How To Develop an Effective Ad Campaign
Developing an Effective Ad Campaign
Copyright GWR Research 2012
MOVING AN AUDIENCE TO
ACT
Since advertising is the primary method for businesses to
inform and influence individuals to consider and purchase their products, the
question is often asked, “How many exposures are needed to cause an individual
to act?” Unfortunately there is no formula available to answer this question
but there are considerations that can help.
Roger Wimmer, Ph.D. authored an article, “The Five Stages of
Communication/Persuasion”. In his article Dr. Wimmer points out that all people must pass through five
stages to make a decision about anything or learn anything. These stages are 1)
Unawareness, 2) Awareness, 3) Comprehension, 4) Conviction and 5) Action.
If bringing an audience from the stage of Unawareness to the
final stage of Action is the goal, the frequency of exposure to an advertising
message will be much higher than that which is required for just moving the
audience from Conviction to Action.
Moving through all five stages probably would involve a
product or concept that is new to the audience and the initial communications
would have to educate the audience. The more complicated the product or
concept, the greater the education requirements will be. For example
introducing a new drink to a market familiar with drink products will require
less education than introducing insurance to an audience unfamiliar with the
concept.
Moving from conviction to action is seemingly the easiest
and should require the least number of messages to result in favorable action.
This however is not necessarily the case.
An individual may know there is a need for a product but may be hesitant
to make a purchase due to budgetary restraints or the inability to make a
choice from many similar products.
IDENTIFYING THE
AUDIENCE
Most businesses have a good idea of the composition of the
target audience to receive advertising messages. The managers know the
products, their uses and the intended audiences. The audience demographic profiles can be fairly broad to
very specific. For example, introducing a new computer would suggest those
individuals that use a computer are the intended audience of the ad message for
the computer. As it turns out, computer users come in every sex, age or other
demographic profile.
Offering new roofing can be more specifically targeted to
individuals who own homes 25 years old or older who have not purchased a new
roof.
Before designing an ad or message, it is recommended that
some time be spent on understanding the audience by identifying the stage of
the persuasion cycle, the demographic profile and the specific message to
deliver. In some cases a general
message delivered through a general reach media provides an efficient,
effective means of moving individuals to action. In other instances a
specifically directed message to an individual may be needed to result in
action.
UNDERSTANDING THE
MEDIA AND ITS VALUE TO THE AUDIENCE
Choosing the right media for an advertising message should
be considered as important as understanding the audience. Broad reach media should be considered
effective when:
1)
The audience is broad such as computer users or
homeowners,
2)
The product or concept is new and requires
audience education,
3)
The product is well known and is available from
many sources, or
4)
The product has different uses by different
audiences.
More targeted media should be considered effective when:
1)
The audience can be identified by 3 or more
demographic characteristics,
2)
The audience has a specific interest,
3)
The audience has a specific ethnic, age,
industry or target profile, or if,
4)
Individuals or small clusters of individuals are
targeted.
General circulation newspapers are probably the most
effective media for a broad market reach. In
2012, 42.9 % of total adults in the U.S. read a newspaper daily and 44.0% read
a newspaper on Sunday1. Advertising messages can be placed in
various sections of the newspaper to reach certain subsets such as sports and
entertainment audiences. Newspapers also allow preprinted inserts that can be
“zoned” to be distributed in specific zip codes or geographic areas.
Direct mail and shared mail programs provide the ability to
reach the broader market or very targeted markets. The USPS reports that 74% of
households read direct mail advertising weekly. Ad messages can be tailored to
specific individuals or can be a uniform message to all recipients.
Radio and television have a broad reach but generally can’t
duplicate the reach demonstrated by newspapers or direct mail. Radio and
television lend themselves to distributing messages to demographically unique
groups that watch or listen to certain programming. While the viewing or
listening audience may be large and diverse, radio and TV audiences will be
smaller than those reached by a general circulation newspaper or a full market
mailing.
The Internet has the ability to reach general and targeted
audiences. An ad placed for general viewing on a high traffic site such as
Google will be exposed to a wide array of web surfers. An ad that employs key
word searches can direct a very targeted audience to an ad or web site. Social
media such as FaceBook and LinkedIn can reach very large audiences effectively.
Radio, television and the Internet have huge audiences but
they are fragmented due to the number of channel or site choices available.
When choosing these media it is important to study the consumers
characteristics and target shows and sites that reach the targeted consumers.
Ethnic media provide the ability to reach meaningful
audiences in a large diverse market. For example in Houston, Texas, there are newspapers
for the African American, Hispanic, Jewish, Chinese, Pakistani and Indian
communities. Advertising in ethnic media may open access to markets that are
not available through traditional media. These communities are large enough to
represent significant purchasing power for products offered and the
publications are usually reasonably priced.
Targeted or niche publications reach audiences that are
smaller and have more defined characteristics but may still be quite general in
nature. A Vietnamese newspaper in a large metropolitan area would still reach
individuals that have a wide array of needs and interests. Trade and topic
focused magazines would reach more defined professional groups that are
comprised of a large number of demographic profiles.
Outdoor advertising has the ability to reach the general
audiences or targeted groups through the number and geographic placement of
signage.
If an audience is reached by a media that doesn’t mean the
advertising message will be received. The ad may not be welcomed in certain
media. The term “junk” mail was
coined as a phrase describing advertising mail that cluttered the recipient’s
mailbox. TIVO and then cable ready versions allow television viewers to
eliminate advertising messages. The popularity of these programs suggests that
in certain instances advertising is not welcomed. On the Internet the ability
to screen “junk” email and close or prevent “pop up “ and others modes of advertising also suggests that ad
messages are not wanted at times.
WHAT IS EFFECTIVE
FREQUENCY?
Effective frequency is the number of times a message needs
to be delivered to the right audience to result in action and is within the
cost constraints of the advertising budget. Effective frequency requires that the
advertiser understand the audience, the stage of the persuasion process, the
cost of delivering the message and the best media to deliver the message.
For most products the general audience media is the best
place to start unless the intended audience is a very small subset of the
general population. General audience advertising can be supported with more
targeted media to promote action.
For example adding ethnic publications may be a good way to reinforce
advertising in the broader reach newspaper. These messages followed up with
messages through the Internet key word searches or direct mailing will further
enhance the ability to move audiences to action.
Another approach is to support a series of ads in a targeted
media with fewer ads in a general audience media. Directing messages through
key word searches, direct mail or targeted publications for specific audiences
can be enhanced by an overarching ad in a general market media outlet.
The frequency of ads will generally be determined by an
advertising budget. The mix of ad media should maximize the number of messages
delivered to the targeted audience. If the budget is very limited and the
target market is small, a well thought out series of direct mail, social media
or email messages may be appropriate. For example a direct mailing to 10,000
CEOs might cost between $3,500 and $5,000. If there were ten messages needed to
educate the CEO audience and lead them to action, a $50,000 budget would be
required. An email or social media
campaign could cost less.
If the desired audience were all CEOs in a large area, a
general circulation newspaper might be a good choice. For around $10,000, a
quarter page ad can be purchased in most major newspapers. If ten messages were
required, the newspaper budget would be $100,000. A positive consequence of
this form of advertising is the reach of non-CEOs who would also have interest
in the product. If the total number of CEOs in the market were 150,000, a
direct mailing follow up might be prohibitive and could be replaced with an
email, social media or niche product advertising campaign.
Gary Randazzo is founder of GWR Research, a media marketing
and management consulting firm. Mr. Randazzo served as Senior VP at the Houston
Chronicle and EVP and General Manager of the San Francisco Chronicle. He can be
reached at gary@gwrresearch.com.
1) Newspaper Association of America
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