Identify and analyzing the advertising target

The advertising target is the group of people at which advertisements are aimed. Identifying and analyzing the advertising target are critical processes.

The information they yield helps determine the other steps in developing the campaign. The advertising target often includes everyone in a company’s target market. Marketers may slant a campaign at only a portion of target market.

Advertisers analyze advertising targets to establish an information base for a campaign. Such information includes the location and geographical distribution of age, income, sex, ethnic origin and education; and consumer attitudes regarding the purchase, and use of both the advertiser’s products and competing products. It is important to be able to understand the consumer views (their likes and dislikes). When the advertising target is not strictly identified and correctly analyzing the campaign can’t be successful.

Defining the advertising objectives

The next step of advertiser is to consider what the company hopes to accomplish with the campaign. Because advertising objectives guide campaign development, advertisers should define their objectives carefully to ensure that the campaign will achieve what they want. Advertising campaign based on poorly defined objectives seldom succeed. Advertising objectives should be stated clearly, precisely and in measurable terms. They must be realistic. An advertising agency must be prepared to let the client know when its goals are not attainable.

Creating the advertising platform

Before launching the advertising campaign an advertising platform must be developed. It should consist of problems that are important for clients. One of the best ways to determine what those problems are is to survey consumers about what they consider most important in the selection and use of the product involved. Because the advertising platform is a base on which to build a message, marketers should analyze this step carefully. But the campaign will fail if the information in the advertisements isn’t important for consumers when they select and use the product.

Determining the advertising budget

The advertising budget is the total amount of money that marketers allocate for advertising over a period of time. It is difficult to determine this amount because there is no way to measure and precise the effects of spending of certain amount of money on decision about how much to spend for advertising. The geographic size of the market and the distribution of buyers within the market have a great bearing on this decision. Both the type of product being advertised and business’s sales volume relative to competitor’s sales volume play a part in determining what proportion of a business’s revenue is spent on advertising.

Advertising budgets for industrial products are usually quite small relative to the sales of the products, whereas consumer convenience items, such as soft drinks, soap and cosmetics generally have large budgets.

Objective and task approach

Of the many sales promotion techniques used to determine the advertising budget, one of the most logical is the objective and task approach. Using this approach marketers initially determine the objectives that a campaign is to achieve and then attempt to list the tasks required to accomplish them. The costs of the tasks are then calculated and added to the amount of total budget.

Developing the media plan

Advertisers spend a lot of money on advertising media. To derive the maximum results from the media expenditures, a marketer must develop an effective media plan. A media plan helps to choose the exact media vehicles for advertising (specific magazines, TV channels, newspapers, radio programs, Web sites) and the dates and times when the advertisements will appear. The effectiveness of the plan determines how many people in the advertising target will be exposed to the message.

Media planners take many factors into account because they devise a media plan. They analyze the location and demographic characteristics of people in the advertising target because the various media appeal to particular demographic groups in particular locations. For example: There are radio stations directed mainly at teenagers, television programs aimed at adults of both sexes, magazines for men in the 18 to 34 age group. Media planers should also consider the size and the type of audience. The cost of media is an important but troublesome consideration. Planners try to obtain the best coverage possible for the amount of money spent.

 

 

Executing the campaign

The execution of the advertising campaign requires an extensive amount of planning and coordination. Regardless of whether or not the organization uses an advertising agency, many people and organizations are involved in the execution of a campaign. Production companies, research organizations, media houses, photo engravers and commercial artists are just a few of the people and organizations that contribute to a campaign. Implementation requires detailed schedules to ensure that various phases of the work are done on time. Advertising management personnel must evaluate the quality of the work and take corrective action when necessary.