Advertising - Part Three; Choosing the media

One of the first questions I get asked when planning media buys for clients is which media do I feel would work best in an advertising campaign for them. My answer each time is that all media work great, as long as the audience of the chosen media matches the target of your product or service. Companies often advertise with media for the wrong reasons. You listen to a radio station so you advertise on it to hear your ads, whether the audience is right or not. Or maybe you’re a sports fan and because you get tickets to the games, you advertise on that team’s broadcast, or even directly with your favorite team. Again, all the wrong reasons for advertising.

The exciting thing about choices of media today, aside from the enormous volume of places you can spend your money, is that all media is targeted better than ever. But that means you must do your homework and take the time to make sure you make the best selection possible. Once you’ve decided on the media, then you need to make sure that the ad is right for that medium.

When you advertise on radio you are appealing to the audience audibly, so the ad you create needs to take advantage of the sounds that appeal to your target audience. If you are in print, you are now appealing to the visual aspect of the audience, and of course, television takes both audio and video into consideration. Some messages need to be quick, because the audience spends a very limited amount of time with the media, so not only are they appealing to the target audience, but they need to be prepared in a way that the promotional message can get across quickly to the audience, and give them reason to buy.

All emerging media need to be addressed in the same way; including the internet, social media, mobile devices, video and others we don’t even know about yet. It’s very easy to waste money because of the amount of choices available to us. So again, it is worth the time to research for the best matches to your target market. Unfortunately no media can really make a promise on the results they provide, but if you have done your job on the front end of planning, the back end and return on your advertising investment should be rewarding and fruitful.

What are your challenges when it comes to choosing media for advertising? I look forward to hearing your comments.

Until next time …