" and here's how I discovered their brutally effective referral strategy. What Makes A Winning Online Ad? Most people who have been involved with sales & marketing for any length of time have heard the axiom, "Sell them what they want. Then sell them what they need". Creating a Winning Logo Creating a logo to get you noticed.When you're branding a company with a name, a colour scheme and a logo the logo is often not given enough care and attention. How to Write Ads that Increase Your Business I caught myself wracking my brain over what kind of article I should write for newspapers that would be useful to business people. It struck me that I was making a solid effort to get into the mind of my target market. Print Your Marketing Postcards For A Penny, Address Them For Free, and Automate the Whole Process This article will show you how to cut your printing costs to a penny and have your postcards addressed for free without doing it all yourself, reducing the time you invest in your mailing to almost nothing.So, you have a list of hot prospects in hand; you need a way to get your marketing message in front of them with the hope that a reasonable percentage will call you.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2007 |
