Introduction of Advertising
In developing an ad program marketing manager must always start by identifying the target and buyer. Then they can make the five major decisions regarding developing an advertising program. These five steps in developing ad program are also known as 5M’s of advertising which are mission. Money, message, media and measurement.
- Mission (setting ad objectives) – This refers to the purpose or objective behind advertising. The objective behind advertising is different in character. They include sales promotions, brand loyalty, market goodwill, facing market competition, making the product popular and introducing a new product in the market. The first advertiser has to choose what is the mission of his advertising.
- Money establishing ad budget – This refers to the finance provided for advertising purpose. It means the funds allocation made by the company for advertising. Money is a limiting factor so the company has to think before advertising how much money they are going to spend on advertising. Advertising is costly and companies have to spend lot on this purpose. Some advertising media cost more like television, newspaper, radio etc.
- Message – The message is given through written words, picture, slogan, video and voice. The message is for the information, guidance and influencing the prospective or existing buyers. Advertising with attractive and meaningful message give a positive result. The service of creative writers, artists etc. are used for giving an attractive message and positioning the advertising is a creative and analytical task.
- Media – Some of the major advertising media that are more popular amongst marketers are newspapers, television, radio, posters, internet etc. media differ regarding cost, coverage, effectiveness, and so on. The selection of media depends on the budget, product to be advertised and charactertics of prospective buyer and so on. Wrong decisions on advertising media may make advertising ineffective and money spent will be wasted.
- Measure – Advertisement is costly but it generates revenues for the company. So, advertising must be effective that it influences the existence or prospective customer, which can be done by measuring the advertising. It is the final phase an advertiser will like to make an evaluation of advertisement to judge the effectiveness of the advertisement. It an advertisement is not effective or purposeful it will be modified or withdrawn.
Advertising Media
Advertising is a way of promoting a product or a brand through different mediums. In broader terms, we can say that advertising is an act of getting people's attention towards a brand. If a product is advertised well and its information reaches to the masses; the chance of it being sold too increases. Therefore, advertising is very essential for the sale of a product.
“An advertising media is the vehicle, carrier or means through which an advertisement on advertising message is conveyed to the individuals or groups which is hoped to influence.”
While choosing a media for advertising few things must be kept in mind, out of which the most important factors are:
- The media should be easily accessible to the public.
- It should be made sure that medium chosen is popular among the masses.
- The theme chosen for advertising must be attractive and attention diverting.
If the media chosen for advertising something is popular amongst the masses, then the chances of more people getting to know about it increases. Hence, popularity of the medium is most important factor for an advertising media. The ads play a very important role. People only pay attention to those ads that are compelling and draw their attention towards them.
Function of Advertising media
- Inform – This is the first function of advertising media. Whenever an advertiser produces any product or services for the customer. No one is going to consume it until no one knows that there is a new product available in the market. So here advertising media helps the advertiser to inform their customer that there is a new product available in the market.
- Educate – Advertising media educate the customer about the variety of products and services available in the market. The market does not include one variety of the brand head & shoulder has different flavour or brand of one product only shampoo of different brand. There is always more than one brand or more than one variety of products available in the market. So, the media educate the customer which product will fit him.
- Socialize – social media is nowadays a very popular tool for making products or services more popular. The use of the internet connects more and more people on social media which helps the advertiser to make his product more popular than ever before. Social media also helps advertise indirectly because customers like to share information with there friends, family, providing advice by sharing their experience over social media.
- Persuasion – Advertising media tries to influence customers that his company’s service or product are the best than any other company. It enhances the image of a company product or service in front of customers. It aims to influence consumers to take buying action and switch brands, try a new product or remain loyal to a current brand.
- Reminder – Media reminds people about the requirement for a product or service by providing the same or new feature or any other benefits it will provide when they purchase the product or services. A reminder might be used by a company that has already invested in advertising in the initial stages and they want to maintain its competitiveness or customer.
Types of advertising media
- Radio - The radio commercials are audio and not visual it’s important that the audio commercial made is well spoken and has sounds and words that catch the attention of the listener.
- Hoardings, Boards and Posters - These media are an excellent source for advertising especially large hoardings on the roadsides. However, in order to grab the attention of a passer-by these boards and posters of course have to be attractive and must be bold and clear.
- Newspapers and Magazines - Newspapers are yet another very common and a very old media for advertising. Small or large ads can be given on a newspaper either on the side of a news column of in front of the paper. Magazines are also very popular among the masses and an advertisement given in a magazine is sure to grab attention.
- Telephones and Mobile Phones - These media are not very commonly used but are in many cases used as the media for advertising. Mobile telecom companies advertise their new packages by sending SMS to their users. Companies to companies’ advertisement takes place through telephones commonly.
- Internet - Internet in today’s world can be stated as one of the best media for advertising. Ads can be given on the sides of popular websites most importantly on social networking websites that are extremely popular amongst the youth.
- Television - It is an excellent media for advertising something as it is one of most commonly used medium by the masses. While making a TV commercial it is very important that the theme of the commercial is good it is well made and the concept should compel the viewer to look at it rather than changing the channel during a commercial break of a program. A famous figure used as model for selling the product diverts people attention more.
Meaning and factor affecting advertising media selection
Meaning of Advertising media selection
The aim of the media is to communicate the product with the target customer. If you are thinking of advertising your product or service then you have to choose effective media from the various alternative. It is not necessary that all the business require one type of media. It will depend upon company objective, product nature, fund allocation etc.
Factors affecting advertising media selection
- Company Objective – The company objective is the foremost thing that is kept in mind while selecting the media. The company objective can be customer awareness, change attitude, increase sales or profit, recall the product etc. media have their pros and cons that are to kept in mind while selecting the media.
- Cost of media – The cost of media is a complex factor while choosing media. Small businesses have to go with less costly media due to insufficient funds. Media like Tv, radio, films are costly for advertising. Print media are less costly in space and preparation of advertising messages. Some outdoor media cost an average as compared to other media.
- Media reach – Media have their range and capability to reach target customers. Media selection also gets influenced by the reach of the customer. If you want to target the local market, then you can go for templates. If your target customer is in a particular region then you can select a newspaper. If you want to reach millions of customers, then television is the best option.
- Types of customers – All products are not made for every customer some for them require a particular group of customers. For example, Colgate is used by all ages and religious persons and wheel chair is for disabled or old ages persons. The type of customer is categorized into different groups based on their age, educational level, income, religion, social and cultural interests.
- Nature of product – if the product is something that creates demand or is needed by the customer or creates value for the customer, then advertising of such product becomes effective. Thus, the nature of the product decides the type of media required as if you want to demonstrate your product then, television will work best.
- Company’s Advertising Policy – Company Policy also influence the advertiser to select the media channel. For example, if the company policy is awareness of the customer, spend less on advertising and sell the product or service at less price, so the advertiser has to choose the media that will cost less but fulfil the purpose of the advertising.
- Past experience of company – Company pervious helps the company a lot to select the media that will be proven effective. If the company tried several different media channels and got satisfactory results from a particulars media channel, then there are more chances to use the same media next time.
- Expert service charges – marketing experts are professional that helps the company to choose the appropriate channel of advertising. These experts make market analysis and recommend suitable media. They have experienced professionals so they can judge the effective media channel. These professional services incurred huge costs that increase the cost of advertising.
FAQ's
What is Advertising media?
Advertising Media is a channel by which advertisers create a link to their product and service with their customers. It includes print media outdoor media, broadcast media, interest etc. advertising media helps the advertiser to make their customer know about its product uses, feature utilities, benefits. It not only helps the advertisers to inform the customer about its product but it also helps him to grow to create his company a brand or to cut throw the competition. The selection of the right media is also a difficult part because it cost huge and if advertising does not fulfil the purpose, then all the effort or budget gets wasted.
