print media advertising
it’s important to evaluate several key factors to ensure the advertising effort reaches the target audience effectively and efficiently. Here are the main factors to consider:
- Potential Market:
- Identification: Determine the potential market for the product, including number of customers, geographic spread, income pattern, age group, tastes, likes, and dislikes.
- Target Audience: Choose the medium based on the target audience. For instance, magazines are suitable for high-income groups, newspapers for local coverage, and visual media like radio and television for illiterate populations.
- Nature of the Product:
- Product Needs: Products needed by a broad audience benefit from mass media (print, broadcast, telecast, outdoor).
- Demonstration Needs: Products requiring demonstration are better suited for television and screen advertising.
- Industry Preference: Industrial products typically favor print media over broadcast media. Restrictions may apply for certain products (e.g., cigarettes, alcohols) on specific media.
- Advertising Objectives:
- Coverage: Determine whether the objective is local, regional, or national coverage.
- Demand Creation: Decide whether the goal is to create primary or secondary demand, and whether immediate or delayed action is desired.
- Secrecy: Maintain confidentiality if required, which might influence the choice of advertising medium.
- Distribution Strategy:
- Availability: Ensure the product is available in the advertised areas. National advertising requires a national distribution network.
- Alignment: Align advertising coverage with the company’s distribution system to avoid mismatch.
- Type of Selling Message:
- Color Ads: Use magazines, films, television, and billboards for color advertisements.
- Timeliness: Newspapers, radio, and posters are suitable for timely messages.
- Demonstration: Television and screen media are ideal for products needing demonstrations.
- New Product Launch: Use promotional advertising for introducing new products.
- Competitive Advertising:
- Study Competitors: Evaluate competitors’ media choices and spending patterns to inform your strategy.
- Experience and Tactics: Learn from competitors’ successes, but avoid blind copying.
- Media Availability:
- Access to Media: Check the availability of desired media, especially for high-demand outlets like radio and television.
- Timing: Ensure media availability aligns with the planned advertising schedule.
- Budget Constraints:
- Resource Allocation: Budget limitations can restrict media choices. For example, low budgets may necessitate using newspapers and outdoor advertising instead of national TV networks.
- Cost-Effective Choices: Choose the most effective media within budget constraints, balancing between reach and expenditure.
- Characteristics of Media:
- Coverage: The reach and circulation of the media. Larger coverage increases message exposure.
- Reach: Actual readership, listenership, and viewership over a given period.
- Relative Cost: Analyze and compare the cost per time and space bought across different media.
- Consumer Confidence: The credibility of the medium with consumers. Newspapers and magazines generally have higher credibility.
- Frequency: Number of times the target audience is reached within a specific period. Higher frequency mediums include newspapers, television, and radio.
By considering these factors, advertisers can tailor their print media strategies to maximize impact and achieve their marketing objectives effectively.