6.1+2 Advertising media and methods

ADVERTISING

Advertising media and methods. The key elements of a good advertising campaign. Planning advertising campaigns.

Advertising. Means so much in everyday life. Wherever we go we are surrounded by it, it is a big part of a modern culture. Cinema, radio, TV, Internet, press, billboards, brand mobiles – everything we contact with contains at least a small piece of an ad. A company can advertise in many ways, depending on how much it wishes to spend and the size and the type of audience it wishes to target.

TV advertising is still the most glamorous, even if its heyday is over because of huge variety of channels and the saturation of the markets of consumer goods it normally promotes. However product placement and product endorsement may save the situation, it can be very profitable both for movie or sport stars and for the company. On the other hand it can be dangerous if, for whatever reason, the celebrity falls from favor.

The best form of advertising is free word-of-mouth, which occurs when customers recommend products and services to their friends and relatives. All the advertiser can do is hope that it is positive.

But choosing media is only half of the problem. The other half is finding out the key elements that will make your advertising tick. According to specialists the most important thing nowadays is to be able to gain the consumer’s attention, though it’s much more difficult now due to enormous competition in the market. You’ll have to involve your target audience, so you should have a very clear point of view, be really single-minded in what you need to say and usually entertaining. The campaign itself demands consistency otherwise people will get confused.

So, what are the launch stages of the advertising campaign?

Well, it all starts with discussion with your clients, where you talk about their business objectives and brands. You develop a marketing strategy. Then you need to understand in some depth and detail your target audience. Use the qualitative research, understand what motivates them, how they think and feel about communication. That’s stage number 2 – research stage. The third one – you develop a creative brief and talk it over with your creative partners, pulling all pieces together. It’ll take some time before they come up with a communication idea which you’ll then discuss with your client. And don’t forget to discuss it with your target audience, because it’s very rare that you will get it right for the first time. So, it’s only now you make a communication campaign. Once you’ve launched it, track down whether it works successfully in a real sense to get some feedback for the next stage of development.